A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE 1
• Pre-Roman period – Tribes in Britain speak Brythonic or British, a Celtic
language, from which Welsh, Breton and Cornish are descended. No
writing as such 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 ENGLISH
Þȳ 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 vowels
stress on initial or root syllable

• Verbs – two categories: strong vs. weak verbs.

Strong verbs show ablaut (vowel change), weak verbs add -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.

 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE 2
• 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 onwards
Translation 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 Legacy
AD 787 – 1042 Viking invasions and conquest

• Vikings came from Norway and Denmark and spoke Old Norse, a Germanic
language very closely related to Old English.
• Old Norse and Old English had very similar vocabulary and grammar and were
almost certainly mutually intelligible
• In the Danelaw, there was much interaction and intermarriage between Vikings
and English so a mixture of the two languages would have been spoken
• English was heavily influenced by Old Norse, especially in the Danelaw
• Word-initial stress and contact between ON and OE speeded up loss or
simplification of inflections in English

Syntactic features:
• loss of relative pronoun in some relative clauses (e.g. the man I saw) and
preposition stranding (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 Norse
Þá 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

 Old English verbs ‘to be’
Tense Pronoun sindon bēon wesan

Infinitive sindon bēon

ic eom /em bēo

Þū eart /ert bist

Present
indicative hē/hēo/hit is /er bið
sind(on) /
wē/gē/hīe erum, eruð, bēoð
eru
ic wæs

Past þū wǣre
indicative hē/hēo/hit wæs

wē/gē/hīe wǣron

Past participle gebēon

 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE 3
• 1066-1200 Norman conquest – language of court and government,
upper class and church became Norman French; period of
bilingualism; three written languages: Latin, Old French, English

• 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 French
inflection greatly simplified leading to fixing of word order and shift
of grammatical gender to natural gender
loss of native words
huge increase in number of regular verbs formed from nouns or
imported
Middle English verb ‘to be’
Tense Pronoun Form

Infinitive ben

ich am

Þu art
Present indicative
he/sche/hit is

we/ye/Þei aren

ich wæs

þu were
Past indicative
he/sche/hit wæs

we/ye/Þei weren

Past participle yeben

 Middle English
`Thou hast yhad fyve housbondes,' quod he,
`And that ilke man that now hath thee
Is 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 age
Upon 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

 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE 3
• 1500 – present Modern English period – changes in pronunciation
of vowels, fixing of spelling, input of loanwords from more ‘exotic’
languages.
• English gradually replaced Latin as the language of academic
writing. With advances in science, technology and the industrial
revolution, many learned words and scientific terms were borrowed
or coined from Latin.
• Some attempts at “Latinization” of English grammar
• From 16th century onwards, ‘to be’ + present participle starts to be
used to express progressive action, creating a new contrast of
aspect in the verb system, simple vs. continuous action.
• 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

Composition of the English lexicon
Core vocabulary is Germanic
 Exercise 1
Replace the underlined words with less formal ones:

1. to board the bus

2. Smoking is prohibited.
3. Remove the lid.
4. to remove a tooth
5. to distribute flyers
6. to complete a form
7. They detest each other.
8. Do you require any assistance?
 Nature of Modern English
• Over 60% of total lexicon is derived from Latin,
Latin through French or other languages
• But the most frequently used words of the
language are Germanic (about 80% of top
1000), mostly from Old English, with some
from Old Norse
• Grammatical structure of the language is
Germanic
 Preposition stranding
It is normal in English to ‘strand’ prepositions:
• in wh-questions
• in relative clauses
• in the passive of prepositional verbs
• in infinitive constructions
Preposition stranding in wh-questions
• Who did you go to the party with?
• What were they talking about?
• Where are you from?
• Which drawer are the knives and forks in?
• What kind of job are you looking for?
• ‘I have to buy a present.’ – ‘Who for?’
• Do you know what today’s class is about?
 Preposition stranding in relative
clauses
• It’s my brother (that/who) I’m worried about.
• You know the guy (that/who) I was talking to?
• I finally found the book (that/which) I’d been
looking for.
• It was there she met Sam, who she immediately
fell in love with.
• In 1949 Ole Kirk Christiansen invented Legos,
which children still enjoy playing with today.
• That’s what I’m afraid of.
Preposition stranding in the passive of
prepositional verbs
• The matter is being looked into.
• What was talked about at the meeting?
• Our pets have always been well looked after.
• The fresh concrete had been stepped on.
• Her appearance has been commented on in
the media.
• Title of the position being applied for
 Preposition stranding in infinitive
constructions
• I’ve brought my carnival costume to change
into later.
• It would be nice to have a veranda to sit on.
• The boy needs other children to play with.
• The airport is easy to get to on the subway.
• At least we have something nice to look
forward to.
• It’s a problem that is difficult to deal with.
 Exercise 2
1. De onde você veio hoje?
2. O homem com quem eu falava é o diretor da escola.
3. Muitos idosos são cuidados por familiares.
4. Você tem uma sacola para eu colocar as minhas
coisas?
5. O jogador operou o joelho esquerdo.
6. Ele não tinha com quem desabafar.
7. Você vai no carro de quem?
8. É um assunto sobre o qual não quero falar.
9. Você sabe do que são feitas aquelas esculturas?
10. O rio é muito largo para atravessarmos nadando.
 Difference between English and
Portuguese in motion expressions
• Consider the following sentences:

We had to walk home.

