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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1

• Pre-historic period – Tribes in Britain speak Brythonic, a Celtic language. No writing before Roman invasion.

• AD 43 – ca. AD 410 Roman period in Britain – Latin introduced as written language and spoken language of ruling class.

• AD 450 – 550 Invasion of Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) from Holland, northern Germany and southern Denmark, bringing Germanic language with various dialects.

• AD 450 – 1150 Old English period. Old English originally written with runes, gradually replaced by adapted Latin alphabet.

OLD ENGLISHÞy ilcan gēare drehton þā hergas on Ēastenglum ond on Norðhymbrum Westseaxna lond swīðe be þǣm sūðstæðe mid stælhergum, ealra swīþust mid ðǣm æscum þe hīe fela gēara ǣr timbredon. Þā hēt Ælfred cyng timbran lang scipu ongēn ðā æscas; þā wǣron fulnēah tū swā lange swā þā ōðru; sume hæfdon LX āra, sume mā; þā wǣron ǣgðer ge swiftran ge unwealtran ge ēac hīerran þonne þā ōðru; nǣron nāwðer ne on Frēsisc gescæpene ne on Denisc, būton swā him selfum ðūhte þæt hīe nytwyrðoste bēon meahten. Þā æt sumum cirre þæs ilcan gēares cōmon þǣr sex scipu tō Wiht, ond þǣr mycel yfel gedydon, ǣgðer ge on Defenum ge wel hwǣr be ðǣm sǣriman.

In the same year the plunderers in East Anglia and Northumbria greatly harassed the land of the West Saxons around the southern shore with marauding bands, most of all with ships which they built many years before. Then King Alfred ordered (his men) to build long ships (to be used) against the (Danish) ships; they were almost twice as long as the others; some had 60 oars, some more. They were both swifter and steadier and also higher than the others; they were shaped neither on the Frisian nor on the Danish (model), but as it seemed -- to he himself -- they might be most useful. At a certain time of the same year there came six ships to (the Isle of) Wight, and did much mischief there, both in Devonshire and almost everywhere near the seacoast.

Source: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 10th century

Features of Old English• Phonology - most of the consonants found in English today,

including th (þ and ð); short vs. long vowelsstress on initial or root syllable

• Verbs – two categories: strong vs. weak verbs. Strong verbs show ablaut (vowel change), weak verbs add –ede, -ode, -de.Only two inflected tenses (present and past), other tenses and passive formed periphrastically.

• Nouns – three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); four cases

(nominative, accusative, genitive and dative); singular and plural

• Adjectives –comparative/superlative in -er/-est.


• AD 312 Roman Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity

• AD 380 Christianity (Catholicism) becomes state religion of Roman Empire

• AD 597 – 686 Christianization of Anglo-Saxons in Britain

• ca. AD 700 onwardsTranslation of psalms, gospels and large parts of the Bible into Old English

Word Formation

• by addition of prefixes and suffixes:e.g. mōd ‘ânimo, coragem’ > mōdig ‘animado, corajoso’; mōdiglic ‘magnânimo’; mōdiglice ‘corajosamente, com ânimo’; mōdignes ‘magnanimidade’; mōdfull ‘altivo’; mōdlēas ‘sem ânimo’

• by compounding:e.g. mōdcræft ‘inteligência’; mōdlufu ‘afeto’.

The Viking LegacyAD 787 – 1042 Viking invasions and conquest

Vikings spoke a Germanic language (Scandinavian) very similar to Old English.Linguistic similarity meant that ‘form words’ (pronouns [e.g. they, them, him], prepositions, adverbs, part of the verb ‘to be’ [e.g. are]) were also absorbed.

