The Story of English
10 questions on chapter 2
1. Sir William Jones was a British judge stationed in India.
2. Jakob Grimm established that German Vater and English father have the same root as Latin pater.
3. Frisian is the language that is most closely related to English.
4. The word Welsh is of Celtic origin and meant foreigner.
5. The capital of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was London.
6. Placenames ending in –by like Grimsby and -wick like Chiswick were of Anglo-Saxon rather than Danish origin.
7. When King John lost his possessions in France, the position of the French language in England was strengthened.
8. In Middle English there were five speech areas: Northern, West and East Midlands, Southern and Kentish.
9. Henry VIII was the first king to use English for official correspondence.
10. Modern English spelling owes much to William Caxton.
