Questions: History of the English Language

Question 1

Which event had the greatest effect on the large number of French words in English?

• A. The arrival of Christian missionaries in 597
• B. The Norman Conquest of 1066
• C. The publication of Samuel Johnson's dictionary in 1755
• D. Viking settlement in northern England

Answer: (B)

After 1066, Norman French became the language of the ruling class, the courts, and administration for several centuries. Thousands of French words entered English, including many terms for law, government, and food, such as 'beef' and 'pork' beside the native 'cow' and 'pig.'

Question 2

During the Great Vowel Shift, the long vowel in Middle English 'hus' (pronounced roughly 'hoos') became the diphthong in Modern English 'house.' What happened to the high long vowels in general?

• A. They became short vowels
• B. They were lost
• C. They became diphthongs, while lower long vowels moved up
• D. They became nasal vowels

Answer: (C)

In the Great Vowel Shift, the highest long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ became diphthongs (as in 'bite' and 'house'), and the other long vowels moved up a step, so the long vowel of 'meet' rose from a mid vowel to /iː/.

Question 3

The pronouns 'they,' 'them,' and 'their' were borrowed into English from Old Norse.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Contact with Norse-speaking settlers in the Danelaw introduced many everyday words, including 'sky,' 'egg,' and the third-person plural pronouns. Borrowing pronouns is unusual and points to close, everyday contact between speakers.

Question 4

Old English nouns carried case endings, while Modern English relies mainly on word order. Explain why losing inflections and fixing word order are connected.

Model answer: When case endings marked who did what to whom, word order could vary more freely. As unstressed endings weakened and merged in late Old English and Middle English, the endings no longer showed grammatical roles, so a more fixed subject-verb-object order took over that job.

Languages need some way to mark grammatical relations. English shifted much of that work from morphology (inflections) to syntax (word order and prepositions).