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Beginning Adult English – A Closer Look

07/17/2022 by admin

The Beginning Adult English series, by Kinney Brothers Publishing, is designed to extend students’ skills and interest in communicating in English. The two-book series provides students with exercises in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each textbook is detailed below with links for downloadable previews and purchase.

  • Preview Download
  • Kinney Brothers Publishing (Amazon/black & white)
  • Donald’s English Classroom (pdf color and black & white)
  • Donald’s English Classroom Lesson Packs (pdf downloads/keys included) Free Sample
  • Preview Download
  • Kinney Brothers Publishing (Amazon/black & white)
  • Donald’s English Classroom (pdf color and black & white)
  • Donald’s English Classroom Lesson Packs (pdf downloads/keys included) Free Sample
  • Preview Download Book 1, Book 2
  • Kinney Brothers Publishing (Amazon) Book 1, Book 2
  • Donald’s English Classroom (pdf download) Book 1, Book 2

Kinney Brothers Publishing offers a wide range of ESL textbooks including Stories For Young Readers for junior high through high school learners, a Phonics Series that begins with your youngest students, and an Easy Sight Words Series. Be sure to check out Trends, a topical set of intermediate and advanced worksheets for secondary and adult English language learners. If you’re looking for more support materials, you might be interested in Q&A, Cursive Writing!, and a treasure trove of games, charts, and flashcards in Donald’s English Classroom!

Filed Under: Kinney Brothers Publishing

Fun and Educational Toys For Your Little Ones

07/14/2022 by admin

Photo: Pexels.com

This is a guest post by writer and designer, Andrea Gibbs, a blog contributor at Baby Steps Preschool where she writes story-time themes, parenting tips, and seasonal activities to entertain children. Enjoy!

As parents, we want to witness our children become the best they can be. We want them to have opportunities to explore and see the world in so many ways. However, in order to be ready for the world outside, a child must improve the essential skills needed to succeed in school. As a parent, we obviously want to encourage our children to be good readers, gain the knowledge they need to succeed in the future, and lastly, we want them to become faithful in the process.

This article will discuss various fun educational toys that can help a child become a better learner. The toys will aid the child’s learning by providing them with enrichment activities that promote their cognitive abilities. The toys are made with interdisciplinary studies in mind and teach lessons through play.

What are Educational Toys?

Educational toys are those that have been developed with the purpose of helping children learn and enhance their development. They may be toys specifically designed to help a child develop certain skill sets, or they may be your normal traditional toys that have been modified slightly to provide more learning opportunities. Some toys have been specifically built to stimulate the senses and help get kids excited about learning. This is an important part of early child development. Some educational toys teach reading, writing, listening, and math skills. A lot of educational toys are available, and the most popular ones have been developed with the help of parents with children in consideration.

Fun and Educational Toys For Your Little Ones:

There are many toys out there that can help your children learn in an entertaining way. You have probably seen some toys at the local toy store, but there are even more online that you can buy for your little ones. We must try to be as interactive as possible when teaching our kids something new. Putting some sort of teaching material in front of a child and expecting them to learn while playing is a very ineffective way of getting them to learn something. If you want your kids to learn something, sit down with them and play with them as they use the educational toy.

The following are some fun and educational toys for your children.

1. LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set

It is an excellent first phonics toy for your little one, who is learning to determine uppercase letters and their corresponding sounds. Phonics Magnetic Letter Set is portable and includes a magnetic backing to be placed on the front of the refrigerator or a magnetic whiteboard. Kids choose a letter, utilize their small hands to maneuver it into place just like a puzzle, then push it to hear the letter and letter sound through a song. 

2. Board Books

Photo: Pexels.com

Board books are excellent for little hands and are a simple way to teach your children the basics of reading. Most of the best sellers out there have been published in board book format, so even if you want to give your little ones a taste of what reading good books is all about, you can always buy them one. There are various types of board books out there, including phonics, counting, and color recognition books.

3. Watercolor Paints

Photo: Pexels.com

Watercolor paints are very good for young children because they have the opportunity to use their imagination and creativity to just doodle and paint anything they want. It is a great way to develop their sense of color recognition and increase their fine motor skills as they try to use watercolor paints with small brushes. You can set up some easel or table and let them go at it. 

