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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What television entertainer does Robert McCrum claim is the lineal descendant of Amos and Andy?
(a) Ali G.
(b) Borat.
(c) Dave Chapelle.
(d) Eddie Murphy.

2. When was William Shakespeare born?
(a) 1555.
(b) 1572.
(c) 1564.
(d) 1603.

3. Who were among the first English-speaking migrants to the west and their descendants live in Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Brittany?
(a) The Celts.
(b) The Indians.
(c) The Romans.
(d) The Germans.

4. What is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island?
(a) Ulster.
(b) Jamestown.
(c) Northumbria.
(d) Essex.

5. When was the original edition of The Story of English published?
(a) 1975.
(b) 1990.
(c) 1986.
(d) 1980.

6. English is the official language of how many countries?
(a) 34.
(b) 43.
(c) 25.
(d) 53.

7. Who is the author of Ivanhoe?
(a) Robert Burns.
(b) Andrew Webster.
(c) Sir Walter Scott.
(d) Samuel Johnson.

8. James VI of Scotland became James I of England in what year?
(a) 1702.
(b) 1596.
(c) 1603.
(d) 1557.

9. What threatened Britain's Celtic chiefs after the withdrawal of the Romans?
(a) Christian warriors.
(b) Germanic tribes.
(c) Islamic tribes.
(d) Greek tribes.

10. Who wrote Treasure Island?
(a) Robert Louis Stevenson.
(b) Sir Walter Scott.
(c) Robert Burns.
(d) William Shakespeare.

11. Robert McCrum describes the modulation of British RP to what in the Introduction?
(a) Cockney English.
(b) American English.
(c) Estuary English.
(d) North Country English.

12. How many quotations were in the original Dictionary of the English Language?
(a) 300,000.
(b) 100,000.
(c) 120,000.
(d) 114,000.

13. What is the first of the five points of Calvinism?
(a) Love of God.
(b) Forgiveness.
(c) Release of sin.
(d) Total depravity.

14. Tyndale translated the Bible from Greek in what year?
(a) 1559.
(b) 1525.
(c) 1603.
(d) 1650.

15. RP was spoken by how much of the British population at the origination of BBC?
(a) 20%.
(b) 1%.
(c) 10%.
(d) 3%.

Short Answer Questions

1. What style of music was the invention of the Scots-Irish?

2. Which novelist defined English language fanatics as "Snoots"?

3. Who initiated the English Reformation?

4. When did the Romans withdraw from Britain?

5. Julius Caesar and his armies conquered Britain when?

(see the answer keys)

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