Language & Writing

44 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which grammar term means the opposite of another word?
- A. a synonym
- B. an antonym
- C. an acronym
- D. punctuation
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an antonym
Did you know? "Hot" and "cold" are antonyms.
2.Which language is written from right to left?
- A. Japanese
- B. Arabic
- C. the word "okay"
- D. Swahili
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Arabic
Did you know? Arabic script curves from right to left across the page.
3.Which language family descend from spoken Latin?
- A. the Slavic languages
- B. the Romance languages
- C. the Germanic languages
- D. the Indo-European family
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the Romance languages
Did you know? Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian are Romance languages.
4.Which saying passes wisdom in a short saying?
- A. Gulliver's Travels
- B. Pinocchio
- C. Katakana
- D. a proverb
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a proverb
Did you know? "Where there's smoke, there's fire" is a proverb.
5.Which symbol is a symbol standing for the word "and"?
- A. the friction match
- B. the kiss on the cheek
- C. bamboo
- D. the ampersand
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the ampersand
Did you know? The ampersand began as a ligature of "et".
6.Which wordplay reads the same backward and forward?
- A. Mammoth Cave
- B. a palindrome
- C. eating with the right hand
- D. Belgium
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a palindrome
Did you know? In English, "level" and "racecar" are palindromes.
7.Which writing system is the Korean alphabet created in the 1440s?
- A. the Phoenician alphabet
- B. Hangul
- C. shorthand
- D. Linear B
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Hangul
Did you know? King Sejong introduced Hangul.
8.Which grammar term shares its meaning with another word?
- A. an antonym
- B. a synonym
- C. punctuation
- D. a dialect
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a synonym
Did you know? "Big" and "large" are synonyms.
9.Which language is the most spoken language in South America?
- A. Portuguese
- B. Hindi
- C. Japanese
- D. ancient Greek
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Portuguese
Did you know? Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.
10.Which language family include English, German, and the Scandinavian tongues?
- A. the Germanic languages
- B. the Slavic languages
- C. the Indo-European family
- D. the Romance languages
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the Germanic languages
Did you know? Germanic languages share ancient northern roots.
11.Which writing system add small pictures to digital messages?
- A. emoji
- B. calligraphy
- C. shorthand
- D. Braille
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emoji
Did you know? The first emoji set came from Japan in the 1990s.
12.Which grammar term organizes written sentences with marks?
- A. an antonym
- B. a synonym
- C. a dialect
- D. punctuation
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punctuation
Did you know? Commas, periods, and colons are punctuation marks.
13.Which language communicates through hand shapes and expressions?
- A. sign language
- B. Basque
- C. Swahili
- D. Latin
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sign language
Did you know? Many countries have their own sign languages.
14.Which language family include Russian, Polish, and Czech?
- A. the Slavic languages
- B. the Romance languages
- C. the Indo-European family
- D. the Germanic languages
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the Slavic languages
Did you know? Slavic languages stretch across half of Europe.
15.Which writing system is read with the fingertips over raised dots?
- A. the Phoenician alphabet
- B. Egyptian hieroglyphs
- C. runic inscriptions
- D. Braille
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Braille
Did you know? Louis Braille invented the six-dot cell.
16.Which grammar term is formed from the first letters of a phrase?
- A. punctuation
- B. an acronym
- C. an antonym
- D. a synonym
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an acronym
Did you know? "Laser" began as an acronym.
17.Which language survives in the Romance languages and in scientific names?
- A. Latin
- B. Basque
- C. Esperanto
- D. Japanese
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Latin
Did you know? Latin was the language of the Roman Empire.
18.Which language family stretches from Iceland to India?
- A. the Romance languages
- B. the Slavic languages
- C. the Germanic languages
- D. the Indo-European family
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the Indo-European family
Did you know? Indo-European includes over 400 languages.
19.Which writing system combine picture signs with sound signs?
- A. Chinese characters
- B. the Cyrillic alphabet
- C. runic inscriptions
- D. Egyptian hieroglyphs
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Egyptian hieroglyphs
Did you know? Hieroglyphs decorated temple and tomb walls.
20.Which writing system spells messages in dots and dashes?
- A. Hiragana
- B. emoji
- C. Hangul
- D. Morse code
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Morse code
Did you know? Morse code turns letters into timed signals.
21.Which writing system was pressed into clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia?
- A. cuneiform
- B. Braille
- C. runic inscriptions
- D. shorthand
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cuneiform
Did you know? Cuneiform is one of the earliest writing systems.
22.Which writing system is the art of beautiful handwriting?
- A. an abjad
- B. calligraphy
- C. Katakana
- D. Chinese characters
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calligraphy
Did you know? Chinese calligraphy ranks among the fine arts.
23.Which grammar term is a regional variety of a language?