4. Alphabet Marks The Spot Floor Mat

This mat is a good addition to any child’s play area. This mat is great for play but also is a learning tool. Children will love running towards the letter or letter sound you mention. You can begin with playing by letter names and if children get comfortable playing it, then progress to letter sounds.

5. Dominoes

While it is essential to enhance your child’s muscle strength to perform tasks, it is also important that you provide them with educational toys to improve their memory. This is where you can use dominoes. These dominoes will help advance your child’s memory and counting skills. You can also end up teaching them the concept of one-to-one correspondence with letters through the use of this toy. 

6. The Sound Box

This box is an ideal first toy to help your child develop a good sense of hearing. And the great thing is you don’t need to spend an amount to buy this toy. You can make this at home with your child if you want to. You may use your old small containers like the old camera canisters, then collect items that make a distinctive sound like shells, pennies, sugar, rice, and bells. Your child will truly love this toy. 

7. Bicycle

Photo: Pexels.com

A bicycle is one of the most common toys used by children. It is a fun way to get exercise while at the same time helping them learn to ride a bike. Children will get more than just exercise when riding a bicycle; it will help them improve gross motor skills by working on endurance, strengthening, and coordination. Additionally, bike riding helps with full-body sensory awareness along with visual stimulation.  

8. Alphabet Tracing Board

For toddlers who are just learning their letters, the tracing board is a great toy that can help them understand each letter’s formation. It is a good way for them to develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity as they try to hold their pointer and place it in the correct spot on the board. It is a great learning toy and will help enhance your children’s fine motor skills. 

9. Magnetic Tiles Building Blocks Set

Critical thinking is an essential skill for preschoolers as well. It involves the ability to problem solve and try to figure out a solution for the problems that they come across. Using magnetic tiles is a great way to develop their mental development. Children will be able to form any structures of their own or make any vehicles that they want. They will spend hours building and trying to get the perfect structure. Kids can build in any direction, so they never run out of things to do with this toy. 

Final Thoughts

These educational toys should not be simply set out for children to play with; adults should engage in play with these toys as well. As a parent, it is important to engage with them during their play time as you have the opportunity to increase their vocabulary, improve conversation skills and learn how they think. You can do this by adding additional questions or challenges while they are playing.

These toys are not only educational but will also help give your children confidence and encourage them to explore their full potential. If you want to know more about toys for children, it is best for parents to consult their pediatricians and ask for recommendations on what educational toy would be best for their kids.

Author Bio:

Andrea Gibbs is currently the head of content management at SpringHive Web Design Company, a digital agency that provides creative web design, social media marketing, email marketing, and search engine optimization services to small businesses and entrepreneurs. She is also a blog contributor at Baby Steps Preschool where she writes storytime themes, parenting tips, and seasonal activities to entertain children.

Filed Under: Kinney Brothers Publishing Tagged With: education, educational toys, fun toys, preschool, primary toys

The Future of English

05/08/2021 by admin

This writing marks the 100th post in my Fun Facts About English series on the Kinney Brothers Publishing website – a goal I set almost two years ago.  I thought it worth sharing this personal milestone as one of my monthly posts.

Out of the world’s approximately 7.9 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English as a first or second language. Natively, English is spoken by about 360 million people with the vast majority being in the United States. In addition to being widely spoken, English is also the most commonly studied foreign language in the world. Today, for every native speaker of English there are five non-native speakers. In fact, the global spread of English, a language once considered useless outside the shores of Britain, is unprecedented in the history of languages. Who could have predicted that English, an amalgamation of European languages, would one day become the lingua franca of the world?

Modern, or Present-Day English (PDE), has many dialects spoken in countries collectively referred to as the “anglosphere.” These dialects include American English, Australian English, British English (containing English English, Welsh English, and Scottish English), Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indian English, Pakistani English, Nigerian English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English.

