Q 01/05

English is named after which people who migrated to Britain after Roman rule?

A) The Angles

B) The Saxons

C) The Jutes

D) The Frisians

Answer · why

A) The Angles

The Angles left Angeln, a peninsula on the Baltic, so thoroughly that Bede wrote almost three centuries later that their old homeland was said to lie ...

Q 02/05

To which branch of the Indo-European family does English belong?

A) North Germanic

B) Italic

C) Celtic

D) West Germanic

Answer · why

D) West Germanic

West Germanic is the branch of Dutch, German and Frisian. English and Frisian both softened an old k sound, which is why English says cheese where Dut...

Q 03/05

In Ethnologue's 2025 count, English ranked third among native languages, behind Mandarin Chinese and which other language?

A) Hindi

B) Arabic

C) Spanish

D) Portuguese

Answer · why

C) Spanish

Spanish has roughly 100 million more native speakers than English, but count everyone who learned a language later in life and English jumps to first ...

Q 04/05

Which industry's UN agency has required its international workers to prove English proficiency since 2008?

A) Medicine

B) Tourism

C) Aviation

D) Banking

Answer · why

C) Aviation

Aviation: since March 2008 pilots and air traffic controllers on international routes have needed an English endorsement on their licences, after cras...

Q 05/05

How was English designated America's official language in 2025?

A) Act of Congress

B) Executive order

C) Court ruling

D) Constitutional amendment

Answer · why

B) Executive order

An executive order did it: Congress had never passed a law naming a national language, even though more than 30 states had already made English offici...