HOW IT AML
BEGAN
The history of English (part one)
About 5000'B.C."a tribe" called the Indo-Europeans lived
in Central Europe. They were farmers and they had their
‘own language. They discovered the wheel around 3000
BC, After this they were able to travel, Some went east
land others went west,
2
The Indo-Europeans who travelled to Britain were the
Celts. Today the people of Wales, Wester Ireland,
Scotland, Cornwall and Brittany (in Northern France) stil
call themselves ‘Celts
"The Celts were the only
people in Britain for over
2,000 years, Then the
Romans arrived. Julius
(Caesar and his army
Dbroughta new
language - Latin, But
the Romans lived in
England and the Celts
(hey’re sometimes called
“Ancient” Britons) lived in
Scotland and Wales. Only a
few Latin words entered the
Celtic language. Trompe of @ Roman mesae]
«.
“The Romans left Britainin 410A. DISu¢., Gay) meek
Forty years laten a nie grotp h Brooching |
invaders’ arived. These gah the ia :
Angles and Saxons. Coday, Brtsh
and American people are il fila
called Anglo Saxons) They cic
from Holland, Denmark and
Germany. "a Hid.
‘The language of the Angles and'f¥
Saxons was Englise or OM ERIS
vecaneea
fhat's when Saint
sAugustinebowght
Christianity to
Ue Satin Tastime,
opted of Latin
(apd Greek) words
fered Old English
their words are still in the dictionat
today. Here are some examples =
sheep, earth, dog sath ana field gf,
Words like the dnd yo! ae,
Saxon, t60,Se
The next important step inthe history of English came
between the years 750 and 1050. That's when the Vikings
began to attack Britain. They came from Scandinavia and
1, Norse’, sounded a lot like modern
mus in English today include get,
‘One of the most important dates in British history is 1066. That's when the French duke, William, beat the English
king, Harold, atthe Battle of Hastings!™* After that, French words became an important part of English
In the next 200 years, Old English (with
all its new Norse, Latin and French
vocabulary) changed and became Middle
English’. Then in 1340 the first great
English writer was born ~ Geoffrey
Chaucer. His most famous book is called
the Canterbury Tales! *"
eie pleseonp man (pictuel on termywrel to pr ony
phes netwo and thre womenroracios oF wi ve
enprpntid atter the forme of this pretet leeere wobiche
Se ee ee aimiee
netter in to tly almonefrpe at the reed yale and
haue than good chew
Sinplicn het dala
In the next century
{around 1480) a man called
William Caxton printed the
Canterbury Tales on a new
machine. was called a Se
yrinting press. Printing bee =
Tre very portant or fibe —olorge group
English because it fied the ones
grammar and spelling. acento e
Jaks to Caxton, English oa
‘came clearer stronger yasr of out tons
language Now twas ‘ho opposte oF
ready for is next great invaders - people who
weiter Wiliam tnter onother county
Shakespeare by force |
a: tales - stories
i 7
bOCMRM SHAKESPEARIE
TO NOW
The history of English (part two)
za
Elizabeth I was Queen of England from 1558 to
1603. These forty-five years are sometimes call
‘The Elizabethan Age’. Two famous. Elizabethans
were Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Drake and Raleigh were both sailors and
explorers. Their journeys to the New World
(America) and the West Indies were very
important for two reasons. First, they brought,
England a lot offi ey and power. Second,
But perhaps the most famous Elizabethan of all
was William Shakespeare (1564 —
Did you know?
1. Shakespeare had a vocabulary of about
30,000 words. Even today, few people have
a vocabulary of more than 15,000.
2 In Shakespeare's time, only six or seven
milion people spoke English.
‘Shakespeare Company’
sz]In 1620 (four years after
Shakespeare’s death), a ship called
the Mayflower®™ sailed to America,
The people on it weren't explorers
like Drake and Raleigh they were
settlers’. They stayed in America,
built towns and started a new life
there. In the next thirty years, more
than 250,000 people from all over
Britain followed them.
But the English language didn’t just
travel west to America. It went to
Australia, too. A famous explorer called
Captain Cook sailed there in 1770.
Fighteen_years later the first settlers
began to arrive. Many of'them were
criminals’. Why did the English send
thousands of criminals to Australia?
Because there was a lot of crimesin the
eighteenth century and the prisons were
full
The first English dictionary appeared in 1775. It contained more than
40,000 words (today, the Oxford English Dictionary contains half a
million). The man who wrote it was called Dr Samuel Johnson. It took
him thifty years.
age - a period of
years
settlers - people:
who decide to stoy
in anew county
criminals - people
‘nother important date in the history of English is 1807. That's when the Gi emai
slave trade” stopped. For 150 years before 1807 British ships took West ’ the law
African people to America and the West Indies. There, they sold them to trade - buying and
rich farmers. These West African ‘slaves’ were the first black Americans. sellingia SHAKESPEARE FO INO
(Continued)
Between 1800 and 1900 Britain
became the richest country in the
world. It was powerful’, too.