Tivemos que voltar para casa a pé.

An ambulance zoomed past.

Uma ambulância passou a toda.

The thief crept in and stole the money.

O ladrão entrou de mansinho e roubou o dinheiro.

The dog ran out to greet us.

O cachorro saiu correndo para nos cumprimentar.
 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
across in
ahead home
along off
around (round, about) on
apart out
aside over
away through
back under
by/past up
down
forward
 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
across onto / on
along off
around (round, out of
about) over
by/past through
down to
from under
into / in up
 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 remando.
6. Ela saiu da sala igual a um furacão.
7. O jogador saiu mancando do campo.
8. Decidimos voltar para São Paulo de avião.
 What is a phrasal verb?
• Broad (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 call for).
• Narrow (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 call for).
 Phrasal Verbs in ELT Dictionaries
• Most ELT dictionaries use the semantic
definition because it facilitates look-up:
stand
stand around
stand by
stand down
stand for
stand in etc.
Verb + Preposition or True Phrasal?
• Apart from the difference in spoken stress, there are two tests
which determine whether a given combination is a prepositional
verb or a true phrasal:

• With prepositional verbs, you can only place the object after the
preposition (since it is actually a prepositional object). With most
phrasal verbs, the object can also be placed before the particle:
cf. we count on your support we count your support on
we put on our coats we put our coats on

• With prepositional verbs, you can put an adverb between the verb
and the prepositional phrase. With phrasal verbs, you cannot:
cf. we count heavily on your support
we put quickly on our coats
 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
 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 4
• 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.
 Exercise 5
1. At Carnival, people ______ up in funny costumes.
2. The school bus _____ the kids up around eight.
3. A new coat of paint will _______ up the room.
4. The spacecraft ______ up on re-entry into the Earth’s
atmosphere.
5. My mom always used to tell me to ______ up my greens.
6. Don’t leave your clothes on the bed. ______ them up in the
closet.
7. The couple have just _______ up after 20 years together.
8. We’d better ________ up if we’re going to catch that train!
9. Can you tell the difference between the twins? I’m always getting
them ______ up!
10. I can’t take any more days off because I’ve already _______ up
all my vacation time.
11. You’ll have to ________ up. I can’t hear you very well.
12. The wind and rain have _______ up my hair!
 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)
 1: 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
• Verb and particle cannot be separated:

He sat slowly down.

He sat down slowly.

Did you go last night out?

Did you go out last night?
 Transitive phrasals
• A noun object can be placed either before or
after the particle:
bring up a subject or bring a subject up
take off your shoes or take your shoes off
• A personal pronoun object only between the
verb and the particle:
bring up it bring it up
 take off them take them off
 2: Prepositional phrasals
• This category includes all phrasals where the
second element is a preposition which cannot
function as an adverb, e.g. after, into, onto

look after the children > look after them

look the children after > look them after

look into the matter > look into it

look the matter into > look it into
 3: Three-word phrasals
• These consist of a verb, an adverb and a
preposition (e.g. look forward to, make up for,
put up with, stand up for).

• The object can only be placed after the final

preposition:
I’m looking forward to it.
 I’m looking it forward to
 I’m looking forward it to
 4: 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 6
1. 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. Você foi para a festa fantasiado de quê?
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!
 Passive of phrasal verbs
Type 1: The light had been turned off.

Type 2: The matter will be looked into.

Type 3: He is looked up to by younger

players.

Type 4: The accident was put down to human

error.
 Difficulties with phrasal verbs
• The same verb + particle combination can have very
different meanings:
bring up a child bring up your lunch
• The same verb + particle combination can have
different grammar and different meanings:
get across the river get the message across
• There are many idioms and fixed collocations involving
phrasal verbs. In these, the order of elements is usually
fixed:
put up a fight put a fight up
get a move on get on a move
 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.
 Tips on learning and teaching phrasal verbs (2)
• 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.
• There are a few phrasal verbs in Portuguese: jogar fora,
ir/levar adiante, vir abaixo, voltar atrás, botar para baixo
etc.
• 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 and to
choose the correct one.
 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
Practising phrasal verbs