English Language Online Assignment Set 4

Q1: What happened in 1707 that would forever alter the relationship between England, Wales, and Scotland?

A. the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

B. the Toleration Act

C. the failed invasion of the Spanish Armada

D. the Act of Union

Answer

Ans: D. the Act of Union

Q2: .Words from which language began to enter English vocabulary around the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066?

A. French

B. Norwegian

C. Spanish

D. Hungarian

Answer

Ans: A. French

Q3: Which hero made his earliest appearance in Celtic literature before becoming a staple subject in French, English, and German literatures?

A. Beowulf

B. Arthur

C. Augustine of Canterbury

D. Alfred

Answer

Ans: B. Arthur

Q4: Toward the close of which century did English replace French as the language of conducting business in Parliament and in court of law?

A. fourteenth

B. thirteenth

C. twelfth

D. eleventh

Answer

Ans: A. fourteenth

Q5: Who would be called the English Homer and father of English poetry?

A. Bede

B. Sir Thomas Malory

C. Geoffrey Chaucer

D. Caedmon

Answer

Ans: C. Geoffrey Chaucer

Q6: Only a small proportion of medieval books survive, large numbers having been destroyed in:

A. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest beginning in the 1450s.

B. The Norman Conquest of 1066.

C. The Peasant Uprising of 1381.

D. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.

Answer

Ans: D. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.

Q7: What is the first extended written specimen of Old English?

A. Boethius’s Consolidation of Philosophy

B. a code of laws promulgated by King Ethelbert

C. the Norman Conquest of 1066.

D. the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s

Answer

Ans: B. a code of laws promulgated by King Ethelbert

Q8: In Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, what is the fate of those who fail to observe the sacred duty of blood vengeance?

A. banishment to Asia

B. everlasting shame

C. mild melancholia

D. being buried alive

Answer

Ans: B. everlasting shame

Q9: The use of “whale-road”for sea and “life-house”for body are examples of what literary technique, popular in Old English poetry?

A. symbolism

B. simile

C. metonymy

D. kenning

Answer

Ans: D. kenning

Q10: Which of the following statements is not an accurate description of Old English poetry?

A. Romantic love is a guiding principle of moral conduct.

B. Its formal and dignified use of speech was distant from everyday use of language.

C. Irony is a mode of perception, as much as it was a figure of speech.

D. Christian and pagan ideals are sometimes mixed.

Answer

Ans: A. Romantic love is a guiding principle of moral conduct.

Q11: The ultimate origins of the English language lie in which language family?

A. Indo-European

B. Latin

C. North American

D. Nono of the above

Answer

Ans: A. Indo-European

Q12: What is another name for Old English?

A. Middle English

B. Anglo-Saxon

C. Celtic

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. Anglo-Saxon

Q13: Which one of the following texts was composed during the Old English period?

A. The Canterbury Tales

B. Beowulf

C. Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. Beowulf

Q14: During the Middle English period, many words were borrowed from which two languages?

A. Celtic and Old Norse

B. Urdu and Iroquoian

C. Latin and French

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: C. Latin and French

Q15: Published in 1604, the first monolingual English dictionary was

A. Nathaniel Bailey’s Universal Etymological Dictionary of the English Language

B. Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language

C. Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: C. Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall

Q16: Which Anglo-Irish writer proposed the creation of an English Academy to regulate English usage and “ascertain” the language?

A. Jonathan Swift

B. Samuel Johnson

C. Oliver Goldsmith

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. Jonathan Swift

Q17: Who published the book Dissertations on the English Language (1789), which advocated an American standard of usage?

A. Noah Webster

B. John Webster

C. Daniel Webster

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. Noah Webster

Q18: Which late-19th century novel introduced a colloquial prose style that significantly influenced the writing of fiction in the U.S.?

A. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

B. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

C. Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave by Aphra Behn

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Q19: The Philological Society’s New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, begun in 1879, was eventually published under which title in 1928?

A. Roget’s Thesaurus

B. The King’s English

C. Oxford English Dictionary

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: C. Oxford English Dictionary

Q20: During which decade did the number of speakers of English as a second language exceed the number of native speakers for the first time?

A. 1920s

B. 1950s

C. 1990s

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. 1950s

Q21: The first outstanding characteristic of English language is :

A. Receptiveness

B. Purity

C. Classical

D. Simplicity

Answer

Ans: A. Receptiveness

Q22: The repetition of similar ending sounds

A. alliteration

B. onomatopoiea

C. rhyme

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. alliteration

Q23: Applying human qualities to non-human things

A. personification

B. onomatopoeia

C. alliteration

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. personification

Q24: A comparison of unlike things without using a word of comparison such as like or as

A. metaphor

B. simile

C. personification

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. simile

Q25: Using words or letters to imitate sounds

A. alliteration

B. simile

C. onomatopoeia

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. alliteration

Q26: A description that appeals to one of the five senses

A. imagery

B. personification

C. metaphor

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. imagery

Q27: A poem that tells a story with plot, setting, and characters

A. lyric

B. free verse

C. narrative

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: C. narrative

Q28: A poem with no meter or rhyme

A. lyric

B. free verse

C. narrative

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: B. free verse

Q29: poem that generally has meter and rhyme

A. lyric

B. free verse

C. narrative

D. None of the above

Answer

Ans: A. lyric

Q30: Many Indians claim that Indian English is very similar to?

A. French

B. German

C. British English

D. Spenish

Answer

Ans: C. British English

Q31: Feminine ending refers to:

A. a stressed final syllable in a line of verse

B. the ending of a poem in a stressed syllable

C. the ending of a poem in an unstressed syllable

D. an unstressed final syllable in a line of verse

Answer

Ans: D. an unstressed final syllable in a line of verse

Q32: Identify the matching pair :

A. Edward II : Zenocrate

B. The Spanish Tragedy : Horatio S

C. The Jew of Malta : Barabas

D. Tamburlaine : Gaveston

Answer

Ans: C. The Jew of Malta : Barabas

Q33: The word ‘nature’ in the eighteenth century literature stands for :

A. Nature of writing

B. External nature

C. Human nature

D. The Universe

Answer

Ans: B. External nature