Read the passage and answer the following question:
English is generally acknowledged to be the world’s most important language. It is perhaps worth trying to understand briefly the basis for that evaluation. There are after all thousands of languages in the world and each seems to be uniquely important to those who speak it as their native language, the language they acquired at their mother’s knee. But there are some objective standards to judge their relative importance. One criterion is the number of speakers of the language. A second is an extent to which a language is geographically dispersed: in how many continents and countries is it used or is its knowledge necessary? A third is its functional load: how extensive is the range of purposes for which it is used? In particular, to what extent is it the medium for highly valued cultural manifestations such as science or literature? A fourth is the economic and political influence of the native speakers of the language.