Syntactic features: • loss of relative pronoun in some relative clauses (e.g. the man I

saw) and placement of preposition at the end (e.g. Where do you come from? the book I’m looking for)

• use of ‘shall’ and ‘will’ for future• phrasal verbs

Britain AD 890

Old NorseÞá er þeir kómu at, vissu þeir eigi hvárt Gunnarr myndi heim vera, ok báðu at einnhverr myndi fara heim fyrir ok vita hvers víss yrði, en þeir settusk niðr á vǫllinn. Þorgrímr austmaðr gekk upp á skálann; Gunnarr sér at rauðan kyrtil bar við glugginum, ok leggr út með atgeirinum á hann miðjan. Þorgrími skruppu fœtrnir ok varð lauss skjǫldrinn, ok hrataði hann ofan af þekjunni. Gengr hann síðan at þeim Gizuri, þar er þeir sátu á vellinum. Gizurr leit við honum ok mælti, "Hvárt er Gunnarr heima?" Þorgrímr svarar, "Viti þér þat, en hitt vissa ek, at atgeirr hans var heima." Síðan fell hann niðr dauðr.

When they arrived, they did not know whether Gunnar would be at home, and they said that someone should go up to the house and find out for certain, while the others set themselves down on the ground. Thorgrim, a Norwegian, went up to the hall; Gunnar saw that a red tunic appear at the window, and shot out a spear at his midsection. Thorgrim's feet slipped and his shield came loose, and he tumbled down off the thatch. Then he went back to the rest, Gizur among them, where they sat on the ground. Gizur looked at him and said, "Is Gunnar home?"Thorgrim answered, "You find out; but I discovered this: his spear was home." Then he fell down dead.

Source: Brennu-Njáls Saga, 13th century


• 1066-1200 Norman conquest – language of court and government, upper class and church became Norman French; period of bilingualism

• 1200-1500 Bilingualism to English only as England and France break

apart and English nationalism grows

• Middle English period (1150-1500)huge influx of loanwords from Frenchinflection greatly simplified leading to fixing of word order and shift of grammatical gender to natural genderloss of native wordshuge increase in number of regular verbs formed from nouns or imported

Middle English

`Thou hast yhad fyve housbondes,' quod he,`And that ilke man that now hath theeIs noght thyn housbonde,'thus seyde he certeyn.What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn;But that I axe, why that the fifthe man Was noon housbonde to the Samaritan?How manye myghte she have in mariage?Yet herde I nevere tellen in myn ageUpon this nombre diffinicioun.Men may devyne and glosen,up and doun,But wel I woot, expres, withoute lye,God bad us for to wexe and multiplye;

Source: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, 14th century


• 1500 – present Modern English period – changes in pronunciation, fixing of spelling, input of loanwords from more ‘exotic’ languages.

• From 16th century onwards, progressive verb forms started to develop (he was on laughing > he was a-laughing > he was laughing). Progressive began to be used in all verb tenses, creating an aspectual system.

• British Empire and then American influence spread English around the world: today, first language of 400 million, second language of 1.4 billion.

Early Modern English

As for the antiquitie of our speche, whether it be measured by the ancient Almane, whence it cummeth originallie, or euen but by the latest terms which it borroweth daielie from foren tungs, either of pure necessitie in new matters, or of mere brauerie, to garnish it self withall, it cannot be young. Onelesse the Germane himself be young, which claimeth a prerogatiue for the age of his speche, of an infinit prescription: Onelesse the Latin and Greke be young, whose words we enfranchise to our own vse, tho not allwaie immediatlie from them selues, but mostwhat thorough the Italian, French, and Spanish: Onelesse other tungs [ … ] will for companie sake be content to be young, that ours maie not be old.

Source: Richard Mulcaster, The First Part of the Elementarie, 1582

Exercise 1Find a Germanic word or phrasal verb to replace the underlined words:

1. Remove the foil lid before placing the lasagna in the oven.2. He had to have several of his teeth extracted.3. I will now distribute some questionnaires for you to complete.4. Please board now as the train is about to depart.5. I need to deposit these cheques and withdraw some cash.6. It is prohibited to consume alcoholic beverages on these premises.7. You would have obtained a higher grade if you had not omitted the

second paragraph of the translation.8. Did you acquire any French during your stay in Paris?

English and Portuguese – Comparative Timeline

Date England Portugal

B.C. Brythonic (Celtic) Lusitanian (Celtic?)

