Name: …………………………………….. Date: ……/……/……
Class: ………… Number: ……….. Evaluation: ………….
2. Read the text and answer the questions:
a) How did these groups of people help to form the English language?
· The Anglo-Saxons
· The Vikings
· The Normans
b) How did English become an international language?
1. What contact do you have with English in your everyday life?
Example: pop songs
The story of English began in the fifth century when tribes from north-western Europe invaded Britain. We call these people Anglo-Saxons. They spoke a language that was similar to modern German. Over the next thousand years, however, this language changed, because other groups of people came to live in Britain.
The first change started in about AD 800 when England was invaded by the Vikings from Norway and Denmark. They brought words like sky, get and husband into English. The -th sound in words like the, thick, and brother also comes from Vikings languages.
In 1066, the Normans from northern France conquered England. The Normans spoke French. For the next three hundred years there were two languages in England. The ordinary people spoke English, but the aristocracy spoke French. The two groups didn't understand each other, so the grammar that they used became much simpler. A lot of words, like parliament, language and beef, came into English from French, too. Slowly the modern language of English was born.
From the 17th century, English spread to many other parts of the world. Most of the early European settlers in North America came from Britain, so English became the language of the United States and Canada. Later, the British Empire took English to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and several other countries in Africa, Asia and Caribbean.
Today, over 350 million people speak English as their first language, and billions of people use it as a second language. English has become the international language of business, entertainment, sport, transport and the Internet.
English has borrowed a lot of words from other languages. Here are some examples:
Word Language
Bank Italian
Tea Chinese
Yoghurt Turkish
Guitar Spanish
Robot Czech
Languages change all time, so English isn't the same all over the world. Here are some differences between British and American English:
Different spellings
British American
Centre center
Colour color
Different words
Lift elevator
Crisps chips
Autumn fall
Football soccer
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