291 English Trivia Questions with Answers
291 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Which manuscript contains the only surviving complete copy of 'Beowulf'?
Answer
Nowell Codex
Which sound change affected English long vowels from the 15th to 18th centuries?
Answer
Great Vowel Shift
What is the name of the English writing system used before the Latin alphabet?
Answer
Anglo-Saxon runes
Which dictionary by Samuel Johnson was first published in 1755?
Answer
A Dictionary of the English Language
Who wrote the Middle English work 'The Canterbury Tales'?
Answer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Which 1066 event greatly increased French influence on English?
Answer
Norman Conquest
What is the plural of the English word 'mouse'?
Answer
Mice
Which English word order is abbreviated SVO?
Answer
Subject-verb-object
Which Old English epic poem is set mainly in Scandinavia?
Answer
Beowulf
Which stage of English came before Middle English?
Answer
Old English
What is the plural of 'phenomenon'?
Answer
Phenomena
In English grammar, what part of speech is 'quickly'?
Answer
Adverb
What is the name of the dot above the letter 'i'?
Answer
Tittle
What punctuation mark combines a question mark and an exclamation point?
Answer
Interrobang
The English word 'goodbye' is a contraction of which phrase?
Answer
God be with ye
What literary device is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words?
Answer
Alliteration
Who published the first comprehensive American English dictionary in 1828?
Answer
Noah Webster
What is the irregular plural form of 'child'?
Answer
Children
What punctuation mark is also known as a 'full stop'?
Answer
Period
What is the term for a word formed by merging two words, such as 'brunch'?
Answer
portmanteau
What is the longest word in major English dictionaries?
Answer
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
What is the term for a word that imitates a sound, like 'buzz'?
Answer
onomatopoeia
What part of speech is used to describe a noun?
Answer
adjective
What is the opposite of a synonym?
Answer
antonym
What is the longest word in Shakespeare's works?
Answer
honorificabilitudinitatibus
What type of sentence consists of just one independent clause?
Answer
simple sentence
Who wrote the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'?
Answer
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What is the dot above the letters 'i' and 'j' called?
Answer
tittle
What is the name of the symbol @ called in English?
Answer
at sign
What is the plural of 'ox'?
Answer
oxen
What punctuation mark separates items in a list?
Answer
comma
What is the name for a word formed by combining two words, like 'brunch'?
Answer
portmanteau