English Grammar
What do we call a word that describes a noun?
An adjective (What is an adjective?)
What languages make up the English language?
German, French (allow: norse, latin)
What is the origin of "it's raining cats and dogs"?
Plague times, when animals bodies would float down the river.
How many L1 (native) speakers of English are there in the world?
a) 100 million
b) 300 million
c) 600 million
B)300 MILLION
Roughly 372+ million speakers that are L1.
What does "craic" mean?
Fun, good.
An indefinite article (What is an indefinite article?)
How many consonants are in the English alphabet?
21 consonants (5 vowels - 26 letters in total)
What does "the cat has got your tongue" mean?
You do not know what to say.
How many speakers of English are L2?
A) 500 million
b) 800 million
C)1 billion
c) 1 billion
What does "gaff" mean?
"I'm going to Rachel's gaff first, I will meet you later!"
House/home
What are the auxiliaries of English?
Do/Does/Did and the verbs to be and to have
What word order does English follow?
SVO (Subject-Verb-Object)
What does it mean when someone tells you: "The ball is in your court"?
It's your decision.
How many countries have English as an official language? (+/- 10)
75
If someone "snaps at" you, are they:
a) delighted for you
b) worried about you
c) angry at you.
C) Angry at you.
What tense describes a past event that happened before another past event?
Past perfect.
What 4 letters are commonly used to spell words in English but change in pronunciation? (They make for example an uff, off, ohh, aww, oww sounds)
-ough (Rough, tough, thorough, furlough, cough, drought, dough, etc.)
What idiom involves the word "goose" and what is it's meaning?
Wild goose chase - a pointless effort.
What language is second most spoken language with L2 and L1 speakers?
Chinese (Mandarin) L1= 929 million L2= 198 million
Translate this conversation (extra time of 1 minute given):
a: "Alright?"
b: "Yeah, alright. You alright?"
a: "Yeah, alright."
A: How are you?
B: Yeah, I'm keeping okay. How are you?
A: Yeah, I'm okay.
I will allow okay to be changed to "good, fine, etc.".
When we are talking hypothetically, the subjunctive can be used. What happens to the verb "to be" in this situation? Ex: Regular: "If I was you, I wouldn't do that".
Was changes to were.
How much of English vocabulary is French?
45% (Allow +/- 2%)
To lay on the road and wait for a car to drive over you or approach.
Is it Jameson whisky (i) or Jameson whiskey (ii)?
(ii) Whiskey.
Whiskey (with an 'e', the correct way and denotes that it is Irish)
Whisky (without an 'e', is horrible, and denotes that it is Scottish)
If someone is "three sheets to the wind"
What does this mean?
a) drunk
b) losing control
c) daydreaming
a) drunk.