A Brief History of EnglishJohn Devine1Have you ever wondered where words come from? They do not drop out of the sky or spring up from the earth. There was no prehistoric gathering of cavemen at which our ancestors put down their clubs and picked up stone pens and forged the first language. The origin of language, including the English language, is a mystery.2Scholars differ in their attempts to come to terms with the history of the English language. Some divide it into three distinct periods (Old English, Middle English, and Modern English) while others divide it into four or five. Regardless of how one organizes this history, however, one thing is clear: the language that we speak every day was shaped by an incredible array of events and will continue to change as long as it is spoken.3It is estimated that about four hundred million people in the world today speak English as a first language. Perhaps as many as eight hundred million more speak English to some extent. English is the most common language used on the Internet. How did the English language become so widespread and so influential?4The word English derives from a West Germanic tribe called the Angles. This tribe, along with others such as Saxons and Jutes, invaded England about fifteen centuries ago. As remote and irrelevant as this invasion may seem, had it not occurred, we would speak, write, and think in a radically different language. Without the Anglo-Saxon influence, we would lose such basic words as sea, gold, man, and island.5A key event in the history of the English language is the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury in Britain in the year 597. Augustine brought Christianity on a grand scale to the island of Britain and with it the influence of Latin. In the year 731 the Venerable Bede published his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in Latin.6Latinate words are often longer and more abstract than their Saxon counterparts. For instance, the English word impecunious (“poor”) comes from the Latin word pecunia (“money”). The English word pulchritude (“beauty”) derives from the Latin pulchritudo. The influence of the Church during the Middle Ages ensured that such Latinate words would spread widely within English. More than half of all English words derive ultimately from Latin.7In 792 Vikings invaded England. To these pirates the English language is indebted for words like knife, sky, window, and wrong, all of which come from Old Norse.8Many of the Latinate words mentioned above, however, come to the English language via (a Latin word!) French. In the year 1066 William the Conqueror invaded England. William was the Duke of Normandy, a region in the north of France. Just as the Church brought Latin words into English, so William and his French court brought French words into English. Some examples of English words that come from French are absurd, castle, folly, and melody.9William Caxton established the first printing press in England in 1476. By doing so, he helped to standardize the English language and to augment its vocabulary. Over a century later William Shakespeare influenced the English language by coining about 1700 new words, many of which are still used today, such as frugal, lonely, premeditated, and submerge.10From the King James Bible, published in 1611, phrases like flesh and blood and forbidden fruit entered into English. Four hundred years later, English continues to grow and change. So many events, in fact, have influenced the development of the English language that its vocabulary is now estimated at 500,000 to 1,000,000 words.11Nor is there any indication that the growth of English vocabulary will slow down any time soon. The computer revolution has given us new meanings for old words like virus, worm, and mouse. Most of us will not come close to using all of the words the English language makes available to us. (Shakespeare used only about 30,000 words in his works.) It is truly amazing, however, to reflect upon how many words are at our disposal and how many great people and events made them available to us.Question 1Which best describes the organization of ideas in this passage?ResponsesA alphabetical orderalphabetical orderB chronological orderchronological orderC problem and solutionproblem and solutionD compare and contrastcompare and contrastQuestion 2Which two sentences best describe how paragraph six develops the passage?ResponsesA The paragraph gives examples of how Latinate words differ from Anglo-Saxon word.The paragraph gives examples of how Latinate words differ from Anglo-Saxon word.B The paragraph provides context for how prevalent the English language is across the world.The paragraph provides context for how prevalent the English language is across the world.C The paragraph explains how the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England to give the country its name.The paragraph explains how the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England to give the country its name.D The paragraph explains how many words came into the English language through William the Conqueror in 1066.The paragraph explains how many words came into the English language through William the Conqueror in 1066.E The paragraph helps explain how many Latinate words came into the English language through the Catholic Church.