HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
b. The Roman conquest influenced the
The English language belongs to the
Germanic branch of the Indo-European
family of languages.
Around the fifth century AD, Germanic-
speaking people from northwest Germany
(Saxons and Angles) and Jutland (Jutes)
invaded Eastern England.
These people spoke Germanic dialects
that formed
Old English. The Norman conquest of
England in
1066 greatly influenced the evolution of
the
language. For about 300 years after this,
the
Normans used Anglo-Norman as the
language of
the court, law and administration. The
Normans
heavily influenced what we call Middle
English.
Later, during the English Renaissance,
many words
came directly from French, Latin and
Greek.
Early Modern English began around the
Elizabethan period.
I. Read and circle the correct answer.
1. Who invaded Eastern England
around the fifth century AD?
a) Germanics
b) Saxons and Angles and Jutland
c) Indo European and Germanic
1. Where did words come from during
the English renaissance period?
a) Normans
b) English, French and Normans
c) French, Latin and Greek
1. Why are French words similar to
English?
a) Because pronunciation was
similar
b) Because English absorbed a
large vocabulary from Norman
and French
c) Because English conquered the
French
1. Who still do not understand
Germanic Languages?
a) Native speakers of Latin
language
b) Germanic
c) English and Dutch
II. Read the text again and identify
the incorrect information in each
sentence
.
a. English is part of the Latin
languages.
evolution of the language.
c. The Normans heavily influenced
what we call Modern English.
d. Only a few English words come from
French.
e. English follows a typically French
pattern of stress.
Many French words are similar to English
(though
pronunciations are often quite different)
because
English absorbed a large vocabulary from
Norman
and French, after the Norman Conquest.
As a
result, a large portion of English
vocabulary
derived from French, with some spelling
differences
(word endings, use of old French
spellings, etc.), as
well as occasional differences in meaning.
The
pronunciation of French words in English
has
become completely different and follows
a typically
Germanic pattern of stress. Native
speakers of Latin
languages, for example, that do not
understand
any Germanic languages, often still
cannot
distinguish between spoken English and
Dutch.
III. Read the text again and answer
the questions.
a. What did Germanic people invade?
b. Where did Germanic speaking
people come from?
c. What languages did they speak?
d. The Normans use Anglo-Norman as
a language of….
IV. Find the mistakes in the
sentences and correct them.
1. My cousin Lucas is the most fast of all
the athletes.
2. I got the baddest mark of my life.
3. Cheyenne bought the expensive house
of the neighborhood.
4. The lion is one of the dangerousest
animals.
5. Mana writes the most saddest song in
Latin America.
6. That is the goodest cake of the cake
shop.
7. The elephant is the most fattest
animal in Africa.
8. The English test was the easyest test of
all my subjects.