0 – 400 A.D.Roman Empire

Speech: CelticWriting: Classical Latin

Speech: Vulgar LatinWriting: Classical Latin

400 – 700 A.D.Germanic invasionsChristianization

Speech: Old EnglishWriting: Classical Latin/Old English (650 onwards)

Speech: Vulgar LatinWriting: Classical Latin

700 - 1000 Viking periodSpeech: Old English/Old Norse

Moorish periodSpeech: Galician- Portuguese/Arabic

1000 - 1200 Norman periodSpeech: Old/Middle EnglishOld FrenchWriting: Old French/Latin

Kingdom of PortugalSpeech: Galician-Portuguese

1258: First official documents appear in English

1296: Portuguese adopted for official documents

Renaissance Many words borrowed from Latin Many words borrowed from Latin

Exercise 21. De onde você veio hoje?2. O homem com quem eu falava é o diretor da escola.3. Este é o lugar a que temos que voltar.4. Você tem uma sacola para eu colocar as minhas

coisas?5. O que é que você está olhando?6. Ele finalmente achou a casa que estava procurando.7. Você vai no carro de quem?8. É um assunto em que não quero entrar.9. Você sabe do que são feitas aquelas esculturas?10. O rio é muito largo para atravessarmos a nado.

Difference between English and Portuguese in motion expressions

• Consider the following sentences:

Let’s swim across.Vamos atravessar a nado.

A tank rumbled past.Um tanque de guerra passou com grande estrondo.

The thief crept in and stole the money.O ladrão entrou de mansinho e roubou o dinheiro.

Phrasal Verbs of Motion

• Phrasal verbs of motion consist of:verb of motion + adverb of direction

e.g. go up, come out, walk around, run across

• Phrasal verbs of motion can also be transitive:e.g. take sth up, bring sth out, carry sth around, ferry sb across, push sth down

Adverbs of Direction

Examples of Motion Phrasals• Let’s swim across.• I was cycling along when all of a sudden my chain broke.• Move your legs further apart.• The children were running around in the garden.• He got in the car and drove away.• I had no money left so I had to hitch back to where my parents live.• A tank rumbled past.• The cat was up in a tree and couldn’t get down.• The thief crept in and stole the money.• The elephant knelt down so I could climb on.• Her sandals kept slipping off.• When the bell went, the students flooded out into the schoolyard.• There was a big puddle outside the door and we had to jump over.• There was a very small opening but I managed to squeeze through.• There was a gap below the fence and the dog had crawled under.• The elevator wasn’t working so we had to walk up.

Prepositions of Direction

Examples using Prepositions of Direction

• They ran across the road.• He cycles around town.• We drove past your house.• They skied down the mountain.• He dashed in/into the kitchen.• The car shot out of a side road.• They clambered over the wall.• We had to crawl under the fence.• He managed to scramble up the riverbank.

Exercise 3

1. Fui pedalando até o centro da cidade.2. Desci a escada de mansinho, para ninguém me

ouvir.3. É perigoso atravessar a rua correndo.4. Vou trabalhar de carro 5. Deram a volta na ilha a nado.6. Ela saiu da sala igual a um furacão.7. O jogador saiu mancando do campo.8. Decidimos voltar para São Paulo de avião.

Directionality in English

entrar to go in/to come insair to go out/to come outsubir to go up/to come updescer to go down/to come downvoltar to go back/to come backatravessar to go across/to come acrosspassar to go by/to come by

Direction of motion relative to the speaker

• The verbs go and come and transitive equivalents take and bring show direction of motion relative to the speaker:

• go/take - motion away from the speaker• come/bring - motion towards the speaker• Portuguese has the same distinction: ir/levar

vs. vir/trazer, but basic rules are broken in some cases in English:

Differences in usage of come/bring and vir/trazer (1)

• In English, come/bring are also used when motion is towards the place where the addressee is, will be or was:I’ll come and see you at your office tomorrow. (vou)Do you mind if I bring someone to the party? (se eu levar)Look out! There’s a snake coming toward you! (indo )When you’re living in China, I’ll come and visit you. (vou)Hollywood, here I come! (lá vou eu!)

