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Christianity
While the Anglo-Saxons were away, Christian missionaries stole in bringing with them leaflets about jumble sales and more Latin. Christianity was a hit with the locals and made them much happier to take on funky new words from Latin, like “martyr”, “bishop” and “font”, etc.
“Glorious” is a commendatory term, while “messiness” is derogatory. The author actually used the title as a thesis statement: Yes, English is messy, but the messiness reflects some commendable qualities of English, such as tolerance, the love of freedom, and the respect for others’ rigish
English from about 1300 to 1500 is known as Middle English. It was influenced by French in governmental words, like “court”, “legal”, and “government” itself, and Latin in religious and educational words, like “minister”, “angel”, “school”, and “grammar”.
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ii. The development of Modern English
The Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest brought French to the upper class of England, but English was still used by the lower class. As a result, French words were added to English, like “judge”, “jury”, “royal”, “sovereign”, etc.
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i. The roots of English
A west Germanic language brought to England by Anglo-Saxons around 400 A.D.
Old English/ The Anglo-Saxons Christianity Viking The Norman Conquest Middle English
Viking Along came the Vikings, with their action-man words, like “drag”, “take”, “give” and many words that begin with “sk”, like “sky” and “skirt”.
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The Glorious Messiness of English
Robert MacNeil
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I. Interpretation of the Title II. Brief Introduction to History of English
i. The roots of English ii. The development of Modern English iii. 20th Century English and World English III. Background Knowledge IV. Text Organization
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Old English/ The Anglo-Saxons
It was very different from modern English, and was the spoken and written language of England between 400 and 1100 A.D. Most vocabulary was for simple everyday use, like “house”, “woman”, “man”, “mother”, etc. Four of our days of the week were named in honor of Anglo-Saxon gods, but they didn’t bother with Saturday, Sunday and Monday as they had all gone off for a long weekend.
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I. Interpretation of the Title
Q: How can messiness be glorious?
A: A rhetorical device —Oxymoron was used here.
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Oxymoron puts two contradictory terms together to puzzle reader, luring him/ her to pause and explore why.
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II. Brief Introduction to History of English
i. The roots of English ii. The development of Modern English iii. 20th Century English and World English