Lecture 1

1. What is David Crystal's current estimate for the total number of English speakers
worldwide? 2.3 billion
2. What scholar was the first to apply the comparative-historical method to make a
systematic scholarly description of the consonant correspondences known as The First
Consonant Shift? Jacob Grimm
3. In which European country, apart from the UK, do most citizens have English as a
mother-tongue? Ireland
4. What sounds were affected by the sound changes known as the First Consonant shift?
stops and fricatives
5. How many people spoke English in the world in 1600? 6 million
6. English, in common with all living languages, is in a continual state of change. True
7. Change occurs at separate levels of the language. False
8. Which set contains modern languages that belong only to the Germanic group? Dutch,
English, Frisian, German
9. What subject began in the late 18th century by studying historical links between Sanskrit,
Greek, and Latin? comparative philology
10. Change in language is likely to occur when languages are mixed. True
11. What sound regularities is rhotacism considered to be part of? Karl Verner's Law
12. What kinds of words are shared by all Indo-European languages? Cognate
13. Which one of these is a strong verb? See
14. Which set contains modern languages that belong only to the Indo-European family of
languages? Albanian, Greek, Irish, Hindi
15. Change in one part of the language system never leads to changes in other parts of the
system. False
16. Change in language can take place at varying speeds, or even be reversed. True
17. In which European country is English an official language? Malta
18. English is structurally closest to which language? Frisian
19. In historical studies of language, what does the asterisk (*) mean when used before a
word or word-ending? hypothetical form
20. Language change can't reflect changes in the physical environment, culture, social
structure, social attitudes, etc. False

Lecture 2

1. Roughly what percentage of words in Old English are loan words? 3

2. How many letters were in the standard Old English alphabet? 24
3. What is the name of the dragon Beowulf killed? Grendel
4. Which year did Augustine arrive in England? AD 597
5. What languages influenced the English language in its development? all three
6. Roughly how many compounds words are there in Beowulf? 1000+
7. From what language are the following Old English borrowings? Old Norse
8. What was the name of the cowherd who became England's first Christian poet?
Caedmon
 9. What are the vivid figurative words in Old English? kennings
10. What is the technical name of the sound-change seen in foot > feet if you know
that Old English fot originally had dative singular foti? I-mutation
11. Which language had the biggest effect on English during the Old English period?
Old Norse
12. Who adapted the Latin alphabet to Old English? missionaries
13. Give a one-word translation of hwaelweg 'whale-way' in modern English. sea
14. Which one of the following word classes was inflected in Old English? pronouns
15. What language(s)/dialects was/were spoken by the native population of the
British Isles before the Anglo-Saxons settled in? Celtic languages
16. Which one of these areas was not a member of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom? Wales
17. Which semantic field predominated in early Latin Borrowings in Old English?
religion
18. Which dialect of the Old English period is considered to have been the most
important? West-Saxon
19. Who were the earliest inhabitants of Britain? Celtic speakers
20. Which of the statements about the basis of the Old English alphabet seems more
true to you? The Old English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with some
letters from Runic alphabet.

Lecture 3

1. Which one of these Old English inflections survived into Middle English? –eth
2. What did Orm's principle of consonant doubling show in Middle English period? a short
vowel
3. Where would one find the -end(e) participle ending in Middle English? East Midlands
4. Which French spelling became a noticeable feature of English words? Qu
5. Which one of these words is a French borrowing? royal
6. What form of the verb develops during the Middle English period? Progressive
7. What grammatical principle was being established during the period when the
Peterborough Chronicle was written? word order
8. Which one of these consonant pairs became contrastive during the Middle English
period? s and z
9. Which was the official language of the Church in the Middle English period? Latin
10. What meaning does the double negative construction express? Emphasis
11. Which language is the source of the pronouns they and them? Old Norse
12. What word class became important when inflections were lost? Preposition
13. Which part of the country had most influence on the early development of modern
standard English? The Midlands
14. What was the chief influence of the Norman Conquest on the English language?
Vocabulary
15. What is the meaning of the Old English word preserved in the first syllable of the name
Stanley? stone
16. Roughly how many French loanwords came into English in the 13th century? 10,000
17. Which one of these cities was not part of the East Midlands triangle? Birmingham
 18. Which is the Vernacular language for the British Isles during the Middle English period?
English
19. Which god of classical mythology is referred to in the opening lines of the Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales? Zephirus
20. In which part of the country was kirk the usual word for the church? The North

