20th century Latin

How many people speak English in the contemporary world?
Why is English sometimes spoken of as the "20th century Latin"?
In how many countries is English the official language?
What is the genealogical classification of languages?
Name the groups of the Indo-European family of languages.
Which languages make separate groups in the Indo-European family of languages?
Name the subgroups of the Germanic group of languages.
Which languages belong to the West Germanic subgroup?
Are the relations of languages based upon belonging of the nations speaking those languages to the same race?
Give the formulation of J.Grimm's law.
Explain the relation between the Russian word болото and English pool from the point of view of J.Grimm's law.
Explain the relation between the Latin word duo 'two' and English two from the point of view of J.Grimm's law.
Explain the relation between the Russian word три and English three from the point of view of J.Grimm's law.
Why is the Gothic language of special interest for linguists?
When did the English language originate?
Name the Celtic tribes that inhabited Britain before the Roman period.
Name the Germanic tribes on the dialects of which the English language was based?
How long did the Roman reign in Britain last?
Why did the Roman have to leave Britain in the 5th century?
How did the Roman colonization influence the language of the Celts?
Who described the Conquest of Britain by the Germanic tribes?
What group did the dialects of Angles, Saxons and Jutes belong to?
What helped the formation of the English language on the basis of the dialects of Angles, Saxons and Jutes?
What was the political situation in Britain after the Germanic Conquest?
Name the nine Germanic kingdoms which existed on the territory of Britain in the 6th century.
Which kingdom had the dominating position in the 7th century?
Which was the most powerful kingdom in Britain in the 8th century?
Explain the meaning of "Danelaw".
When did the Scandinavian invasions begin?
How long did Britain remain a part of the Danish Empire?
Who became the king of England after the fall of the Danish power?
When was the Anglo-Saxon power restored?

Name the periods of the history of the English language.
Calculate which is the shortest and which is the longest period in the history of the English language.
What was the linguistic situation in England after the Norman Conquest?
Name the most important Old English literary documents.
What did the letters of the Runic alphabet look like?
What is "Beowulf"?
Which dialect had become the most important by the end of the Old English period?
How many vowel monophthongs were there in Old English?
What does it mean when we say that the Old English system of vowels was symmetric?
Explain the fact that in Old English texts we come across such spelling variants as man -mon, land - lond, etc.?
How many diphthongs were there in Old English phonetic structure? Name them.
Give the definition of ablaut.
Write out the four basic forms of the verb writan 'to write'.
Give the forms of the comparative and superlative degrees of the adjectives strong, long, eald in Old English. Explain them.
Is there historic relation between the modern words road and to ride?
Name the nine principal phonetic changes that took place in Old English.
What is the Old English fracture?
Explain the change *herte > heorte.