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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. By what year were nearly half of the English literate, according to Chapter 3, A Muse of Fire?

2. What is the first of the five points of Calvinism?

3. What NASA space probe was launched during the original writing of The Story of English (Edition One)?

4. The Puritans were most highly concentrated where?

5. Where was the Archduke Ferdinand assassinated?

Short Essay Questions

1. What cultural wars and battles helped to create the English language, according to the authors in Chapter 2, The Mother Tongue?

2. What examples do the authors give in Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World for the history of success of the English language?

3. What do the authors write of the advances from broadcasting on English in Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World?

4. What do the authors assert is the common ancestry of all languages? What happened to most of them?

5. What is notable about the standardization of English throughout history? What examples do the authors give in Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World?

6. Who was William Shakespeare and what impact did he have on the English language?

7. Who spread the English language to the west initially? Who are their descendants?

8. What impact did the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons have on the Celtic language? Why?

9. What is the difficulty of explaining sounds of language, according to the authors? What resources can help the reader in grasping dialect?

10. How many definitions were in the original Johnson's dictionary? What was it drawn from?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the success of the English language in spreading throughout the world. What examples do the authors give in Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World for the history of success of the English language?

Essay Topic 2

When did St. Augustine arrive in Britain? What impact did he have there on the English language? How?

Essay Topic 3

What was notable about the first edition of The Story of English? What was it published alongside? What was the public reaction to the linguists' assertions?

(see the answer keys)

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