Non-native speakers of English take the learning very seriously. Adults and children all over the world invest years of time and money studying English as a second language. English is the official language of maritime and aeronautical communications. English is the international language of science, business, and the hyper-connected web of global trade. In almost any international education environment, English is the central language. A 2013 Harvard University report found that English skills and better income go hand-in-hand and lead to a better quality of life, a fact not lost on citizens in developing nations.

We are increasingly moving toward a time when no one will be able to claim sole ownership of the English language. It will have become a common property of all, a Global English, albeit with many varieties. A World English will be the common factor that allows for mutual intelligibility among its localized varieties. Unlike most major languages in the world, English has no regulatory agency overseeing its use. Attempts have been made to create a standardized international English protocol, but no consensus on the path to this goal has been achieved. And yet, the language continues to spread.

As languages are prone to do, these Englishes are also continuously evolving. With so many varieties, the possibility exists that English will look different in the not-too-distant future. What’s in store for the English language is anybody’s best guess. Our crystal balls have shattered making it impossible to divine a clear message. Looking at the history of English, once a reliable way of making predictions, is not going to give us a blueprint for the future of a language unleashed to the rest of the world.

six official languages of the United Nations

With native speakers clearly in the minority, the course of the English language may well be dependent on the billion people speaking it as a second language. This influence is not just because of their number, but also because the majority of interactions in English occur between non-native speakers. As Modern English moves into its global lingua franca role, changes are inevitable and could happen out of the purview of its native speakers.

Pronunciation

When looking at how a language may change among differing populations, look no further than the pronunciations most often stumbled over or difficult to differentiate to provide clues as to how English may be adapted. The aspects of a language that promote intelligibility tend to spread while those that promote misunderstanding wither away.

There are linguists who believe that we aren’t finished yet with the Great Vowel Shift. Though some vowels may seem durable, e.g., “ship,” “bet,” “ox,” and “full” have been the same for centuries, other vowels are certainly going to shift and drift. The word “home” was once pronounced “heim” in Germanic, “hahm” in Old English, and “hawm” in Middle English. Someday, it may be “hoom.” Consider the regional pronunciations of the word “tour” in both England and North America.; variations include /toor/, /too-uh/, and /tew-r/. Americans and Britons alike increasingly make less distinction between the pronunciations of “pour,” “pore,” and “poor” or “Mary,” “marry,” and “merry.” These shifts in pronunciation, while subtle, can indicate the direction the language will change in the future.

There may also be changes ahead for consonants. Consider how often the “th” of “this” and “that” are dropped and replaced with either “s” and “z” or “t” and “d.” The soft “l” of “hotel” and “rail” are sounds that can be particularly difficult for second-language speakers to hear. Some clusters of consonants will simplify, surviving in the beginning of words, but vanish at the end of words; e.g., “best” may become “bess” and “accept” could change to “assep.”

Spelling and Grammar

The third person singular (such as “she runs” or “he writes”) is the only English verb form with an “s” at the end and is often dropped by non-native speakers. Simplifying verb phrases also occurs, saying “I look forward to see you tomorrow” instead of “I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.” In my own distinct Midwestern American dialect, we Iowans often drop the cumbersome “to be” in passive sentences, such as “the baby wants fed” instead of “the baby wants to be fed,” or “the cat wants let out” rather than “the cat wants to be let out.”

Mass and count nouns are another difficult aspect of the English language that non-native speakers might simplify, opting for “informations” and “furnitures” rather than be encumbered with object/noun agreement. While such “grammatical errors” have a negative ding in any native speaker’s ear, it’s more efficient for non-native speakers negotiating across their own cultural borders.

Technology, slang, and popular culture will continue to have enormous influence over language. Where changes may have occurred more slowly in the past, today they are happening at the lightning speed of satellite connections. Abbreviations and acronyms, once the provenance of military and business cultures, are now the language of tech-savvy youth who text, sext, and share with friends all over the world. Zoom meetings, Facebook groups, and other popular platforms are the virtual trading posts of language. Given one’s field of expertise, there is undoubtedly a long list of acronyms and industry-specific vocabulary that must be known to communicate among global colleagues.

