VU Midterm Past Papers
70 solved midterm past paper MCQs for ENG501 (History of English Language) at Virtual University, each with the correct answer marked. Use them to learn the VU question style and test your recall. An independent study tool — not affiliated with VU.
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Q1. The heathen god "Tw" is named after
Q2. 'Who' and 'which' existed in the Old English but were indefinite or interrogative, not relatives.
Q3. Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, tells us that the Germanic tribes that conquered England were:
Q4. Old English vocabulary appropriate to literature and learning died out and was replaced later by words borrowed from:
Q5. An important feature of the Germanic languages is declension. The weak declension is used when the ______ is preceded by article, demonstrative, or possessive pronoun.
Q6. The old English script normally uses ______ consonant symbols.
Q7. What is Stone Age?
Q8. Which one is not the meaning of English word "wealh"?
Q9. Because of its ______ system, Old English had greater freedom of word-order than Modern English.
Q10. Vowel sounds of Old English relate to early ______
Q11. Two streams mingle in Old English literature: the pagan and the ______
Q12. Wales belongs to
Q13. Inflection of the Old English indicates distinctions of number (singular and plural) and case for ______
Q14. In Old English, thou and thee were ______ pronouns.
Q15. In Old English, the vowel of the tense often differs in the singular and plural.
Q16. Latin was the language of
Q17. The period from 450 to 1150 is called
Q18. Nearly all of Old English literature is preserved in ______ transcribed in this region.
Q19. The chief notices between Old and Modern English concern spelling & pronunciation and lexicon & grammar.
Q20. Choose the correct order of the material according to the age:
Q21. In many varieties of English in the outer circle, there is no difference between ———.
Q22. During the British colonial rule, Standard —— was the language of administration.
Q23. According to 2001 census, English was recorded as the language most often spoken at home for ——— of population.
Q24. forwards, -wards is a ___ suffix.
Q25. I used to stay out evenings. American English freely adds the suffix -s today to words like night, evening, etc. to form _____ denoting repeated or customary action.
Q26. The word ‘Kindergarten’ is added to the American vocabulary from — language.
Q27. The words ending in unstressed -ile (e.g. fertile) are pronounced with in British English; some are pronounced with /1/ in American English.
Q28. In American English, both ‘got’ and ‘gotten’ serve as but ‘gotten’ is preferred.
Q29. Compared with English as spoken in ———, North American English is more homogeneous.
Q30. ‘Midland’ and ‘New Orleans’ are examples of regional and local varieties of ———.
Q31. ‘Team’ means a group of ——.
Q32. The term — literally means “Frankish language”.
Q33. In American English, collective nouns are ——.
Q34. The word ‘Barbeque’ is added to the American vocabulary from —— language.
Q35. A language does not achieve a genuinely —— status until it develops a special role that is recognized in every country.
Q36. Which of the following is NOT the part of Roman conquest?
Q37. About which language, Sir William Jones, a British government official in India, does observe that it is perfect, copious and exquisitely refined?
Q38. In intonation how low or soft a word is spoken is called ______.
Q39. How many different languages are there in the world currently?
Q40. In intonation how or low a voice is when producing a sound is called ______.
Q41. Which of the languages survived currently in the language families?
Q42. Which of the following option is NOT correct about English?
Q43. Denotation is the part of ______. Choose one option
Q44. Who is the author of ‘General Prologue to Canterbury Tale’?
Q45. Which aspect is NOT the part of human language?
Q46. The word “Kinda” is a non-standard form of ______.
Q47. The Puritan Revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a military dictatorship. Which period does come into your mind?
Q48. Which feature of language has been discussed in the following statement? Bees can pass on information about food sources but cannot tell about a food source they saw last week.
Q49. What is the strength of people who speak English as a foreign language in the world?
Q50. Select the Middle English Period from the following options?
Q51. Which of the following statement is NOT true?
Q52. Which of the following is NOT true about language?
Q53. In intonation, the pauses or connections between words, phrases and sentences are called ______ choose an option.
Q54. Which option is correct about “unhappy”?
Q55. “It is to speak infinite utterances with new expressions and novel utterances.” Which feature of language has been discussed in the given statement?
Q56. Which of the following words is similar to The Italian word “uomo”?
Q57. Which of the following options is NOT correct about English?
Q58. In linguistics, relationship between linguistic signs and objects in the world is described as the principle of ______.
Q59. Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, tells us that the Germanic tribes that conquered England were . Choose the correct option.
Q60. The Black Death spread rapidly in England, reaching its height in .
Q61. Was the language best understood by the upper classes in the 15th century.
Q62. In Old English were a fertile resource in word building and particularly a feature in the formation of verbs.
Q63. The Middle English period ranging from was marked by momentous changes in the English language.
Q64. The Wales belong to .
Q65. By 1250, the ‘strong declension’ had distinctive forms for singular and plural only in certain adjectives which ended in a consonant in Old English.
Q66. In Middle English, the inflections are very much compared to Old English.
Q67. Adoption of words into the English language took place in the 13th century
Q68. French language spread through
Q69. In the course of Henry III's long reign (1216-1272), the country was eaten up by
Q70. An anti-foreign movement in England culminated in the years’ war