the english language, now spoken by about half a billion people worldwide, was actually brought to england by invaders from northern germany, in the mid-5th century ad. three seafaring tribes-the angles, the jutes and the saxons-saw their chance to fill the void left by departing roman soldiers and launched their own assault on the southern and eastern coasts of england (or he land of the angles\). the language they carried with them across the cold and stormy north sea developed into old english, then middle english, and finally modern english, the most widely used languages in the world.
english is often accused of being an impossibly complicated language, horribly difficult for nonnative speakers to learn. it is full of words like \eight\ and \sleigh\ and \feign,\ which look as if they should be pronounced something like eegrn, emg, and fern, but of course are not. in fact, though, people who study languages tell us that about 97 percent of english words are entirely straightforward and get pronounced exactly as they seem they should. another 13 percent follow the rules closely enough that most people can sound them out without making too many mistakes. the problems lie in the final 3 percent, a small but troublesome group of words that dont behave in any predictable fashion and simply have to be committed to memory. unfortunately for anyone trying to learn the language, that 3 percent includes four hundred of our most commonly used words, such as \of,\ \four,\ \done,\ and \love.\
english is probably the worlds most well-documented language, and this is one reason why so many illogical spellings have survived through to the present day. people began producing english-language dictionaries almost as soon as the printing press was invented in europe, in the 1400s, and these dictionaries (not, perhaps, for all time, many of the spellings that make the least sense to us today
over the past four centuries or so, a number of people have argued for the simplification of english spellings. one of them, noah webster, the creator of the 1828 american dictionary of the english language, was unsuccessful enough in his efforts that, to this day, british and american spell many words differently. both canadians, as always, trying to occupy a neutral middle ground: webster gave the world \spellings\ instead of our \favourites\-or instead of \favorites\-and \yoke\ instead of \yoke\ (anyway/anyway). he also introduced many phonetic spellings-that is, spellings based on how words sound-including \skeptical\ (for \sceptic\), \plow\ (for \plough\), and \check\ (for \cheque\). one theory is that webster hoped to make the language more rule-abiding so that americans, who tended to have less formal education, could more easily learn to read and write.
(5) but webster was, by all accounts, a pompous, miserable man, and in the end, he was not able to talk people around to accepting some of his more radical changes, like spelling \women\ as \wimmen\ and hough\ as huf.\ he learned that the more common a word is, the greater the resistance to changing it. theres hardly an english-speaker on earth who wont, for example, oppose spelling \for\ as \or,\ whether it makes more sense or not.
we hang on to many of our oddest spellings because, for one thing, they reflect the english languages far-reaching linguistic ancestry. though it began life as a germanic dialect, english has over 1,500 years, picked up influences from all over the world. it is estimated, for instance, that when the normans invaded england, from 1066 to 1154, they introduced 10,000 borrowed french-derived words into the language. a full three-quarters of which we still use today. we have also borrowed freely from latin, greek, danish, swedish, spanish, and even russian. in fact, many people have argued that one of the great strengths of english is its willingness to \embrace words\ from just about anywhere. the anglo-saxon chronicle, terms like \mucking,\
ondescript,\ \manor of,\ and, more recently, \blogosphere\ and \glocalist.\ this gives our language a richness and an inclusiveness that often surprises like. with english, of course, has replaced the two. indicating languages all over the globe, and sometimes creating hybrid monsters (like \denglish,\ a mix of german and english, and franglais, a mix of english and french.)
today, most language experts agree that there are about 200,000 english words in everyday use. (french makes do with roughly half that number.) with a language so vast, we can often be more precise with meaning than non-english speakers, distinguishing between, for example, \scanty\ and \sparse,\ \hazard\ and \peril,\ and \miserly\ and \stingy.\ and the language continues to grow and evolve, transforming itself to meet the requirements of an ever-changing world. when the first english-language dictionary was published, they listed about 3,000 words. samuel johnsons landmark dictionary of the english language, published in 1755, contained 43,000 words, and the granddaddy of them all, the oxford english dictionary, has a mind-boggling 615,000. when you add all the specialist, technical terms that dont get included in dictionaries meant for the general public, youre probably talking about many millions of words, with perhaps ten of thousands more being coined with each passing year
14 which statement provides an objective summary of the selection?
a the english language has a long history of including words from many languages and continues to evolve to meet the requirements of an ever-changing world.
b the english language is spoken by half a billion people in the world and originated in germany.
c the english language is the worlds most documented language because of the large number of english language dictionaries.
d modern english is considered the most widely used language in the world.