Queen Victoria (she was queen
from 1837 to 1901) controlled an
‘empire’ of foreign countries.
‘These included India, Canada,
New Zealand, Nigeria and South
Africa. Because of the British
Empire, English was now an
important language on every
continent. But many people in
Australia, Africa, Asia and North
America didn’t speak the official
At the same time, the U.S.A. was quickly growing
richer and more powerful. Finally, by the 1950s,
America and not Britain was the English-speaking
superpower. After that, a new chapter began in
the history of English. It was already an important
language. Now, in the age of TV and satellites it
was ready to become something even bigger.
‘Queen's English’. Their accents
and vocabulary were very
different from hers! English was
already growing and changing
internationally.
Britain kept its empire until the
middle of the 20th century.
Then, one by one, countries like
India, Kenya, Canada and New
Zealand became independent.
(They left the empire, but stayed
good friends with Britain. Today,
many of these countries are in
the Commonwealth” - an
international club of English-
speaking countries.)
centennial reworks ot
the Status of User New YorkAMERICAN ENGLISH
From Independence to the 1990s
eer oe
‘The United States and its language both grew very
quickly in the nineteenth century. These were the days
of cowboys, Indians, gold and railways. Every year,
‘thousands of pioneers" travelled west. Soon, many of
thom reached the Pacific Ocean and in 1850 California
‘became the thirty-first state. Only twenty years later it,
‘was possible to travel there by train from New York.
‘The American population also grew quickly. Between
1800 and 1900, sixteen million Europeans began new
lives in the U.S.A. Many of them came from Italy,
Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia and Central Burope.
Alf them brought new words and expressions to
American English.
‘Today there are thousands of nineteenth-century
words in American English. They're the vocabulary of
cowboys, slaves settlers and railway-builders. There
are thousands of twentieth-century words, too, of
course
In fact, American English is growing faster now than.
cever before, Where are the new words coming from?
The same people ~
pioneers and
settlers, but these
days the settlers
‘come from south-
cast Asia and
Central America
and the pioneers
are scientists and =
teenagers.
spape than oli
ras tat taSibad VE aMalited
For 150) years Fire HIB Ametica was a British”
‘colony®, At that ‘time British and ‘American English
syore almost exaefly the same. Then in 1776 there:
‘was a war betwen Britain and America It wa8,
“called the War of Independen
“alter 1776 it betate a fee, independent count. ts
first president was George Washington,
Tn 1802, U.S. leaders began to talkvabout:the =
‘American language’. At that time there were 4 Y2
‘tillion Americans. 90% of them came from the
, Ameriea won, and:
Incfontattack ne kon Hoe
powerful ~ strong
colony ~a country
‘which is part of
‘another country’s
empire
pioneers ~ the first
people to explore 0
Country (or a subject)
aD)AMERICAN ENGLISH
What’s the difference?
VOCABULARY
“American English | British English
iat
apartment
‘automobile
‘cupboard
biscuit
Ti
aston
tap
sound oor
motorway |
rubbish
dustbin -
7 es | petrol
7 main 08d
mad angry
— nail} post a
— ‘math maths
movies| the cinema
pants |
porketbook
[— ‘potato chips
— railroad
restroom |
sunglasses
it
pavement
shop
cooker
[ tube, underground Wainy
van, forty
vacation
_American English _|
aaa ced
[cheque
~ color | colour
7 tense | ~defenes 1
iaiogue
_ jewelery
[theatre —
- ye =
| ‘Traveler traveller atl
— realize realise
—Tavorite | ~favourte
1 American English often uses the past where
British English uses the present perfect.
US.—Did you eat yet? GB.~Have you eaten yet?
2 American English sometimes uses the verb
‘to have’ differently from British English.
US.~ Do you have a problem? 6.B.~Have you gota problem?
3. The past participle of ‘get’ in American
English is ‘gotten’. In British English it is,
‘got’.
US.- Weve never really
gotten to know each other.
6.B.- We've never really got to
now each other
4 There are lots of small differences in the use
of prepositions.
For example ...
Ss 68.
check something out check something
do something over o something again
fill out a form filin a form
meet with somebody meet somebody
protest” something protest about something
stay home stay at home
visit with somebody visit somebody
‘Monday thru Friday Monday to Friday
ten of eleven ten to eleven
5 On the telephone.
US. —Hello is this Susan? 6.8. Hello, is that Susan?