- A. a synonym
- B. an antonym
- C. punctuation
- D. a dialect
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a dialect
Did you know? Italian dialects can differ city to city.
24.Which language was invented in 1887 as an easy international language?
- A. ancient Greek
- B. Esperanto
- C. Swahili
- D. Mandarin Chinese
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Esperanto
Did you know? L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto.
25.Which linguistic term are words adopted from other languages?
- A. Cubism
- B. loanwords
- C. Romeo and Juliet
- D. the shared platter
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loanwords
Did you know? "Tsunami" is a Japanese loanword used worldwide.
26.Which writing marks mark stress and sound in written words?
- A. accent marks
- B. the popsicle
- C. the trampoline
- D. the slow food movement
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accent marks
Did you know? Portuguese uses acute accents, tildes, and circumflexes.
27.Which writing system is the Japanese syllabary for foreign loanwords?
- A. Morse code
- B. an abjad
- C. Katakana
- D. Hiragana
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Katakana
Did you know? Katakana renders "coffee" and "computer" in Japanese.
28.Which language mixes three writing systems in one text?
- A. the word "okay"
- B. Japanese
- C. Basque
- D. Esperanto
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Japanese
Did you know? Japanese text mixes kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
29.Which writing system is used across Russia and much of Eastern Europe?
- A. runic inscriptions
- B. the Cyrillic alphabet
- C. Egyptian hieroglyphs
- D. the Phoenician alphabet
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the Cyrillic alphabet
Did you know? Cyrillic letters come from Greek and earlier Slavic sources.
30.Which language is said to be the most recognized word on the planet?
- A. Arabic
- B. Portuguese
- C. the word "okay"
- D. Swahili
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the word "okay"
Did you know? "Okay" spread worldwide in the 1800s.
31.Which writing system is a quick script for taking dictation?
- A. emoji
- B. the Phoenician alphabet
- C. shorthand
- D. Egyptian hieroglyphs
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shorthand
Did you know? Shorthand experts once filled newsrooms.
32.Which language distinguishes meaning through pitch changes?
- A. sign language
- B. Basque
- C. Japanese
- D. Mandarin Chinese
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Mandarin Chinese
Did you know? Mandarin uses four main tones.
33.Which writing system are logograms standing for words or ideas?
- A. Chinese characters
- B. emoji
- C. Egyptian hieroglyphs
- D. Linear B
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Chinese characters
Did you know? Chinese characters number in the tens of thousands.
34.Which language shares an ancient ancestor with English?
- A. Hindi
- B. Welsh
- C. the word "okay"
- D. Mandarin Chinese
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Hindi
Did you know? Hindi belongs to the Indo-European family.
35.Which writing system is the flowing Japanese syllabary for native words?
- A. Hiragana
- B. Braille
- C. an abjad
- D. emoji
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Hiragana
Did you know? Hiragana has 46 basic signs.
36.Which language gave science words like "biology" and "astronomy"?
- A. Arabic
- B. Welsh
- C. Swahili
- D. ancient Greek
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ancient Greek
Did you know? Ancient Greek roots fill scientific vocabulary.
37.Which language survives in western Britain despite centuries of pressure?
- A. Basque
- B. Welsh
- C. Swahili
- D. the word "okay"
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Welsh
Did you know? Welsh is spoken by hundreds of thousands of people.
38.Which language type were born when languages blended in contact?
- A. Katherine Johnson
- B. accent marks
- C. creole languages
- D. triskaidekaphobia
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creole languages
Did you know? Haitian Creole grew from contact with French.
39.Which writing system were carved by Germanic peoples of northern Europe?
- A. runic inscriptions
- B. emoji
- C. Hangul
- D. cuneiform
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runic inscriptions
Did you know? Runic letters have sharp, straight strokes.
40.Which language blends Bantu roots with many Arabic loanwords?
- A. Swahili
- B. Welsh
- C. Arabic
- D. ancient Greek
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Swahili
Did you know? Swahili is a common language of East Africa.
41.Which writing system gave rise to Greek and Latin letters?
- A. the Cyrillic alphabet
- B. Braille
- C. runic inscriptions
- D. the Phoenician alphabet
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the Phoenician alphabet
Did you know? The Phoenician alphabet had about 22 letters.
42.Which language is a European language unrelated to its neighbors?
- A. Welsh
- B. Portuguese
- C. Basque
- D. Swahili
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Basque
Did you know? Basque is a language isolate.
43.Which writing system was an early Greek script deciphered in 1952?
- A. Chinese characters
- B. Linear B
- C. Hiragana
- D. Braille
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Linear B
Did you know? Michael Ventris cracked Linear B.
44.Which writing system is a script whose letters are mainly consonants?
- A. calligraphy
- B. an abjad
- C. Chinese characters
- D. Katakana
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an abjad
Did you know? Arabic and Hebrew scripts work as abjads.

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