Though the lack of oversight and the changes incurred by non-native speakers may seem off-putting to native speakers, this is English playing its role as a global lingua franca, helping speakers of other languages connect with each other. New dialects, slang, expanding lexicons, and linguistic variations will evolve. Some will stick and others will die out. Walter Raleigh’s expeditions in the early 1600s saw American English take root within a matter of days, with newly encountered Native terms such as ‘wigwam,’ ‘pecan,’ and ‘skunk’ becoming a permanent part of the American dialect. Likewise, it’s imperative that we nurture an adaptability and willingness to adopt new language that will most efficiently serve our communicative needs.

Filed Under: Kinney Brothers Publishing Tagged With: esl, ESL Activities, ESL Flash cards, ESL Games, ESL teaching, esl textbooks, ESL Worksheets, future of english, kinney brothers publishing

Fun Facts About English #100 – The Future of English

04/24/2021 by admin

Kinney Brothers Publishing Donald's English Classroom Fun Facts About English 100

Out of the world’s approximately 7.9 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English as a first or second language. Natively, English is spoken by about 360 million people with the vast majority being in the United States. In addition to being widely spoken, English is also the most commonly studied foreign language in the world. Today, for every native speaker of English there are five non-native speakers. In fact, the global spread of English, a language once considered useless outside the shores of Britain, is unprecedented in the history of languages. Who could have predicted that English, an amalgamation of European languages, would one day become the lingua franca of the world?

Modern, or Present-Day English (PDE), has many dialects spoken in countries collectively referred to as the “anglosphere.” These dialects include American English, Australian English, British English (containing English English, Welsh English, and Scottish English), Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indian English, Pakistani English, Nigerian English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English.

Non-native speakers of English take the learning very seriously. Adults and children all over the world invest years of time and money studying English as a second language. English is the official language of maritime and aeronautical communications. English is the international language of science, business, and the hyper-connected web of global trade. In almost any international education environment, English is the central language. A 2013 Harvard University report found that English skills and better income go hand-in-hand and lead to a better quality of life, a fact not lost on citizens in developing nations.

We are increasingly moving toward a time when no one will be able to claim sole ownership of the English language. It will have become a common property of all, a Global English, albeit with many varieties. A World English will be the common factor that allows for mutual intelligibility among its localized varieties. Unlike most major languages in the world, English has no regulatory agency overseeing its use. Attempts have been made to create a standardized international English protocol, but no consensus on the path to this goal has been achieved. And yet, the language continues to spread.

As languages are prone to do, these Englishes are also continuously evolving. With so many varieties, the possibility exists that English will look different in the not-too-distant future. What’s in store for the English language is anybody’s best guess. Our crystal balls have shattered making it impossible to divine a clear message. Looking at the history of English, once a reliable way of making predictions, is not going to give us a blueprint for the future of a language unleashed to the rest of the world.

six official languages of the United Nations

With native speakers clearly in the minority, the course of the English language may well be dependent on the billion people speaking it as a second language. This influence is not just because of their number, but also because the majority of interactions in English occur between non-native speakers. As Modern English moves into its global lingua franca role, changes are inevitable and could happen out of the purview of its native speakers.

Pronunciation

When looking at how a language may change among differing populations, look no further than the pronunciations most often stumbled over or difficult to differentiate to provide clues as to how English may be adapted. The aspects of a language that promote intelligibility tend to spread while those that promote misunderstanding wither away.

There are linguists who believe that we aren’t finished yet with the Great Vowel Shift. Though some vowels may seem durable, e.g., “ship,” “bet,” “ox,” and “full” have been the same for centuries, other vowels are certainly going to shift and drift. The word “home” was once pronounced “heim” in Germanic, “hahm” in Old English, and “hawm” in Middle English. Someday, it may be “hoom.” Consider the regional pronunciations of the word “tour” in both England and North America.; variations include /toor/, /too-uh/, and /tew-r/. Americans and Britons alike increasingly make less distinction between the pronunciations of “pour,” “pore,” and “poor” or “Mary,” “marry,” and “merry.” These shifts in pronunciation, while subtle, can indicate the direction the language will change in the future.

