Question

English owes much of its richness to an accident of history. After the Norman conquest of 1066, French became the language of the court, the law and the church, while the English-speaking majority continued to farm. The legacy is still visible on the dinner plate: the animals in the field kept their English names, such as cow, pig and sheep, whereas the meat served to the French-speaking nobility acquired French ones: beef, pork and mutton. Over the following centuries, English absorbed thousands of French words, often alongside native ones that meant almost the same thing. Hence the pairs that puzzle learners, such as "ask" and "enquire", or "start" and "commence". The native word is usually shorter and more informal; the borrowed one tends to sound formal or learned. Linguists note, however, that the picture is more complicated than a simple division between rulers and ruled: the nobility eventually switched to English, and by the fourteenth century Chaucer was writing in a language already thoroughly mixed. The result is a vocabulary in which a speaker can adjust tone simply by choosing between synonyms of different origin. What can be inferred about the English-speaking majority after 1066?

Accepted Answer

They kept using English in everyday life.

Answer

They were forbidden to speak English.

Answer

They adopted French at once.

Answer

They left the country in large numbers.

What can be inferred about the English-speaking majority after 1066?

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