About this Study Set
This study set covers English Literature through
18 practice questions.
A collection of questions focusing on the origins, first instances, and foundational milestones in English literature. Every question includes the correct answer so you can learn as you go — pick any format above to get started.
Questions & Answers
Browse all 18 questions from the
Pioneers of English Letters study set below.
Each question shows the correct answer — select a study format above to practice interactively.
1
Which work is widely considered to be the first novel written in the English language?
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A
Robinson Crusoe
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B
Pamela
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C
Oroonoko
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D
Moll Flanders
2
Who is credited with introducing the printing press to England in 1476?
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A
William Caxton
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B
John Day
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C
Wynkyn de Worde
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D
Richard Pynson
3
Which English author is credited with inventing the 'stream of consciousness' technique in literature?
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A
James Joyce
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B
Virginia Woolf
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C
Dorothy Richardson
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D
Samuel Beckett
4
What is the title of the first English-language dictionary, compiled by Robert Cawdrey in 1604?
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A
A Table Alphabeticall
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B
The English Expositor
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C
Glossographia
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D
The Dictionarie of the English Tongue
5
Which poem is recognized as the first major work of English literature to use the heroic couplet?
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A
The Canterbury Tales
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B
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
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C
The Legend of Good Women
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D
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
6
Which writer is often called the 'father of the English mystery novel' for his 1868 work 'The Moonstone'?
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A
Arthur Conan Doyle
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B
Wilkie Collins
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C
Edgar Allan Poe
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D
Charles Dickens
7
In which century was the first English-language newspaper, 'The London Gazette', founded?
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A
15th
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B
16th
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C
17th
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D
18th
8
Which play is the first known English drama to feature blank verse?
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A
Gorboduc
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B
Ralph Roister Doister
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C
Gammer Gurton's Needle
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D
The Spanish Tragedy
9
What was the first work of literature to use the term 'science fiction' in a modern sense?
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A
Frankenstein
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B
The Time Machine
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C
The Last Man
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D
Astounding Science Fiction
10
Who wrote 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman', considered the first postmodern English novel?
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A
Henry Fielding
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B
Laurence Sterne
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C
Tobias Smollett
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D
Samuel Richardson
11
Which English poet was the first to use the sonnet form, having brought it from Italy?
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A
Philip Sidney
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B
Thomas Wyatt
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C
Henry Howard
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D
Edmund Spenser
12
What is the first known autobiography written in the English language?
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A
The Book of Margery Kempe
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B
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
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C
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
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D
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
13
Which author is credited with inventing the genre of the 'Gothic novel' with 'The Castle of Otranto'?
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A
Ann Radcliffe
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B
Matthew Lewis
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C
Horace Walpole
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D
Mary Shelley
14
The first literary magazine in English, 'The Gentleman's Magazine', was first published in which year?
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A
1711
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B
1731
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C
1751
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D
1771
15
Which English writer is known for creating the first collection of literary fairy tales published in English?
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A
Charles Perrault
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B
Joseph Jacobs
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C
Andrew Lang
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D
Lewis Carroll
16
What was the first English novel to be serialized in a newspaper?
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A
Pickwick Papers
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B
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
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C
Vanity Fair
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D
Clarissa
17
Which author published the first English 'grammar' book for schools in 1586?
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A
William Bullokar
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B
Richard Mulcaster
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C
John Hart
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D
Alexander Hume
18
Which classic English novel is considered the first 'epistolary novel' (told through letters)?
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A
Pamela
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B
Evelina
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C
Dangerous Liaisons
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D
Humphry Clinker