There may also be changes ahead for consonants. Consider how often the “th” of “this” and “that” are dropped and replaced with either “s” and “z” or “t” and “d.” The soft “l” of “hotel” and “rail” are sounds that can be particularly difficult for second-language speakers to hear. Some clusters of consonants will simplify, surviving in the beginning of words, but vanish at the end of words; e.g., “best” may become “bess” and “accept” could change to “assep.”

Spelling and Grammar

The third person singular (such as “she runs” or “he writes”) is the only English verb form with an “s” at the end and is often dropped by non-native speakers. Simplifying verb phrases also occurs, saying “I look forward to see you tomorrow” instead of “I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.” In my own distinct Midwestern American dialect, we Iowans often drop the cumbersome “to be” in passive sentences, such as “the baby wants fed” instead of “the baby wants to be fed,” or “the cat wants let out” rather than “the cat wants to be let out.”

Mass and count nouns are another difficult aspect of the English language that non-native speakers might simplify, opting for “informations” and “furnitures” rather than be encumbered with object/noun agreement. While such “grammatical errors” have a negative ding in any native speaker’s ear, it’s more efficient for non-native speakers negotiating across their own cultural borders.

Technology, slang, and popular culture will continue to have enormous influence over language. Where changes may have occurred more slowly in the past, today they are happening at the lightning speed of satellite connections. Abbreviations and acronyms, once the provenance of military and business cultures, are now the language of tech-savvy youth who text, sext, and share with friends all over the world. Zoom meetings, Facebook groups, and other popular platforms are the virtual trading posts of language. Given one’s field of expertise, there is undoubtedly a long list of acronyms and industry-specific vocabulary that must be known to communicate among global colleagues.

Though the lack of oversight and the changes incurred by non-native speakers may seem off-putting to native speakers, this is English playing its role as a global lingua franca, helping speakers of other languages connect with each other. New dialects, slang, expanding lexicons, and linguistic variations will evolve. Some will stick and others will die out. Walter Raleigh’s expeditions in the early 1600s saw American English take root within a matter of days, with newly encountered Native terms such as ‘wigwam,’ ‘pecan,’ and ‘skunk’ becoming a permanent part of the American dialect. Likewise, it’s imperative that we nurture an adaptability and willingness to adopt new language that will most efficiently serve our communicative needs.

Fun Facts About English has 100 posts dedicated to the rich history and use of the English language. The Kinney Brothers Publishing blog also has teaching tips for teachers teaching newcomers in regular classes or ESL courses overseas! Click here to check out the full lineup of topics, download helpful worksheets, or grab some free activities! Thanks so much for visiting!

Go to the previous or next Fun Facts About English.

Donald's English Classroom

Bringing building activities into the English language classroom can have a powerful impact on students’ learning experience. Following instructions for folding, cutting, building, and pasting are important cognitive and physical exercises that many students will find great pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. Visit Donald’s English Classroom for a variety of activities that tap into your students’ project-based interests.

Filed Under: Fun Facts About English Tagged With: esl, ESL Activities, ESL Flash cards, ESL Games, ESL teaching, esl textbooks, ESL Worksheets, future of english, kinney brothers publishing

English Day – 4/23

04/21/2021 by admin

In 2010, the United Nations introduced an initiative dedicating one day to each of its six official languages: French (3/20), Chinese (4/20), Spanish and English (4/23), Russian (6/6), and Arabic (12/18). The language days recognize the importance of global communication through multilingualism and cultural diversity. The UN first celebrated English Language Day on April 23, 2010.

English, one of the two working languages of the UN Secretariat, is often referred to as a “world language”, or the lingua franca of the modern era because it is so widely spoken. The U.N. also celebrates International Mother Language Day on February 21 and International Translation Day on September 30.

English Language Day aims to entertain and inform people about the history, culture, and achievements associated with the language. The U.N. selected April 23 for English Language Day to commemorate the celebrated playwright and poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616), whose (speculated) birthdate and death are recorded on the same date. The day often features book-reading events, English quizzes, poetry and literature exchanges, and other activities that promote the English language.

If you’re looking for some activities to celebrate English Day, the British Council offers an English Day lesson plan for teenagers and adults for online or in-classroom lessons.

