CLASSES 7 - 8 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Outer/ External history:

1 What historical events do you associate with the period between 1500 and 1800?

2 Can you think how the events/ trends/ developments mentioned below led to some changes in the English language?

• the introduction of printing press

• the Renaissance

• the Protestant Reformation

• the industrial revolution

• exploration and colonization

• the American Revolution

3 Why is Early Modern English called the age of linguistic anxiety? (grammarians, dictionary makers, spelling reformers, an English Academy)

4 What was the approach to grammar?

5 What is the role of Samuel Johnson in the development of dictionary making?

Language:

6 What were the 16^th , 17^th and 18^th century borrowings?

7 What other changes can be observed in the EME lexicon? (inhorn terms, false etymology - words respelled)

8 What were the grammatical changes in that period? (rules reformulated, negation, group possessive, “his” genitive, pronouns, comparative and superlative forms, the use of apostrophe, others ….)

9 What were the most important sound changes? (differences between northern and southern speech, silent sounds, intrusive sounds, spelling pronunciation)

Literature:

10 Who were the most important writers influencing the development English? In what way? What were the most influential pieces of EME literature?

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