English is one of the world's most widely spoken languages. This is partly because it was the language of the British Empire.The empire once controlled so much of the world when it was said 1that the Sun never set on the British Empire. England, the birthplace of English, takes on most of the island 2of Great Britain. It is one of the four land that form the United 3Kingdom. The English that people speak there today is quitediffered from the English that was spoken long ago. If you were 4read a book by Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the early writers of 5English, someone would have to explain it to you what many 6words mean. England has product many famous writers since Chaucer. 7They include such poets as John Milton and Percy Bysshe Shelley and such novelists as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. England is also known for its theater. That art has remained important since the time of playwright William Shakespeare some 400 years ago. England's Oxford and Cambridge are two of the oldest universitiesin the world. The country' s contributions of classical and folk 8music, as well as to rock and roll, are also important. It's not hard 9to imagine what rock would be like if there hadn't been English performers such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and DavidBowie. The English also discovered two of the world' s most 10popular sports: football(known as "soccer" in the United States)and cricket.