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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 one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island?

2. Approximately how many words are in the English language?

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

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

5. Who is quoted from his Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language in the Introduction?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What became of the Germanic tribes described in Chapter 2, The Mother Tongue? Where did they spread?

3. What do the authors write of the Puritans in Chapter 2, The Mother Tongue? Where were they located?

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

5. What did James I do to reduce the rule of Celtic chiefs in Ulster?

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

7. What myths relating to the English language do the authors hope to dispel, according to the Introduction?

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

9. When was the Scottish tongue at its peak? What caused its downfall?

10. What do the authors preface regarding the style of the text in their Introduction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How can we know how the English language sounded hundreds of years ago? What resources do we have today to examine and analyze dialects? What changes have made this possible?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the distinct paths in which the slave trade traveled and how the people in each region were affected by the trade. How did cultures and languages change?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the history of Ireland's struggles with England. When did the domination of Ireland begin? What were the consequences? How was language affected?

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This section contains 845 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample