sentence-transformers/squad huggingface dataset:
Passage: The first example is taken from the opening lines of the folk-epic Beowulf, a poem of some 3,000 lines and the single greatest work of Old English. This passage describes how Hrothgar's legendary ancestor Scyld was found as a baby, washed ashore, and adopted by a noble family. The translation is literal and represents the original poetic word order. As such, it is not typical of Old English prose. The modern cognates of original words have been used whenever practical to give a close approximation of the feel of the original poem.

Question: What is regarded as the greatest literary work in Old English?

Question: About how many lines was Beowulf?

Question: Who was Hrothgar a descendant of?

Question: Who adopted Hrothgar's ancestor?
Passage: Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is very different from Modern English and difficult for Modern English speakers to understand without study. Old English grammar is quite similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms, and word order is much freer. The oldest Old English inscriptions were written using a runic system, but from about the 9th century this was replaced by a version of the Latin alphabet.

Question: To what language group does Old English belong?

Question: Along with Old Saxon, what language is closely related to Old English?

Question: To what modern language is Old English similar?

Question: In what century did the Latin alphabet replace the runic system in Old English writing?
Passage: A later literary standard, dating from the later 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham ("the Grammarian"). This form of the language is known as the "Winchester standard", or more commonly as Late West Saxon. It is considered to represent the "classical" form of Old English. It retained its position of prestige until the time of the Norman Conquest, after which English ceased for a time to be of importance as a literary language.

Question: Who was known by the nickname "the Grammarian"?

Question: What churchman was influential in the development of the Winchester standard?

Question: In what century did the Winchester standard arise?

Question: What is another term for the Winchester standard?

Question: What event led to English temporarily losing its importance as a literary language?
Passage: Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion. While indicating that the establishment of dates is an arbitrary process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections, a synthetic language. Perhaps around 85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use, but those that survived, to be sure, are basic elements of Modern English vocabulary.

Question: For about how many years was Old English used?

Question: In what century was Old English first used?

Question: In what century did Old English cease to be used?

Question: According to Albert Baugh, what was the period in which Old English was used?

Question: About what percentage of Old English words are not present in Modern English?
Passage: Due to the centralisation of power and the Viking invasions, there is relatively little written record of the non-Wessex dialects after Alfred's unification. Some Mercian texts continued to be written, however, and the influence of Mercian is apparent in some of the translations produced under Alfred's programme, many of which were produced by Mercian scholars. Other dialects certainly continued to be spoken, as is evidenced by the continued variation between their successors in Middle and Modern English. In fact, what would become the standard forms of Middle English and of Modern English are descended from Mercian rather than West Saxon, while Scots developed from the Northumbrian dialect. It was once claimed that, owing to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in the dialect of Somerset.

Question: From what Old English dialect is the standard for of Modern English descended?

Question: From what Old English dialect did Scots derive?

Question: Along with centralization, what reason is given for the lack of records in non-Wessex dialects after the unification of Alfred?

Question: What modern dialect is sometimes regarded as being similar to that of the historical Kingdom of Wessex?
Passage: The strength of the Viking influence on Old English appears from the fact that the indispensable elements of the language - pronouns, modals, comparatives, pronominal adverbs (like "hence" and "together"), conjunctions and prepositions - show the most marked Danish influence; the best evidence of Scandinavian influence appears in the extensive word borrowings for, as Jespersen indicates, no texts exist in either Scandinavia or in Northern England from this time to give certain evidence of an influence on syntax. The change to Old English from Old Norse was substantive, pervasive, and of a democratic character. Old Norse and Old English resembled each other closely like cousins and with some words in common, they roughly understood each other; in time the inflections melted away and the analytic pattern emerged. It is most “important to recognize that in many words the English and Scandinavian language differed chiefly in their inflectional elements. The body of the word was so nearly the same in the two languages that only the endings would put obstacles in the way of mutual understanding. In the mixed population which existed in the Danelaw these endings must have led to much confusion, tending gradually to become obscured and finally lost.” This blending of peoples and languages happily resulted in “simplifying English grammar.”

Question: What language influenced Old English as a result of the Viking invasions?

Question: What language was spoken in Northern England after the Viking invasions?

Question: Between the English and Scandinavian language, what elements were most different?
Passage: Unlike Modern English, Old English is a language rich in morphological diversity. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and (vestigially) instrumental. The only remnants of this system in Modern English are in the forms of a few pronouns (such as I/me/mine, she/her, who/whom/whose) and in the possessive ending -'s, which derives from the old (masculine and neuter) genitive ending -es. In Old English, however, nouns and their modifying words take appropriate endings depending on their case.

Question: What trait does Old English possess that Modern English lacks?

Question: Along with the nominative, genitive, dative and instrumental, what case did Old English possess?

Question: The Modern English ending -'s is derived from what ending in Old English?

Question: In Old English, noun endings vary on what basis?
Passage: The influence of Old Norse certainly helped move English from a synthetic language along the continuum to a more analytic word order, and Old Norse most likely made a greater impact on the English language than any other language. The eagerness of Vikings in the Danelaw to communicate with their southern Anglo-Saxon neighbors produced a friction that led to the erosion of the complicated inflectional word-endings. Simeon Potter notes: “No less far-reaching was the influence of Scandinavian upon the inflexional endings of English in hastening that wearing away and leveling of grammatical forms which gradually spread from north to south. It was, after all, a salutary influence. The gain was greater than the loss. There was a gain in directness, in clarity, and in strength.”

Question: What language had the greatest influence on English?

Question: What was the name of the area in England ruled by the Vikings?

Question: Who argued that the influence of Old Norse caused English to become a clearer, stronger and more direct language?

Question: What parts of English grammar declined as a result of Old Norse influence?
Passage: The form of the verb varies with person (first, second and third), number (singular and plural), tense (present and past), and mood (indicative, subjunctive and imperative). Old English also sometimes uses compound constructions to express other verbal aspects, the future and the passive voice; in these we see the beginnings of the compound tenses of Modern English. Old English verbs include strong verbs, which form the past tense by altering the root vowel, and weak verbs, which use a suffix such as -de. As in Modern English, and peculiar to the Germanic languages, the verbs formed two great classes: weak (regular), and strong (irregular). Like today, Old English had fewer strong verbs, and many of these have over time decayed into weak forms. Then, as now, dental suffixes indicated the past tense of the weak verbs, as in work and worked.

Question: Along with the present, what was a verb tense in Old English?

Question: What were the three moods that caused verb variation in Old English?

Question: Along with the first and second, what person influenced verb variation in Old English?

Question: What is an example of a suffix used by Old English weak verbs?

Question: How did Old English strong verbs express the past tense?
Passage: Old English is a West Germanic language, developing out of Ingvaeonic (also known as North Sea Germanic) dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England. This included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland, which for several centuries belonged to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Other parts of the island – Wales and most of Scotland – continued to use Celtic languages, except in the areas of Scandinavian settlements where Old Norse was spoken. Celtic speech also remained established in certain parts of England: Medieval Cornish was spoken all over Cornwall and in adjacent parts of Devon, while Cumbric survived perhaps to the 12th century in parts of Cumbria, and Welsh may have been spoken on the English side of the Anglo-Welsh border. Norse was also widely spoken in the parts of England which fell under Danish law.

Question: What language family does Old English belong to?

Question: What is another name for Ingvaeonic?

Question: In what century did Old English first develop?

Question: What Anglo-Saxon kingdom ruled parts of modern-day Scotland?

Question: What language was spoken in Cornwall?
Passage: Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are Beowulf, an epic poem; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of early English history; the Franks Casket, an inscribed early whalebone artefact; and Cædmon's Hymn, a Christian religious poem. There are also a number of extant prose works, such as sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations, and translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers, legal documents, such as laws and wills, and practical works on grammar, medicine, and geography. Still, poetry is considered the heart of Old English literature. Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous, with a few exceptions, such as Bede and Cædmon. Cædmon, the earliest English poet we know by name, served as a lay brother in the monastery at Whitby.

Question: What is an important Old English historical record?

Question: What is an important Old English religious poem?

Question: What type of literary work is Beowulf?

Question: Who is the earliest English poet known by name?

Question: Where did Cædmon live?
Passage: Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain: Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, and Latin, brought to Britain by Roman invasion. Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the literary standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle and Modern English would develop mainly from Mercian. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule and settlement beginning in the 9th century.

Question: What is another name for Anglo-Frisian?

Question: What language family did Common Brittonic belong to?

Question: How was the Latin language brought to Britain?

Question: In what century did Scandinavian settlement begin in northern England?

Question: Along with the Angles and Saxons, what tribe spoke Anglo-Frisian?
Passage: With the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (outside the Danelaw) by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect (Early West Saxon). Alfred advocated education in English alongside Latin, and had many works translated into the English language; some of them, such as Pope Gregory I's treatise Pastoral Care, appear to have been translated by Alfred himself. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, but King Alfred the Great (871 to 901) chiefly inspired the growth of prose.

Question: What treatise was written by Pope Gregory?

Question: What dialect did Alfred's government use?

Question: In what century did Alfred unify Anglo-Saxon England?

Question: When did Alfred the Great's reign begin?

Question: What king unified the Anglo-Saxon realms in England?
Passage: Each of these four dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, Northumbria south of the Tyne, and most of Mercia, were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia that was successfully defended, and all of Kent, were then integrated into Wessex under Alfred the Great. From that time on, the West Saxon dialect (then in the form now known as Early West Saxon) became standardised as the language of government, and as the basis for the many works of literature and religious materials produced or translated from Latin in that period.

Question: Along with Northumbria, what kingdom was invaded by the Vikings?

Question: Along with the part of Mercia not conquered by the Vikings, what other kingdom was combined with Wessex by Alfred?

Question: What is the modern name for the West Saxon dialect of Alfred's time?

Question: From what language was literature notably translated into West Saxon?

Question: North of what river in Northumbria was the kingdom not overrun by the Vikings?
Passage: Another source of loanwords was Old Norse, which came into contact with Old English via the Scandinavian rulers and settlers in the Danelaw from the late 9th century, and during the rule of Cnut and other Danish kings in the early 11th century. Many place-names in eastern and northern England are of Scandinavian origin. Norse borrowings are relatively rare in Old English literature, being mostly terms relating to government and administration. The literary standard, however, was based on the West Saxon dialect, away from the main area of Scandinavian influence; the impact of Norse may have been greater in the eastern and northern dialects. Certainly in Middle English texts, which are more often based on eastern dialects, a strong Norse influence becomes apparent. Modern English contains a great many, often everyday, words that were borrowed from Old Norse, and the grammatical simplification that occurred after the Old English period is also often attributed to Norse influence.

Question: During what century did Cnut rule?

Question: What was Cnut's nationality?

Question: During what century did Scandinavians begin to settle in England?

Question: What language was a source for English loanwords that are still used today?

Question: Along with eastern England, what part of England contains many place names of Scandinavian origin?
Passage: Modern editions of Old English manuscripts generally introduce some additional conventions. The modern forms of Latin letters are used, including ⟨g⟩ in place of the insular G, ⟨s⟩ for long S, and others which may differ considerably from the insular script, notably ⟨e⟩, ⟨f⟩ and ⟨r⟩. Macrons are used to indicate long vowels, where usually no distinction was made between long and short vowels in the originals. (In some older editions an acute accent mark was used for consistency with Old Norse conventions.) Additionally, modern editions often distinguish between velar and palatal ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ by placing dots above the palatals: ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩. The letter wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ is usually replaced with ⟨w⟩, but æsc, eth and thorn are normally retained (except when eth is replaced by thorn).

Question: What form of c, when written, contains a dot over the letter?

Question: What conventional letter from the Latin alphabet typically replaces the wynn from Old English?

Question: What letter from the Latin alphabet replaces the Old English insular G?

Question: What Latin letter is used in place of the Old English long S?

Question: When eth is replaced, what is it replaced by?
Passage: Like other historical languages, Old English has been used by scholars and enthusiasts of later periods to create texts either imitating Anglo-Saxon literature or deliberately transferring it to a different cultural context. Examples include Alistair Campbell and J. R. R. Tolkien. A number of websites devoted to Neo-Paganism and Historical re-enactment offer reference material and forums promoting the active use of Old English. By far the most ambitious project[peacock term] is the Old English Wikipedia, but most of the Neo-Old English texts published online bear little resemblance to the historical model and are riddled with very basic grammatical mistakes.

Question: What modern religion sometimes uses Old English?

Question: What hobby champions the use of Old English?

Question: Along with Tolkien, what modern scholar notably made use of Old English?

Question: What Wikipedia project makes use of the Old English language?

Question: What is a term for modern texts written in Old English?
Passage: A fleet carrier is intended to operate with the main fleet and usually provides an offensive capability. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds. By comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried. Most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were carriers that were fast enough to operate with the fleet but of smaller size with reduced aircraft capacity. Soviet aircraft carriers now in use by Russia are actually called heavy aviation cruisers, these ships while sized in the range of large fleet carriers were designed to deploy alone or with escorts and provide both strong defensive weaponry and heavy offensive missiles equivalent to a guided missile cruiser in addition to supporting fighters and helicopters.

Question: What type of carrier is the largest?

Question: What capability does a fleet carrier offer?

Question: What purpose were excort carriers developed for?

Question: What were most escort carriers built from?

Question: What are the soviet aircraft carriers used by Russia actually called?
Passage: This new-found importance of naval aviation forced nations to create a number of carriers, in efforts to provide air superiority cover for every major fleet in order to ward off enemy aircraft. This extensive usage required the construction of several new 'light' carriers. Escort aircraft carriers, such as USS Bogue, were sometimes purpose-built, but most were converted from merchant ships as a stop-gap measure to provide anti-submarine air support for convoys and amphibious invasions. Following this concept, light aircraft carriers built by the US, such as USS Independence, represented a larger, more "militarized" version of the escort carrier. Although with similar complement to Escort carriers, they had the advantage of speed from their converted cruiser hulls. The UK 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier was designed for building quickly by civilian shipyards and with an expected service life of about 3 years. They served the Royal Navy during the war and was the hull design chosen for nearly all aircraft carrier equipped navies after the war until the 1980s. Emergencies also spurred the creation or conversion of highly unconventional aircraft carriers. CAM ships, were cargo-carrying merchant ships that could launch (but not retrieve) a single fighter aircraft from a catapult to defend the convoy from long range German aircraft.

Question: What type of aircraft carrier was the USS Bogue?

Question: What type of aircraft was the USS Independence?

Question: What advantage did light carriers have over escort carriers?

Question: What was the expected serice life of the UK 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier?

Question: Who did the UK 1941 Design Light Fleet Carriers serve during the war?
Passage: Speaking in St. Petersburg, Russia on 30 June 2011, the head of Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation said his company expected to begin design work for a new carrier in 2016, with a goal of beginning construction in 2018 and having the carrier achieve initial operational capability by 2023. Several months later, on 3 November 2011 the Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported that the naval building plan now included (first) the construction of a new shipyard capable of building large hull ships, after which Moscow will build two (80,000 tons full load each) nuclear-powered aircraft carriers by 2027. The spokesperson said one carrier would be assigned to the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet at Murmansk, and the second would be stationed with the Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok.

Question: When did Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation expect to begin design work for a new carrier?

Question: What year was the goal for Russia's new carrier to achieve initial operational capability?

Question: What was Izvestiya?

Question: Where was the Northern Fleets nuclear-powered aircraft carrier supposed to be stationed?

Question: Where was the Pacific Fleets nuclear-powered aircraft carrier supposed to be stationed?
Passage: As "runways at sea", aircraft carriers have a flat-top flight deck, which launches and recovers aircraft. Aircraft launch forward, into the wind, and are recovered from astern. The flight deck is where the most notable differences between a carrier and a land runway are found. Creating such a surface at sea poses constraints on the carrier – for example, the fact that it is a ship means that a full-length runway would be costly to construct and maintain. This affects take-off procedure, as a shorter runway length of the deck requires that aircraft accelerate more quickly to gain lift. This either requires a thrust boost, a vertical component to its velocity, or a reduced take-off load (to lower mass). The differing types of deck configuration, as above, influence the structure of the flight deck. The form of launch assistance a carrier provides is strongly related to the types of aircraft embarked and the design of the carrier itself.

Question: What are typically regarded as "runways at sea"?

Question: What design feature do aircraft carriers feature to aid in launching and recovering aircraft?

Question: Where are the most notable differences between a carrier and a land runway found?

Question: What is a primary reason that ships have shorter runways than land runways have?

Question: What do aircraft need to do when using shorter runway lengths?