The British Council will also be holding a special live stream for teachers on Facebook Live on 4/23.

To learn more about the United Nations’ English Day commemoration and language courses, click here!

Best of luck in your classes and Happy English Language Day!

Donald Kinney
Kinney Brothers Publishing

Filed Under: Kinney Brothers Publishing Tagged With: Donald's English Classroom, English Language Day, English language learners, esl, kinney brothers publishing

Fun Facts About English #99 – The History of English 2

03/27/2021 by admin

Kinney Brothers Publishing Fun Facts About English English History 2

This is the second of two posts exploring the history of the English language. The first post is an overview of the British Isles from the prehistoric Celts through the Viking occupation of England. In this post, I’ll take a look at the broadest cultural, political, and linguistic developments from the Norman invasion up to Late Modern English, also called Present-Day English (PDE).

From Rome’s 400-year occupation of the Celtic islands at the beginning of the first millennium CE, through the mass immigration of the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes after the year 400, and finally the Viking seizure of power from 800, it can be argued that by the turn of the second millennium, England was a powerful, centralized state with a strong military and successful economy. The language of the islands had evolved from the Insular Celtic Group of languages to the Old Germanic-based language of the Anglo-Saxons (Old English) and was reshaped again by Scandanavian Old Norse during Viking rule.

The Norman Invasion 1066 – 1150

French Castles English history

In 1066, the English king, Harold Godwinson, defeated King Hardrada of Norway in a long and bloody battle that headed off the final Viking invasion of England. Within a month, William, Duke of Normandy, landed in Kent and, in a decisive win against the exhausted army of King Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, claimed himself the rightful heir to the British throne, thus commencing the Norman conquest and rule of England.

As king, one of William’s first priorities was a survey of the land, livestock, and taxes owed from the shires (established Anglo-Saxon land divisions) of England. The survey was written in Latin and compiled into a two-volume work called the Domesday Book (Middle English, Doomsday Book). The book is an invaluable source for modern historians and historical economists. No survey approaching the scope and extent of the survey of Britain was attempted again until the 19th century.

William and his successors took over the existing state system, repressing local revolts, controlling the population through a network of castles, and introduced a feudal approach to governing England with a monarchial absolute toward Normanization. Resisting English nobility were sent into exile and their confiscated lands were granted to William’s own followers. Norman controls included the government, the courts, and the introduction of Norman French as the language of the new Norman nobility.

Norman Rule

During the Norman Period, while the lower classes continued speaking their now Norsified Old English, the language absorbed a significant component of French vocabulary (approximately one-third of the vocabulary of Modern English), developed a more simplified grammar, and was forced to adopt the orthographic conventions of French when spelling Old English. By the 12th century, Middle English was fully developed, having integrated both Norse and French features into a dialect known as Anglo-Norman. Medieval Latin was still the language used for government documents, e.g., the Domesday Book, and continued to be the language of the Church.

Anglo-Saxon identity survived beyond the Norman conquest and came to be known as Englishry under Norman rule. Englishry was, in fact, the status of a person of native Anglo-Saxon stock as opposed to a member of the Anglo-Norman elite. Specifically, presentment of Englishry referred to the establishment that a slain person was English rather than Norman. If an unknown man was found slain, he was presumed to be a Norman and the administrative shire was fined accordingly. If the slain individual was determined to be Anglo-Saxon, Englishry was established and the fine was excused.

During the 12th century, the divisions between the English and Normans began to dissolve as a result of intermarriage and cohabitation. By the end of the century, and possibly as early as 1150, contemporary commentators believed the two peoples to be blending. The loss of Normandy in 1204 only reinforced this trend.

Middle English 1150 – 1500

Middle English period

The period of Middle English was roughly 300 years during the High to Late Middle Ages, running parallel with and beyond Norman rule. The period saw expansion, political and social unrest, and the devastating effects of the Bubonic Plague. English reasserted itself as the language of government and nobility as Norman rule began to crumble in the 13th century.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, England’s population more than doubled, fueling an expansion of the towns, cities, and trade, helped by warmer temperatures across Northern Europe. Despite Norman rule in England’s government and legal systems, infighting among the Anglo-Norman elite resulted in multiple civil wars and, finally, the loss of Normandy in 1204.