Lecture 4

1. Which one of these languages influenced the spelling of debt with a silent b? Latin
2. What explanation exists for the Great Vowel Change? The mix of dialects during the
15th and 16th centuries created social pressure to develop a set of pronunciations that
would have new social status or prestige.
3. In which way can the discrepancy between the Modern English spelling and
pronunciation be better explained? This discrepancy arose because Late Middle and Early
Modern English sound changes were not recorded in writing as the system of writing had
basically been established by the end of the Middle English period.
4. What is/are major factor(s) that served to separate Middle and Modern English? all three
5. Which of the statements better explains the discrepancy between the reading and the
spelling form of the words doubt, debt, perfect? The spelling of the words was latinized
in Early Modern English.
6. Which century marked a turning point in English pronunciation and spelling, when
language underwent greater, more important phonological changes that in any other
century before or since? fifteenth
7. Which of these words would most closely resemble the way time was pronounced before
the Great Vowel Shift? teem
8. What preceding sound does a final 'silent' e come to show? a long vowel
9. What kind of example do the following modern English words serve: capsule, disregard,
erupt, meditate? These are words coined from Latin or Greek for 'educated' effect.
10. When was the first edition of Johnson's Dictionary published? 1755
11. Which word would rhyme with war in Shakespearean OP? star
12. How long did the first Globe theatre exist before it burned down? 14 years
13. Who established English as an official language in the British Isles? Henry V
14. What did the principle of consonant doubling show in Middle English period? a short
vowel
15. When did William Caxton set up his printing house? 1476
16. What word was often used to denigrate Renaissance neologisms? Inkhorn
17. What was the subject of the first printed book in English? Troy
18. Which vowels were affected by the Great Vowel Shift? long vowels
19. Which area of language did Shakespeare most influenced? Vocabulary
20. What was one of the phonological results of the Great Vowel Shift? New diphthongs
appeared.
Lecture 5

1. Which one of these modal verbs seems to be replacing must? have to

2. In which year was Robert Lowth's English grammar published? 1762
3. Which one of these idioms is a King James Bible innovation? straight and narrow
4. In which years was The King James Bible published? 1611
5. Which one of these verbs has been slow to accept a progressive form? know
6. Which of the statements about the basic pattern of the development of Modern English regular
verbs do you agree best? They developed on the pattern of Old English weak verbs of class 1
(regular) and verbs of class 2.
7. Whose grammar book came to be universally used in English schools in the early 19th
century? Lindley Murray's
8. What form of the verb is shown by an -an or -ian ending in Old English? infinitive
9. What process can explain the grammatical changes as the result of which analytical forms
have developed in the history of English? grammaticalization
10. Which 17th-century dramatist wrote an English grammar? Ben Jonson
11. Which of the statements about the syntactical source of the present-day analytical form of the
future tense is correct? It developed from the combination of the verb willan and the infinitive.
12. In which language was John Wallis's English grammar of 1653 written? Latin
13. Which of the statements about the origin of the regular plural noun ending in Modern English
is correct? It developed from the Old English plural noun ending of the a-stems.
14. How many translators worked on the King James Bible? 54
15.What percentage of the text of the King James Bible shows the influence of Tyndale? 80 per
cent
16. Which auxiliary verb developed its modern use in the 17th century? do
17. Which of the statements about the origin of the present plural verbal ending in Modern
English is correct? It developed under the influence of the Scandinavian form.
18.In which decade was John Wyclif's Bible translation made? 1380s
19. Who compiled the first English pronouncing dictionary? John Walker
20. During which period did English adopt natural gender? Middle English

Lecture 6

1. In which of these areas are English-based pidgins and creoles notably absent? Europe
2. Which one of these countries does not belong in the inner circle? India
3. What term does Tom McArthur use to identify the 'common core' of linguistic features shared
by global varieties of English? World Standard English
4. Which one of these countries does not belong in the outer circle? Japan
5. During which period was Latin the greatest source of loanwords in English? Early Modern
English
6. Using a present-day rhyme, how was the word lord pronounced in RP at the beginning of the
20th century? like 'lard'
7. Which feature of language is not part of the definition of Standard English? pronunciation
8. What is the most noticeable feature distinguishing British and American written English?
spelling
9. Who introduced the term Americanism? John Witherspoon
10. What is the date of the first permanent English-speaking settlement in North America? 1607
11. Who was Noah Webster's main lexicographical competitor in the 19th century? Joseph
Worcester
12. Which language especially influenced the growth of 19th-century American English
vocabulary? Spanish
13. Which variety of English developed its modern character during the 19th century? science
14. Which expanding circle country is thought to have the largest number of English speakers?
China
15. Who introduced the notion of a meme? Richard Dawkins
16. Which one of these spellings did Noah Webster recommend in his spelling book? defense
17. In what respect is American English more conservative than British English? pronunciation
and grammar
18. Who devised the model of English as inner, outer, and expanding circles? Braj Kachru
19. How long did it take Noah Webster to complete his American Dictionary? 25 years
20. In which country is Singlish spoken? Singapore

Seminar 6
1. Which one of these road terms would a British person find distinctively American? freeway
2. Roughly what percentage of words in Old English are loan words? 3
3. Roughly how many French loanwords came into English in the 13th century? 10,000
4. Which one of these constructions is typical of creole verb phrase? she sing
5. Which one of these spellings would an American find distinctively British? cheque
6. Which one of these Britisisms has not (yet) achieved much currency in American English?
autumn
7. Where is Standard English most clearly encountered? in print
8. What is the approximate number of lexemes in the surviving Old English corpus? 24,000
9. Which one of these equivalents is likely to cause some confusion to a first-time American
visitor to Britain? first floor - ground floor
10. Which one of these spellings would a British person find distinctively American? thruway
11. Which one of these meanings is not conveyed by gotten in American English? possessing
12. Which geographical feature separates US Midland and Southern dialect areas? Appalachian
Mountains