History of English Listening Quiz

The History of English

In 10 Minutes

Check out the video in Youtube or the Open University:

Watch as many times as needed and answer the following questions. Careful! The answers come on the next slide after each question.

1. The Romans gave English many words from the Latin Language.

False: Not many words, though words refering to simple every day things.

2. French was mandatory for all official business at the beginning of the XI- XII centuries.

3. Very few words come from Shakespeare.

Falso: About 2000 words

4. The King James Bible gave rise to a whole glossary of metaphor and morality.

5. In the UK, Latin is the language of science: especially physicists speak in this language.

False: This was true before the 17th century.

6. English has incorporated many words from countries they have conquered. For example, canoe, bungalow, and cannibal come from Africa.

False: Words from Africa are zombie and voodoo.

7. Since 1928, the invention of dictionaries has stopped people from making up words.

False: it’s impossible to stop people making up words, and dictionaries have proven this.

8. The USA spread the language of drugs and music.

False: it has spread the language of capitalism, “cool” movies, and jazz.

9. The internet brought back typing and acronyms.

10. Now there are around 1.5 billion natives speakers of English.

False: 1.5 billion people speak English around the world, but onle ¼ are native speakers.

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