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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1, An English-Speaking World.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Robert McCrum writes in the Introduction, "Language, we know, is in ceaseless ____."
(a) Motion.
(b) Flux.
(c) Flow.
(d) Love.

2. 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?
(a) Pidgin.
(b) Simple.
(c) Common.
(d) Average.

3. What NASA space probe was launched during the original writing of The Story of English (Edition One)?
(a) Voyager Two.
(b) Voyager One.
(c) Sputnik.
(d) Voyager Three.

4. Robert McCrum was Editor-in-Chief of what publishing house from 1979-1996?
(a) Faber and Faber.
(b) Penguin.
(c) Simon and Schuster.
(d) Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. The establishment of what was an important moment for English as word choices had to be made for standard broadcasting?

2. How many people spoke English in Shakespeare's time?

3. When was the original edition of The Story of English published?

4. What do the authors claim denote information about a speaker's life and career and explain community values?

5. The Story of English was created alongside a nine-part television series for what network?

(see the answer key)

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