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 - fifth century a.d., 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 language 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 \enough\ and \feign,\ which look as if they should be pronounced something like \eyght, en - oag,\ and \figen,\ but of course are not. in fact, though, people who study languages tell us that about 84 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 tried, 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 spelling. one of them, noah webster, the creator of the 1828 american dictionary of the english language, was successful enough in his efforts that, to this day, britons and americans spell many words differently (with canadians, as always, trying to occupy a neutral middle ground). webster gave the world \or\ spellings instead of our \favour/favour,\ - er instead of - re (center/centre), and - yse instead of - yse (analyze/analyse). he also introduced many phonetic spellings - that is, spellings based on how words sound - including \skeptical\ (for \sceptical\), \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 grim, 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 ough\ as uf.\ 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 \or\ as \ov,\ 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 1500 years, picked up influences from all over the world. it is estimated, for instance, that when the normans ruled england, from 1066 to 1154, they introduced ten thousand 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. we adopt, without translation, terms like \macho,\ \kinder garten,\ \maitre d,\ \and,\ more recently, \smorgasbord,\ and \glasnost.\ this gives our language a richness and an inclusiveness that others sometimes lack. (although english, of course, has repaid the favor, infiltrating 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, \earth\ and \ground,\ \house\ and \home,\ \story\ and \history.\ and with the language continuing to grow and evolve, transforming itself to meet the requirements of an ever - changing world. when the first english - language dictionaries were published and 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 scientific, medical, and technical terms that dont get included in dictionaries meant for the general public, youre probably talking about many millions of words, with perhaps tens of thousands more being coined with each passing year.
using context clues, determine the meaning of the word \ancestry\ as used in the sentence below.
\we hang on to many of our oddest spellings because, for one thing, they reflect the english languages far - reaching linguistic ancestry.\
a a current situation
b a connection
c origin or background
d far - reaching future

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 - fifth century a.d., 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 language 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 \enough\ and \feign,\ which look as if they should be pronounced something like \eyght, en - oag,\ and \figen,\ but of course are not. in fact, though, people who study languages tell us that about 84 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 tried, 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 spelling. one of them, noah webster, the creator of the 1828 american dictionary of the english language, was successful enough in his efforts that, to this day, britons and americans spell many words differently (with canadians, as always, trying to occupy a neutral middle ground). webster gave the world \or\ spellings instead of our \favour/favour,\ - er instead of - re (center/centre), and - yse instead of - yse (analyze/analyse). he also introduced many phonetic spellings - that is, spellings based on how words sound - including \skeptical\ (for \sceptical\), \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 grim, 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 	ough\ as 	uf.\ 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 \or\ as \ov,\ 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 1500 years, picked up influences from all over the world. it is estimated, for instance, that when the normans ruled england, from 1066 to 1154, they introduced ten thousand 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. we adopt, without translation, terms like \macho,\ \kinder garten,\ \maitre d,\ \and,\ more recently, \smorgasbord,\ and \glasnost.\ this gives our language a richness and an inclusiveness that others sometimes lack. (although english, of course, has repaid the favor, infiltrating 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, \earth\ and \ground,\ \house\ and \home,\ \story\ and \history.\ and with the language continuing to grow and evolve, transforming itself to meet the requirements of an ever - changing world. when the first english - language dictionaries were published and 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 scientific, medical, and technical terms that dont get included in dictionaries meant for the general public, youre probably talking about many millions of words, with perhaps tens of thousands more being coined with each passing year.
using context clues, determine the meaning of the word \ancestry\ as used in the sentence below.
\we hang on to many of our oddest spellings because, for one thing, they reflect the english languages far - reaching linguistic ancestry.\
a a current situation
b a connection
c origin or background
d far - reaching future

Accepted Answer

# Brief Explanations:
The word "ancestry" in the context of the English language's far - reaching influence implies a connection to its roots and historical background. The text discusses the historical development and influences on English, such as Norman rule, Germanic dialects, and borrowings from other languages. This historical background (origin or background) is what "ancestry" refers to in this context.
# Answer:
C. origin or background

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