England suffered the Great Famine from 1315-1317 and the Black Death from 1347 to 1351. These catastrophic events killed around half of England’s population, threw the economy into chaos, and undermined the political order. Nearly 1,500 villages were deserted by their inhabitants and many sought new opportunities in the towns and cities. Social mixing and unrest followed. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was the result of the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death, the high taxes to support the conflict with France, and finally, the attempts to collect unpaid poll taxes (a fixed sum on every adult without reference to income or resources). Though the rebellion lasted only a month, it failed as a social revolution but succeeded in ending serfdom and prevented further levying of the poll tax.

The Black Plague

The Pleading in English Act 1362 was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act complained that because the Norman French language was largely unknown to the common people of England, they had no knowledge of what was being said for or against them in the courts. The Act stipulated that all charges and complaints shall be pleaded, debated, and judged in the English language. The Act marked the beginning of English Law during the reign of Henry IV (1399 – 1413), a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, and the first king believed to be a native English speaker since the Norman conquest.

Some 50 years later during the reign of Henry V (1413-1422), English became the language of official government in the form of the London dialect known as the Chancery Standard. The Standard was a version of English that combined elements of northern and southern Middle English to create a standard for the government that could be read by the people, who largely couldn’t read French or Latin. By the end of the Middle English period and aided by William Caxton, who introduced the first printing press to England in 1476, the development of a standardized form of English accelerated and Chancery Standard became the basis for Modern English spelling.

English kings in the 14th and 15th centuries attempted to lay claim to the French throne, resulting in the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) and a see-saw back and forth of victories for the French and English. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe. Although each side drew many allies into the war, in the end, the House of Valois retained the French throne and the English and French monarchies remained separate.

By 1450, England was in crisis, facing military failure in France and an ongoing recession. More social unrest broke out, followed by the Wars of the Roses fought between rival factions of the English nobility. Henry VII (Henry Tudor) claimed victory in 1485, marking the end of the Middle Ages in England and the start of the Early Modern period, and the beginnings of the Tudor dynasty.

Little survives of early Middle English literature, due in part to Norman domination and the prestige that came when writing in French rather than English. During the 14th century, a new style of literature emerged with the works of writers including John Wycliffe, eponymously known for the Wycliffe Bible, and Geoffrey Chaucer for The Canterbury Tales. The use of regional dialects in writing proliferated where authors like Chaucer were crucial in legitimizing the literary use of Middle English rather than French or Latin. Today, Chaucer is seen as the greatest poet of the Middle Ages and the “father” of English literature.

Wycliffe’s source for his Bible translation into Middle English came directly from the Vulgate, a late 4th century Latin translation. Wycliffe’s translations were the chief inspiration and cause of the Lollard movement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many of the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the Wycliffe Bible of the 1380s, the verse Matthew 8:20 was written:
Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis… (“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air (heaven) have nests…”)

Early Modern English 1300 – 1700

Early Modern English

Major historical events in the 400-year Early Modern period include the English Renaissance, the English Reformation, the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, the Treaty of Union, the Scottish Enlightenment, and the launch of the British Empire. All of these events created more unified governance of the British Isles, brought relative peace to the islands, and set the stage for English to become a global language.

The end of the Wars of the Roses marks the beginning of the Modern English period and brought with it the Tudor (1485-1603) and Stuart (1603-1714) dynasties and a greater degree of stable, centralized government. The Tudor monarchs asserted their claim to the lordship of Ireland, Wales was integrated administratively and legally in 1536 and 1543, the Act of Union brought political unity between England and Scotland in 1707, and the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed.

