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Quiz about What Shakespeare Did For The English Language

What Shakespeare Did For The English Language Quiz

As well as being a prolific writer, William Shakespeare brought to us many words, phrases and descriptions that have long since entered common usage. See if you can spot where they came from, or who said them.

A multiple-choice quiz by darksplash. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
darksplash

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
327,101

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
680

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Mpproch (4/10), Guest 108 (5/10), Guest 94 (4/10).

Question 1 of 10

1. To which play by William Shakespeare do we owe the phrase "green-eyed monster"? Hint

Hamlet

King John

Corionlanus

Othello

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Question 2 of 10

2. If you have a difficult choice to make between two options, you might be said to be "in a pickle" From which Shakespearean play did the phrase originate? Hint

The Tempest

She Stoops To Conquer

The Taming Of The Shrew

Coriolanus

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Question 3 of 10

3. When we see someone overlooking a flaw in a true love's personality, we sometimes say "love is blind". In which of these plays did William Shakespeare use the phrase? Hint

The Merchant of Venice

Love's Labour's Lost

The Comedy of Errors

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Question 4 of 10

4. Phrases from Shakespeare: Salad Days. Which Shakespearean heroine spoke of "My salad days when I was green in judgment"? Hint

Cleopatra

Lady MacBeth

Cordelia

Ophelia

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Question 5 of 10

5. People who display their affections and enthusiasm openly are often said to wear their heart on their sleeve. Which Shakespearean villain said "...I will wear my heart on my sleeve..."? Hint

Claudius

Shylock

Iago

Don John

6. When faced with a decision in which we recognise that one choice or outcome may have difficulties, we sometimes identify it by saying "There's the rub". In which famous passage did William Shakespeare use the phrase? Hint

Henry encouraging his troops before the battle of Agincourt in "Henry V"

Hamlet's "To be or not to be" in "Hamlet"

Cassius's speech to Brutus in "Julius Caesar"

Richard's "My kingdom for a horse" plea in "Richard III"

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Question 7 of 10

7. Nick Lowe sang "You've got to be cruel to be kind, in the right measure" but which character did Shakespeare have say "I must be cruel only to be kind"? Hint

Macbeth

Romeo

Duncan

Hamlet

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Question 8 of 10

8. The other day I went looking for the end of a rainbow to see if I could find a pot of gold there, but it was a wild goose chase. Before I wrote this quiz I didn't realise that "wild goose chase" came from a play by William Shakespeare. Which one? Hint

Henry V

Romeo and Juliet

Much Ado About Nothing

As You Like It

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Question 9 of 10

9. The phrase "the dogs of war" is one with a Shakespearean background. In which play did it appear?
Hint

All's Well That Ends Well

Julius Caesar

Measure For Measure

Cymbeline

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Question 10 of 10

10. Did you ever see that television advertisement where a dog, a cat, and a mouse settled down happily in front of an open fire? Weren't they "strange bedfellows"? Where did William Shakespeare use that phrase? Hint

Henry VIII

The Comedy of Errors

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Tempest

Most Recent Scores

Dec 12 2024 : Mpproch: 4/10
Dec 09 2024 : Guest 108: 5/10
Nov 23 2024 : Guest 94: 4/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. To which play by William Shakespeare do we owe the phrase "green-eyed monster"?

Answer: Othello

In Act 3, Scene 3 Iago said: "O beware my lord of jealousy/It is the green-eyes monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on."

2. If you have a difficult choice to make between two options, you might be said to be "in a pickle" From which Shakespearean play did the phrase originate?

Answer: The Tempest

In Act 5 Scene 1, King Alonso asked his jester, Trinculo: "How comest thou in this pickle"? The reply from the drunken jester was: "I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last."
To be in a pickle suggests being in difficulty.

3. When we see someone overlooking a flaw in a true love's personality, we sometimes say "love is blind". In which of these plays did William Shakespeare use the phrase?

Answer: The Merchant of Venice

n Act 2, Scene 6, Jessica says "But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit..."
The phrase also appears in "Henry V" and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona".

4. Phrases from Shakespeare: Salad Days. Which Shakespearean heroine spoke of "My salad days when I was green in judgment"?

Answer: Cleopatra

It appears in Act 1, Scene 5 of "Antony and Cleopatra".
Cleopatra meant it to refer to her younger times of youth and inexperience. In modern usage it often refers to "heydays".

5. People who display their affections and enthusiasm openly are often said to wear their heart on their sleeve. Which Shakespearean villain said "...I will wear my heart on my sleeve..."?

Answer: Iago

In Othello Act 1, Scene 1, he said "But I will wear my heart on my sleeve/For daws to peck at: I am not what I am."
Despite what he said, Iago was not one to allow anyone to see his true feelings.

Answer: Hamlet's "To be or not to be" in "Hamlet"

In Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1, the prince accepts that death may end his difficulties, but if the dead are troubled by dreams, well, there's the rub.
"...to die, to sleep
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life."
The word "rub" was well known before Shakespeare used the word in this way. It referred to a bump on an otherwise smooth bowling green. (Which may have given us another saying "the rub of the green".)

7. Nick Lowe sang "You've got to be cruel to be kind, in the right measure" but which character did Shakespeare have say "I must be cruel only to be kind"?

Answer: Hamlet

"I must be cruel only to be kind
This bad begin and worse remains behind",
said Hamlet after he had killed Polonius by mistake. (Hamlet Act 3, Scene 4).
In modern times we often hear it said when a government or organisation defends a small number of job or spending cuts on the grounds that they will preserve the well-being of a larger entity or plan.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

n Act 2, Scene 4, Mercutio said: "Nay, if the wits run the wild goose chase I am done; for thou hast more of the wild goose is one of thy wits than I, am sure, I have in my whole five".
In Shakespeare's day a "wild goose chase" was a horse race in which riders tried to follow the leader's course. We describe an activity that ends unsuccessfully as "a wild goose chase".

9. The phrase "the dogs of war" is one with a Shakespearean background. In which play did it appear?

Answer: Julius Caesar

In Act 3, Scene 1, following the death of Caesar, Mark Antony declares "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war".
In modern times, soldiers are sometimes referred to as dogs of war, but it is more commonly seen as a scurrilous reference to mercenaries, rather than a nation's own troops.

Answer: The Tempest

In Act 2, Scene 2 Trinculo sought shelter from a storm under the cloak of a creature he was not sure of. He pondered: "misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows".
It is often seen when two groups that look like unlikely allies combine in a common purpose. (Did anyone think of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats in their UK coalition Government after the 2010 General Election?)

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
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