Download early modern english syntax and grammar

THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
JENNY MIRANDA PALOMO
LECTURE SIXTEEN
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH SYNTAX AND GRAMMAR
During the centuries 16th and 17ththere were many changes
referring to the idiomatic quality of English. A special change
was in the verb “do”.In the old English this verb has the meaning
of -perform an action andalso it can be used in order to replace
a verb for example “I went to the store, and having done that I
will…” in this case doreplaces the verb go in the second part of
the sentence but this was developed till Middle English period.
A periphrastic is a Grammar Constructed by using an auxiliary word
rather than an inflected form. The verb do was used as placeholding verb, going in the beginning of questions.
Thus, in
questions: “Do you know the way?” This represented a change
from the earlier inversion of word order to ask a question.
In contrast to it use in periphrastic, in the 16th this verb appear as an
emphatic modal or helping verbin sentences like -I do know the
answer, and of this way main changes modify the English syntax.
Nevertheless, another change but in the suffix was “ing”. Old English
had words with the ending in “ing” or “ung”. The first one was to
THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
JENNY MIRANDA PALOMO
LECTURE SIXTEEN
indicate, in nouns, ownership or genealogy, or to turn a verb into
a noun. For example, in Beowulf story, the Scyldings were a clan
or a family. Further, the second one “-ung” was used to signal a
verb turned into a noun, or a concept noun.New ways of
expressing perfect tenses: “I have been waiting; in this sentence
the action began in the past and continues into the present on
the other hand “I had been waiting.” here the action began in
the past, continued for some time, and then ended in the past.
Although in the future tense the use of “going to” did not gain
currency until the 19th.
According to these examples we can notice the changes that
appeared in the Idiomatic Modern English that become a
relevant characteristic of the way we speak.
In addition the modal verbs, or helping verbs, include shall, will, can,
may, and oughtand can modify the tense or mood of a main
verb. In Modern English, the modal verbs cannot work by
themselves beingused individually without a verb because is
necessary to use another verb in order to do a complete
sentence. Originally, these models were full verbs. In the 17th
THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
JENNY MIRANDA PALOMO
LECTURE SIXTEEN
century, for example, it would be grammatical to say, “I can
music”.
The distinctions between shall/should, will/would, may/might, and
can/could appear during 16th and 17th periods to create a
subjunctive mood in English comparable to that in Latin.
Shall/will came to be restricted for forms of the future, losing their
full verbal sense. . Shall was no longer used as a form of
obligation, and will no longer expressed an individual’s will or
desire.
Equally, scene from Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, shows us the
language of ritual evoked in a new way at a time when the
changes in forms of do and will have been evident and pointed.
Prince Hal replies to a plea from Falstaff not to be banished with
“I do, I will,” using do in the new sense of a replacement for
Falstaff’s verb, banish.
Indeed, a different kind of colloquialism emerged with these
changes that have an important relationship to the language of
ritual. Such phrases as “How’s it going?” or “How do you do?”
THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
JENNY MIRANDA PALOMO
LECTURE SIXTEEN
have become idioms of everyday speech, but they rely on
grammatical forms newly developed in the 16th and 17th
centuries.