The British Empire began with decisive sea battles and overseas ventures. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 secured England’s (Protestant) independence in Europe and signaled the British as a serious naval power. The English, relative late-comers to colonial ventures, secured settlements on the North American continent with Jamestown in 1607, Newfoundland in 1610, and Plymouth Colony in 1620. Trading rivalries among the seafaring European powers established trading posts in India in the early 17th century and, by the later 18th century, Great Britain became the dominant power after the East India Company’s conquest in the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

Culturally, the 15th and 16th centuries saw the English Renaissance, a cultural and artistic movement beginning in the 15th century, spilling into the 17th, which stands as the summit of (mostly) musical and literary achievement. The 16th century also saw the English Reformation, a political and religious movement that broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. At the same time, the 17th-century scientific movement, heralded by Francis Bacon, achieved prominence and had the effect of establishing English as an adequate medium of technical writing in place of Latin. Bacon, along with the 1662 charter of The Royal Society, an ‘invisible college’ of natural philosophers and physicians, promoted the cultivation of a plain style of writing and criticized stylistic excesses.

Early Modern English was also characterized by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardization. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It’s also the main reason for so many irregularities in spelling since our contemporary language retains many Middle English spellings that were influenced by French orthographic standards for writing Old English. The loss of rhoticity (hard /r/) began to accelerate in this period where the English playwright Ben Jonson’s English Grammar (1640) recorded that /r/ was “sounded firme in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle, and ends.”

For most modern readers of English, texts from the earlier phase of Early Modern English may present more difficulties but are still obviously closer to Modern English grammar, lexicon, and phonology.

“Certaynly our langage now vsed varyeth ferre from that which was vsed and spoken whan I was borne.” William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos (1490).

Late 16th and early 17th-century texts, such as The King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, seem much more uniform to a contemporary audience and are still very influential. The original title of The King James Bible (1612) reads:

“THE HOLY BIBLE, Conteyning the Old Teſtament, AND THE NEW: Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall tongues: & with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and reuiſed, by his Maiesties ſpeciall Comandement“.

Quoting Shakespeare in his 1599 play, Henry V, when Henry implores the French Princess Katherine to marry him, the language is thoroughly accessible to modern English speakers:

“Come, your answer in broken music; for thy voice is music and thy English broken; therefore, queen of all, Katherine, break thy mind to me in broken English.”

Old English began to be studied during the Early Modern period. Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were collected and published and the first Old English dictionary appeared in 1659. Motivations for this undertaking were mixed: to demonstrate the continuity of the Church of England, to show that the English legal system descended from Anglo-Saxon law, or to support the cause of biblical translation. Nevertheless, it had the effect of introducing a historical understanding of the English language and paved the way for later etymological and philological investigation.

The 1611 King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 8:20 reads:
The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests. (“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests…”)

Modern English – 1715 to the Present

As the British Empire expanded, English-speaking people arrived on the shores of North America, the Australian continent, South Africa, and through the colonization of India. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language.

Modern English can be taken to have fully emerged by the beginning of the Georgian era in 1714, though English orthography remained somewhat fluid until the publication of Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. Unlike Johnson’s preference for Norman-influenced spellings such as centre and colour, Noah Webster’s first guide to American spelling, published in 1783, preferred spellings like center and the Latinate color. The difference in strategy and philosophy of Johnson and Webster are largely responsible for the divisions in English spelling that exist today.

The British also became fully non-rhotic, dropping the /r/ by the late 19th century, whereas the dialects of the American colonies evolved independently and maintained the earlier rhotic pronunciations. By the 19th century, the standardization of British English was more settled than it had been in the previous century, and this relatively well-established English was brought to Australia, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand.

In Europe, when the Treaty of Versailles was composed in 1919, and at the request of then-President Woodrow Wilson, the treaty was drafted in both French (the common language of diplomacy at the time) and English – a major milestone in the globalization of English.

English Standard Version (ESV) of the Christian Bible now reads:
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests…”

Present-Day English (PDE) has many dialects spoken in many countries throughout the world, sometimes collectively referred to as the “anglosphere.” These dialects include American English, Australian English, British English (containing English English, Welsh English, and Scottish English), Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indian English, Pakistani English, Nigerian English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English.

Out of the world’s approximately 7.9 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English today as a first or second language. English as a native language is spoken by approximately 360 million people with the vast majority being in the United States. In addition to being widely spoken, English is by far the most commonly studied foreign language in the world.

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