History of English
This is the name of the famous playwright whose works greatly influenced the English language.
William Shakespeare
What is vacation?
This word means 'a vacation' in American English, but in British English it's called a 'holiday'
Which book is considered the first major work written in Old English?
Beowulf
What is the most common letter in English words?
E
How many people speak English worldwide: 500 million, 1 billion, or 1.5 billion?
1,5 billion
Which Germanic tribes brought their language to Britain in the 5th century?
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
The word sky came into English from which language?
Old Norse
Who is known as the “Father of English poetry”?
Geoffrey Chaucer
Which English word has the most meanings in the dictionary?
set
Which country has the largest number of English speakers today?
The United States
The English language has many words borrowed from Latin and French after this event in 1066
Norman Conquest
Which language gave us words like ballet, cuisine, government?
French
Which English writer invented more than 1,700 new words?
William Shakespeare
This is the shortest complete sentence in the English language
I am
Which variety of English is used as the base for most international exams: British or American
British English
In which year did the Norman Conquest happen?
1066
What percentage of modern English vocabulary comes from Latin/French origins: 30%, 50%, or 70%?
About 70%
This 14th century author wrote The Canterbury Tales, a cornerstone of Middle English literature
Geoffrey Chaucer
This common English word rhymes with no other word in the language
orange
This global organization, with over 50 member countries, uses English as one of its official language
Commonwealth of Nations
What was the name of the first dictionary of English published in 1755?
Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language
Before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, this ancient language of the British Isles left only a handful of words in modern English, such as crag(rock) and brock(badger).
Celtic
This English novelist wrote Pride and Prejudice, one of the most famous works of the 19th century.
Jane Austen
What was the longest word ever used by Shakespeare?
Honorificabilitudinitatibus
In how many countries English is the official language?
Around 60