History of English Language MCQs Quiz Multiple Choice Questions & Answers

1. ...............of the English language distinguish three main stages in its development

1. Historians
2. Europeans
3. Philosopher
4. Foreigners

2. After the Norman Conquest, which language became the language of courts and government?

1. Latin
2. Old English
3. Norse
4. French

3. Anglo-Saxon is otherwise called as

1. New English
2. British English
3. Old English
4. Middle English

4. In 1453, ................., the seat of European learning fell to the Turks.

1. Rome
2. Constantinople
3. London
4. Athens

5. In the year, ............., the seat of the European learning, Constantinople, fell into the hands of the Turks.

1. 1643
2. 1453
3. 1673
4. 1667

6. In the year..........., English replaced French as the language of the law courts.

1. 1385
2. 1372
3. 1362
4. 1331

7. It is believed that the original Indo- European has split up into.............distinct language groups.

1. Five
2. Six
3. Seven
4. Eight

8. Italian words also begin to make their appearance in English, especially in connection with music and the arts during the

1. Old English period
2. Middle English period
3. Renaissance
4. Modern period

9. Language is a social phenomenon

1. True Statement
2. False Statement
3. both a and b
4. none of the above

10. Max Muller, German Philologist is associated with

1. Bow -wow theory
2. Gesture theory
3. Ding-Dong theory
4. Pooh-Pooh theory

11. Name the two languages spoken side by side during the Middle English period.

1. English and Norman- French
2. English and Celtic
3. English and Latin
4. English and Scandinavian

12. Primitive Germanic split ultimately into three important branches which are

1. Gothic, Scandinavian and West Germanic
2. Gothic, Celtic and Albanian
3. Spanish, Rumanian and Portuguese
4. Swedish, Danish and Icelandic

13. Renaissance reached England about the year

1. 1300
2. 1400
3. 1500
4. 1700

14. The Anglo Saxon belongs to the................branch of the Indo European languages.

1. Easter Sanskrit
2. Celtic
3. Primitive Germanic
4. Romanic

15. The Authorised Version/ King James Version of the Bible came out in

1. 1604
2. 1640
3. 1611
4. 1620

16. The best designation given to the parent language is

1. Aryan
2. Indo- Germanic
3. Indo- European
4. Primitive Germanic

17. The four chief aspects of any language are

1. Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, and Idioms
2. Spelling, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and Grammar
3. Grammar, Syntax, Vocabulary, and Spelling
4. Grammar, Spelling, Syntax, Idioms

18. The Indo-European language was spoken around the area of

1. The Baltic Sea
2. The Dead Sea
3. The Black Sea
4. The Mediterranean Sea

19. The Latin influence in Old English period was mainly due to:

1. The Renaissance
2. The Norman Conquest
3. Roman occupation
4. All of the above

20. The modern day sister comes from

1. Old English sweostor
2. Norse syster
3. Norse storr
4. The Sanskrit sita

21. The modern grammatical system had come into existence by the end of the............century.

1. Fifteenth
2. Sixteenth
3. Seventeenth
4. Eighteenth

22. The most important dialect during the Old English period was:

1. Welsh
2. Wessex
3. Kentish
4. Mercian

23. The most important dialect used during the Old English period is

1. Celtic
2. East Midland
3. Wessex
4. Anglo-Saxon

24. The Norman Conquest of England began with the rule of:

1. Alfred the Great
2. William of Normandy
3. Edward the Confessor
4. Richard the Lionheart

25. The Norman Conquest of England was in the year

1. 1660
2. 1066
3. 1166
4. 1661

26. The original language of Britain was

1. Celtic
2. Anglo-Saxon
3. Norman
4. Latin

27. The Renaissance and the coming of the printed book tended to set and standardize

1. Grammar
2. Vocabulary
3. Spelling
4. Pronunciation

28. The Scandinavians and Norsemen who settled in England spoke what language?

1. Old English
2. Old Norse
3. Danish
4. Swedish

29. The............theory suggests that speech originates from man?s attempt to imitate the characteristic sound of the creature / object he is referring to

1. Bow-wow theory
2. Ding-dong theory
3. Pooh-pooh theory
4. Gesture theory

30. This theory traces all forms of speech utterance back to emotional interjections evoked by pain, surprise, pleasure, wonder etc.

1. The bow-wow theory
2. The ding-dong theory
3. The pooh-pooh theory
4. The gesture theory

31. We must realize that language is

1. Static
2. Fixed
3. Unvarying
4. Evolutionary

32. What is the other name for Primitive Germanic?

1. Esperanto
2. Teutonic
3. Italic
4. Gothic

33. What was said to be the theory that came from automatic human responses to pain, fear, surprise, laugh etc

1. Ding-dong Theory
2. Pooh-Pooh Theory
3. The Ta-ta Theory
4. Bow-wow Theory

34. Which dialect attained prominence during the middle English period

1. West Saxon
2. East Midland
3. Northern England
4. East Saxon

35. Which dialect became the standard of Old English?

1. West Saxon
2. Kentish
3. Celtic
4. Yorkshire

36. Which of the four dialects became the most dominant in the Old English period?

1. Northumbrian
2. Mercian
3. Wessex
4. Kentish

37. Which theory holds that man?s earliest speech was produced by an attempt to imitate the sounds of creatures or objects he was referring?

1. Bow wow theory
2. Ding dong theory
3. Pooh-pooh theory
4. Gesture theory

38. Which theory of language origin is developed by Wilhelm Wundt and Sir Richard Paget?

1. The pooh-pooh theory
2. The gesture theory
3. The ding-dong theory
4. Onomatopoeia

39. Who established the beginnings of the modern English legal system?

1. The Normans
2. The French
3. The Scandinavians
4. The Germans

40. Who was the famous Old English writer who wrote Canterbury Tales?

1. John Lydgate
2. John Wyclif
3. Geoffrey Chaucer
4. John Babour