Differences in usage of come/bring and vir/trazer (2)

• Come/bring are usually used when the speaker talks about accompanying the addressee somewhere, especially when the addressee is about to leave, or when it is the speaker who is going somewhere:Do you want me to come with you? (que eu vá)Oh, so you’re going to see a movie? Can I come too? (ir)I’ll come to the library with you and bring my laptop. (vou ... levo ...)I’m going to the mall. Do you want to come? (ir)

Exercise 41. Você pode subir aqui um pouco?2. Nós vamos sair. Quer sair conosco?3. Você pode trazer a roupa suja para baixo?4. Dá uma buzinada quando você chegar que eu desço.5. Volto para a Inglaterra amanhã.6. Você fica aqui que eu subo com as compras.7. Vimos o ladrão entrando na casa da vizinha.8. Ela entrou na sala e me cumprimentou.9. Vai sair agora? Que horas você volta?10. Vou aí almoçar com você. Quer que eu leve alguma

coisa?

What is a phrasal verb?

• Semantic definition – any combination of a verb and an adverb/preposition that has a distinct meaning from the simple verb (includes verbs like count on and account for).

• Syntactic/phonetic definition – combination of a verb and a stressed particle (adverb/preposition). Adverb particles can usually be placed before or after a noun object e.g. put on your hat or put your hat on (excludes verbs like count on and account for).

Phrasal Verbs in ELT Dictionaries

• Most ELT dictionaries use the semantic definition because it facilitates look-up:

standstand aroundstand bystand downstand forstand in etc.

Verb + Preposition or True Phrasal?

But aren’t phrasal verbs informal?• You may have heard that phrasal verbs are informal

and should be avoided in formal writing.• This is FALSE. Corpus evidence shows that phrasal

verbs are frequently used even in the most formal written contexts.

• Most phrasal verbs are neutral in register, but there are formal, informal, slang, technical etc. phrasal verbs just as with other lexical items

• It is true that phrasal verbs are extremely common in everyday spoken English, so learning to use them correctly and with confidence is one of the keys to sounding like a native speaker!

The meaning of a phrasal verb• The meaning of a phrasal verb is a combination of two

elements:– the meaning of the verb– the meaning of the particle

• The exact meaning of the particle is determined by the meaning of the verb:e.g. around– with verbs denoting linear motion = in various directions

walk around, run around, dance around, look around– with verbs denoting circular motion = in circles

turn around, spin around, whirl around

Moving beyond motion verbs

• Phrasal verbs have developed new meanings because:– the basic verbs have developed figurative

meanings and/or

– the particles have developed figurative meanings

Figurative meanings of around (1)Literal meaning Figurative meaning Examplesin various directions, to different places

to different people ask around, phone around

in various directions, to different places

distribution, circulation go around, hand sth around, pass sth around, spread sth around


aimlessly, without purpose fool around, hang around, lie around, lounge around, mess around, mope around, play around, sit around, stand around, wait around


making a person go in various directions

boss sb around, order sb around, push sb around

Figurative meanings of around (2)Literal meaning Figurative meaning Examplesturning changing your/sb’s mind bring sb around, come

around, talk sb around, win sb around

turning from unconsciousness bring sb around, come around

surrounding crowd around, gather around

going around an obstacle avoiding or finding an alternative way

get around sth, go around sth, skirt around sth, work around sth

The progression from literal to figurative meaning

• go aroundI went around collecting signatures. literalThere’s a rumor/virus going around.You can’t go around threatening people.I hope there’s enough food to go around. figurative

• come aroundCall the waiter when you see him coming around. literalA note came around saying there would be no school on Friday.Why don’t you come around tonight?My birthday’s coming around again soon.The patient’s starting to come around from the anesthetic.I’m glad he’s finally come around to our way of thinking. figurative

Different figurative senses• Some particles have a wide range of figurative sentences (e.g. out,

up) so can combine with the same polysemous verb to produce quite diverse meanings, e.g. bring up:Literal sense: Will you bring the suitcases up?Figurative sense 1: Bringing up children is not easy.

(cf. grow up)Figurative sense 2: Why did you have to bring the subject up?

