English is spoken all around the world. When you meet someone from a different country, it is likely that you will try to talk to each other in English. Because English is so widespread, there are many ‘versions’ or variations of English. Think of American English or British English. But there are many, many more. How did this happen, and why did it not happen to other languages? Or did it?
1) Which country enabled English to become a lingua franca and why?
2) Chinese, Hindi and Spanish are spoken by a lot more people than English, why are they not the global lingua franca?
3) Did being a lingua franca change the English language? (think of loan words and variations of English)