![]() ![]() ![]() When a grammarian makes people stick to certain grammatical rules, this is called "prescriptive grammar." This was also the period in which a grammarian named Robert Lowth condemned the double-negative, a construction often used by Shakespeare, but now deemed grammatically incorrect (as though English were equivalent to algebra!) We can thank the 18th century (Enlightenment period) for many of our more restrictive grammar rules of today for instance, "lay"/lie," "between you and I," "between/among," "different from" versus "different than," etc. Also, Middle English grew out of a lack of regulation/caring on the part of the Norman invaders, who kept speaking their own version of French while the English middle/lower classes spoke a rapidly evolving (and unchecked) form of English. While we "borrowed" a lot of words from the Norman French, we adapted our syntax to the Scandinavian model, so that our language became much simpler in terms of inflection compared to say, German or Latin. ![]() In fact, the Danish invasions of England prior to the Norman Conquest probably contributed a lot more to our loss of inflection (word endings) than the French influence on our language ever did. Old English conjugated them as "hie," "hiera," "him." "they," "their," and "them," our plural pronouns, were a Scandinavian (specifically Danish) import. This is a fantastic, highly detailed overview of the history of the English language in which I learned some surprising things, such as: ![]()
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