(cf. come up. dig up, rake up)Figurative sense 3: I brought up my dinner.

(cf. cough up, throw up)Figurative sense 4: The salesman brought the prices up on the

screen for me to look at.(cf. come up, hang up, put up)

Exercise 5• Read the following sentences. Identify five different

figurative meanings of off and put the sentences into pairs:I’m not sure I’ll be able to get that day off.We’ll get the contract off to you today.Get off – you’re hurting me!He got off with a $200 fine.I’m getting off at the next stop.I have to get the kids off by 8.00 a.m.Her father’s hired a top lawyer to get her off.What time do you get off on Fridays?Would you please get your feet off the table?The cabin crew helped to get the passengers off safely.

The grammar of phrasal verbs

• In terms of grammar, we can distinguish four main types of phrasal verb:1. verb + adverb (classic phrasal)2. verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal)3. verb + adverb + preposition (three-word phrasal)4. verb + object + adverb + preposition (two-object phrasal)

Classic phrasals

• This category includes the vast majority of phrasals:

– all intransitive phrasals (e.g. go out, laze around, come over etc.)

– most transitive phrasals (e.g. take out, put on, tear down etc.)

Intransitive phrasals

Transitive phrasals

Prepositional phrasals

Three-word phrasals

Two-object phrasals

• These consist of a verb + object + adverb + preposition + object, e.g.:

Don’t take your anger out on me!

They put the accident down to human error.

Exercise 61. Vou descer na próxima estação.2. Ele limpou os óculos e colocou-os.3. O dentista tirou o dente podre.4. Ela não via a hora de tirar o sapato.5. Quando eu virei, tinha um policial atrás de mim.6. Ele ficou de retornar a minha ligação depois do almoço.7. Vou embora para Nova York amanhã. Estou ansioso.8. A gasolina subiu de novo.9. Nós nos damos superbem.10. A história não é verdadeira. Eu a inventei.11. Não descarregue em cima de mim!12. Não sei como você aguenta aquele barulho!

Difficulties with phrasal verbs

Tips on learning and teaching phrasal verbs (1)

• Concentrate first on the most frequent phrasals – those that are introduced in coursebooks and simple motion phrasals (come in, go out etc.)

• Don’t try to learn lists of phrasals – you will just get confused. Dictionaries of phrasal verbs list every one imaginable, so are bewildering unless there is some indication of frequency. Better to pick up phrasals as you go along.


• With transitive phrasals, try to memorize (and teach) them together with a typical object, e.g. turn the light off, put your shoes on etc. Note that some transitive phrasals are used with a very restricted range of objects, e.g. run up a debt/bill.

• As you read English, start to take note of what meanings phrasal verb particles have in combination with certain kinds of verbs, e.g. with verbs of giving, out often has the idea of distribution to a number of people, as in deal out, give out, hand out, send out, share out. This will help you to guess and learn the meaning of new phrasals.


• Opposites can be helpful when learning and teaching phrasals. e.g. on vs. off – literal meaning (Start the skateboard moving and then jump on/If you

can’t stop the skateboard, just jump off)– means of transport to get on vs. to get off– with clothes put on vs. take off– with machines turn on vs. turn off

• Also transitive vs. intransitive equivalences:e.g. bring vs. comebring up levantar (assunto) come up surgir (assunto)bring out publicar; ressaltar come out sair; sobressairput vs. go etc.

Phrasal nouns and phrasal adjectives

• There are many phrasal nouns derived from phrasal verbs. Verb and particle are joined with a hyphen or written together:set-up, check-in, breakup, crackdown

• There are also phrasal adjectives spelled with hyphens:sought-after, made-up, watered-down

• For those ending in -ing, the particle comes first:off-putting, ongoing, upcoming, outstanding

New phrasals• Native speakers create and understand new phrasal

verbs all the time by analogy with existing ones, e.g.She vacuumed up the crumbs.Can you copy me in on that e-mail?I bluetoothed the photos across to my laptop.I’m carnivaled out.Let’s watch that moment back and see exactly what happened.Tony Blair denied that he had asked anyone to sex up the report.

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