English Language Day Quiz

1. What is your favourite word in English? Why?

2. Find a word in English that has no translation into your language.

3. “The definite article is a LION. It is the King of the sentence!” Find a

metaphor for a piece of grammar.

4. Say ‘seventy seven benevolent elephants’ 3 times quickly without

making a mistake.

5. Which English word do you least like? Why?

6. Match the English word to the language it comes from:

pyjamas Swedish
ballet Japanese
tycoon German
moped Dutch
muesli Italian
cookie Hindi
paparazzi French

7. What’s easy about learning English?

8. How many different ways can you pronounce the letters ‘-ough’?

9. Name 5 words that have a double ‘o’ .

10. Name 1 word that has a double ‘i’.

11. What do the words month, orange, silver and purple have in common?

12. If you could change one thing about the English langauge, what would
you change?

© Oxford University Press

English Day Quiz – Possible Answers

1. No right or wrongs here. But students may like words for their meanings
or their sounds.

2. This will depend on the language of the students. If they don’t know,
then perhaps they could look in a dictionary?

3. This is where your students will have to use their imaginations!

4. This is a very difficult tongue-twister. Ask students to share any others

they know, and then the class vote on the most difficult.

5. This most hated word could be because of it’s meaning or because it’s
difficult to pronounce or spell.

6.
pyjamas Hindi
ballet French
tycoon Japanese
moped Swedish
muesli German
cookie Dutch
paparazzi Italian

7. This could be so many different things depending on the native

language of the students, or their own personality.

8. There are 8 common ways of pronouncing ‘-ough’

though (əʊ)
through (uː)
cough (ɒf)
rough (ʌf)
plough (aʊ)
ought (ɔː)
borough (ə)
hiccough (ʌp)

9. Too, choose, loose, floor, room, blood, boost, stood, etc

10. skiing

11. No other words in English rhyme with them.

12. Once again, students can use their imaginations!

© Oxford University Press