Question

the english language, now spoken by about half a billion people worldwide, was actually brought to england by invaders from northern germany, in the mid-5th century ad. three seafaring tribes-the angles, the jutes and the saxons-saw their chance to fill the void left by departing roman soldiers and launched their own assault on the southern and eastern coasts of england (or 	he land of the angles\). the language they carried with them across the cold and stormy north sea developed into old english, then middle english, and finally modern english, the most widely used languages in the world.
english is often accused of being an impossibly complicated language, horribly difficult for nonnative speakers to learn. it is full of words like \eight\ and \sleigh\ and \feign,\ which look as if they should be pronounced something like eegrn, emg, and fern, but of course are not. in fact, though, people who study languages tell us that about 97 percent of english words are entirely straightforward and get pronounced exactly as they seem they should. another 13 percent follow the rules closely enough that most people can sound them out without making too many mistakes. the problems lie in the final 3 percent, a small but troublesome group of words that dont behave in any predictable fashion and simply have to be committed to memory. unfortunately for anyone trying to learn the language, that 3 percent includes four hundred of our most commonly used words, such as \of,\ \four,\ \done,\ and \love.\
english is probably the worlds most well-documented language, and this is one reason why so many illogical spellings have survived through to the present day. people began producing english-language dictionaries almost as soon as the printing press was invented in europe, in the 1400s, and these dictionaries (not, perhaps, for all time, many of the spellings that make the least sense to us today
over the past four centuries or so, a number of people have argued for the simplification of english spellings. one of them, noah webster, the creator of the 1828 american dictionary of the english language, was unsuccessful enough in his efforts that, to this day, british and american spell many words differently. both canadians, as always, trying to occupy a neutral middle ground: webster gave the world \spellings\ instead of our \favourites\-or instead of \favorites\-and \yoke\ instead of \yoke\ (anyway/anyway). he also introduced many phonetic spellings-that is, spellings based on how words sound-including \skeptical\ (for \sceptic\), \plow\ (for \plough\), and \check\ (for \cheque\). one theory is that webster hoped to make the language more rule-abiding so that americans, who tended to have less formal education, could more easily learn to read and write.
(5) but webster was, by all accounts, a pompous, miserable man, and in the end, he was not able to talk people around to accepting some of his more radical changes, like spelling \women\ as \wimmen\ and 	hough\ as 	huf.\ he learned that the more common a word is, the greater the resistance to changing it. theres hardly an english-speaker on earth who wont, for example, oppose spelling \for\ as \or,\ whether it makes more sense or not.
we hang on to many of our oddest spellings because, for one thing, they reflect the english languages far-reaching linguistic ancestry. though it began life as a germanic dialect, english has over 1,500 years, picked up influences from all over the world. it is estimated, for instance, that when the normans invaded england, from 1066 to 1154, they introduced 10,000 borrowed french-derived words into the language. a full three-quarters of which we still use today. we have also borrowed freely from latin, greek, danish, swedish, spanish, and even russian. in fact, many people have argued that one of the great strengths of english is its willingness to \embrace words\ from just about anywhere. the anglo-saxon chronicle, terms like \mucking,\
ondescript,\ \manor of,\ and, more recently, \blogosphere\ and \glocalist.\ this gives our language a richness and an inclusiveness that often surprises like. with english, of course, has replaced the two. indicating languages all over the globe, and sometimes creating hybrid monsters (like \denglish,\ a mix of german and english, and franglais, a mix of english and french.)
today, most language experts agree that there are about 200,000 english words in everyday use. (french makes do with roughly half that number.) with a language so vast, we can often be more precise with meaning than non-english speakers, distinguishing between, for example, \scanty\ and \sparse,\ \hazard\ and \peril,\ and \miserly\ and \stingy.\ and the language continues to grow and evolve, transforming itself to meet the requirements of an ever-changing world. when the first english-language dictionary was published, they listed about 3,000 words. samuel johnsons landmark dictionary of the english language, published in 1755, contained 43,000 words, and the granddaddy of them all, the oxford english dictionary, has a mind-boggling 615,000. when you add all the specialist, technical terms that dont get included in dictionaries meant for the general public, youre probably talking about many millions of words, with perhaps ten of thousands more being coined with each passing year
14 which statement provides an objective summary of the selection?
a the english language has a long history of including words from many languages and continues to evolve to meet the requirements of an ever-changing world.
b the english language is spoken by half a billion people in the world and originated in germany.
c the english language is the worlds most documented language because of the large number of english language dictionaries.
d modern english is considered the most widely used language in the world.

Accepted Answer

# Brief Explanations:
- **Option A**: The text mentions the English language's history (from Old English to Modern English), its incorporation of words from many languages (like Latin, Greek, etc.), and its evolution to meet the needs of an ever - changing world. This is an objective summary as it just states facts about the language's development and adaptability.
- **Option B**: While it's true that about half a billion people speak English, the claim that it "originated in Germany" is an oversimplification. It was brought to England by invaders from northern Germany, but its development is more complex with influences from many other languages and regions.
- **Option C**: The text does mention English - language dictionaries, but it's not the main focus of the selection. The selection is more about the language's history, complexity, and evolution rather than just being the "most documented" because of dictionaries.
- **Option D**: The text says "the language most widely used language in the world" refers to Old English evolving into Modern English, but it's not the key point of the entire selection. The selection is more about the language's overall history and evolution.

# Answer:
A. The English language has a long history of including words from many languages and continues to evolve to meet the requirements of an ever - changing world.

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