MCQs on the Origin of the English Language

1. Which of the following languages had the greatest influence on Old English? 

a) Latin 

b) French 

c) Norse 

d) Germanic 

 

2. English belongs to which language family?

a) Dravidian

b) Sino-Tibetan

c) Indo-European

d) Afro-Asiatic

 

3. Which of the following languages belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European?

a) Telugu

b) Sanskrit

c) French

d) Mandarin

 

4. To which language Telugu language belongs?

A) Dravidian

B) Indo-Iranian

C) Indo-Aryan

D) Celtic

 

5. What was the original Latin name given to Britain by the Romans?

a) Albion

b) Anglia

c) Germania

d) Caledonia

 

6. The earliest inhabitants of Britain spoke which language?

a) Latin

b) Old Norse

c) Celtic

d) Anglo-Saxon

 

7. What is the correct classification of the Hindi language?

A) Dravidian

B) Indo-Iranian

C) Indo-Aryan

D) Celtic

8. The term ‘Britannia’ was given to Britain by which group?

A) Celts

B) Normans

C) Romans

D) Vikings

 

9. Old English developed from the languages of which group of people? 

a) Vikings and Celts 

b) Anglo-Saxons and Jutes 

c) Romans and Normans 

d) Slavs and Franks 

 

10. Which of the following is an example of an Old English text? 

a) Beowulf 

b) The Canterbury Tales 

c) Macbeth 

d) Paradise Lost 

 

11. Which writing system was primarily used in Old English before the Latin alphabet? 

a) Cyrillic script 

b) Runes (Futhark) 

c) Greek script 

d) Gothic script 

 

12. Which king is credited with starting English prose?

a) William the Conqueror

b) Alfred the Great

c) Henry VIII

d) Richard the Lionheart

 

13. Which group invaded Britain in the 5th century and contributed to the development of Old English?

a) Normans

b) Celts

c) Anglo-Saxons

d) Franks

 

14. Which of the following is NOT an Old English dialect?

a) Northumbrian

b) Kentish

c) Mercian

d) Anglo-Norman

 

15. The Vikings and Danes invaded England in which century?

a) 7th century

b) 8th century

c) 9th century

d) 11th century

 

16. The Norman Conquest of England happened in which year?

a) 476 AD

b) 800 AD

c) 1066 AD

d) 1215 AD

 

17. The term ‘Normandy’ means:

A) Land of the Celts

B) Land of the Germans

C) Land of the North Men

D) Land of the Anglo-Saxons

 

18. Who led the Norman invasion of England in 1066?

A) King Alfred

B) William, Duke of Normandy

C) Julius Caesar

D) Harold Godwinson

 

19. What language did the Normans bring to England?

a) Old Norse

b) Anglo-Norman (Old French)

c) Latin

d) German

 

20. What was the primary language spoken by the upper class after the Norman Conquest?

a) English

b) French

c) Latin

d) Old Norse

 

21. What event greatly influenced the transition from Old English to Middle English? 

   a) The Norman Conquest of 1066 

   b) The Industrial Revolution 

   c) The Great Vowel Shift 

   d) The invention of printing press 

 

22. Who is the most famous writer of Middle English? 

   a) Geoffrey Chaucer 

   b) William Shakespeare 

   c) John Milton 

   d) Alexander Pope 

  

23. What is the title of Geoffrey Chaucer’s most famous work, written in Middle English? 

   a) The Canterbury Tales 

   b) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

   c) The Faerie Queene 

   d) Utopia 

  

24. What major linguistic change marked the transition from Middle English to Early Modern English? 

   a) The Norman Conquest 

   b) The Great Vowel Shift 

   c) The introduction of Old Norse words 

   d) The decline of Latin influence 

 

25. Which invention helped spread and standardize Modern English? 

a) The steam engine 

b) The printing press 

c) The telegraph 

d) The telephone 

 

26. The first printing press in England was introduced by whom?

a) Geoffrey Chaucer

b) William Shakespeare

c) William Caxton

d) Samuel Johnson

 

27. The King James Bible (1611) played a crucial role in:

a) Translating Latin texts into English

b) Stabilizing the English language

c) Introducing Old English poetry

d) Ending Norman influence

 

28. Which influential dictionary helped standardize Modern English spelling?

a) The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

b) Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary (1755)

c) Webster’s Dictionary

d) The Table Alphabetical

 

29. Which of the following are correct?

a) Great Britain and UK are same

b) UK = Great Britain + Northern Ireland

c) UK = England + Wales

d) Great Britain = UK + Ireland

 

30. The Great Vowel Shift mainly affected which part of English?

a) Vocabulary

b) Grammar

c) Pronunciation

d) Sentence structure

 

31. Who first studied and coined the term "Great Vowel Shift"?

a) William Shakespeare

b) Otto Jespersen

c) Noam Chomsky

d) Geoffrey Chaucer

 

32. What major global event contributed to the expansion of English vocabulary in the 20th century?

a) The Renaissance

b) The Norman Conquest

c) The two World Wars

d) The American Revolution

 

33. Which of the following words entered English vocabulary due to military influence?

a) Jeep

b) Camouflage

c) Spearhead

d) All of the above

 

34. Which of the following is an example of diphthongization in the Great Vowel Shift?

a) house /huːs/ → /haʊs/

b) feet /feːt/ → /fiːt/

c) goose /goːs/ → /guːs/

d) home /hoːm/ → /hoʊm/

 

35. Which of the following factor/s helped English to borrow words from multiple languages in the Modern Period?

A) The Norman Conquest

B) The Industrial Revolution and Colonialism

C) The Renaissance

D) The Viking Invasions

 

Answers:

1: d	2: c	3: b	4: A	5: a	6: c	7: C	8: C	9: b	10: a
11: b	12: b	13: c	14: d	15: c	16: c	17: C	18: B	19: b	20: b
21: a	22: a	23: a	24: b	25: b	26: c	27: b	28: b	29: b	30: c
31: b	32: c	33: d	34: a	35: B