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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. What is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common?

2. The Anglo-Saxon language received a major boost when Christianity brought an enormous Latin vocabulary starting in what year?

3. Scots is one of the oldest and most interesting varieties of English dating back to which centuries?

4. Who initiated the English Reformation?

5. What television entertainer does Robert McCrum claim is the lineal descendant of Amos and Andy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the authors write regarding the fluidity of accents and culture in Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World?

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

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

4. When did the Scottish dialect fall into decline? What led to its standardization?

5. When did James I come to the British throne? What major impact did he have on the English language?

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

7. Which group of Scots first spoke English? Where did it arrive from?

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

9. When did Julius Caesar invade the Celts? What was the result?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the influences of Germanic, French, and Romance languages on the development of English. What words today are rooted in these cultures and their interactions with the English?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the plight of the Scottish people throughout the Dark Ages. What were the effects of the invasions upon Scotland's people, culture, and language?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the differences between Jamaica and other islands and lands which were conquered or colonized by Great Britain. What were the effects of colonization in the different regions? Why?

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