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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who wrote The American Language?
(a) H.L. Mencken.
(b) Dr. Samuel Johnson.
(c) Daniel Webster.
(d) William Cran.

2. How many novels has Robert MacNeil written, according to the Introduction?
(a) 5.
(b) 2.
(c) 1.
(d) 3.

3. Northern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands produced their own language tree that divided into what and German?
(a) Celtic.
(b) Norse.
(c) Welsh.
(d) English.

4. The first Dictionary of the English Language contained over how many definitions?
(a) 10,000.
(b) 50,000.
(c) 40,000.
(d) 25,000.

5. What style of music was the invention of the Scots-Irish?
(a) Blues.
(b) Jazz.
(c) Country.
(d) Hip-hop.

6. Approximately how many words are in the English language?
(a) 200,000.
(b) 500,000.
(c) 100,000.
(d) 1,000,000.

7. What committee was formed to make decisions regarding standard English pronunciation for broadcasting in England?
(a) ACSE.
(b) ACCE.
(c) NACP.
(d) NCAA.

8. When did James I die?
(a) 1440.
(b) 1625.
(c) 1700.
(d) 1650.

9. The establishment of what was an important moment for English as word choices had to be made for standard broadcasting?
(a) CBS.
(b) BBC.
(c) NBC.
(d) PBS.

10. The Renaissance added over how many words to the English language?
(a) 5,000.
(b) 20,000.
(c) 30,000.
(d) 10,000.

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

12. How many people spoke English in Shakespeare's time?
(a) 3-4 million.
(b) 8-10 million.
(c) 5-7 million.
(d) 10-15 million.

13. Where was the Archduke Ferdinand assassinated?
(a) Paris.
(b) Sarajevo.
(c) New York.
(d) London.

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

15. After World War II, which national economy sent multinational corporations across the world and into NATO and the UN?
(a) French.
(b) American.
(c) British.
(d) Canadian.

Short Answer Questions

1. RP was spoken by how much of the British population at the origination of BBC?

2. Robert McCrum writes in the Introduction, "Language, we know, is in ceaseless ____."

3. Who is Scotland's most celebrated poet?

4. When was Ivanhoe written?

5. When was William Shakespeare born?

(see the answer keys)

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