Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international communication. English as we know it today emerged around 1350, after having incorporated many elements of French that were introduced following the Norman invasion of 1066. Until the 1600s, English was, for the most part, spoken only in England and had not extended even as far as Wales, Scotland or Ireland. However, during the course of the next two centuries, English began to spread around the globe as a result of exploration, trade (including slave trade), colonization, and missionary work. Thus, small enclaves of English speakers became established and grew in various parts of the world. As these communities proliferated, English gradually became the primary language of international business, banking and diplomacy. 

Currently, about 80 percent of the information stored on computer systems worldwide is in English. Two-thirds of the world’s science writing is in English, and English is the main language of technology, advertising, media, international airports, and air traffic controllers. Today there are more than 700 million English users in the world, and over half of these are non-native speakers, constituting the largest number of non-native users than any other language in the world.

The word “emerged” means ...............

Câu hỏi liên quan

• What is the main idea of this passage?

• The word “address” in in paragraph 6 can be replaced by ......

• How many different forms of communication are mentioned here?

ZUNIA12

• As mentioned in the text, who are the most active when their team has the ball?

• It is stated in the passage that extreme weather is ..............

• With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned?

• How many Americans are involved in telecommuting?

• The word “vacations” in line 9 could be best replaced by ..............

• Gestures __________.

• The word “they” in the last paragraph refers to ............

• The author implies that in the 1920’s and 1930’s home deliveries of ice _________ .

• The author mentions all of the following as jobs held by Moore EXCEPT ________

• According to the passage, agriculture could ____.

• What can we assume is NOT true about Middle Earth?

• Merlin put wheels under his shoes in order to __________

• According to the passage, red algae is ................

• The main idea of the passage is that in America's frontier days ..............

• The passage is mainly about ............

• Learning to write is .................

• The word "Here" in line 9 refers to ............