All languages change over time. If you've ever seen an example of Middle English, you will know how difficult it can be to read. And if you've ever seen Old English, it might have seemed impossible to decipher. Language change reflects and is influenced by changes in culture. New experiences will always require new words and ways to describe them.
This quiz is an overview of language change. Challenge yourself and see how much you know about the fascinating, ever-changing English language.
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Beowulf was written at least a thousand years ago
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In Old English, ‘who’ was ‘hwā’, ‘how’ was ‘hú’ and ‘what’ was ‘hwæt’. Of the 100 most commonly used words in the English language, the majority are from Old English
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Over time, 'thou', 'thee', 'thy' and 'thine' have fallen out of use. If you have studied French or German, you will know that these languages distinguish between the formal 'you' and the familiar 'you'. In the past, an English speaker would call friends and family members 'thou', rather than 'you' ('you' was formal)
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Governments often do try to control language, such as when Welsh was banned from use in courts and schools, but language change is a natural process which cannot be controlled by anyone - it can only be influenced
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In the past, 'men' was taken to mean 'people' sometimes and '(only) men' at other times. In the last half-century, language has responded to social change, including that brought about by feminism, and 'men' is not often used to mean 'people' any longer. Other examples of gendered language appear frequently (such as always choosing 'him' and 'his'), making it important to learn to recognise them
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The word 'robot' was first used in 1922! 'App' is short for 'application' and originally meant a computer function - the abbreviation was first used in 1985
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