Revised Paper: History of the English Langauge

The History of the English Language

By: Ana Jimenez

The history of the English language started when three Germanic tribes arrived and invaded Britain during the 5^th century AD. The tribes were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These tribes crossed the North Sea from what today is called Denmark and Northern Germany. During this time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language, but most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders; mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. “The Angles came from “Englaland” and their language was called “Englisc” - from which the words England and English are derived.” (What is English? http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm)

The Germanic tribes that invading all spoke similar languages, which later developed into what we call now old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. “People who speak regular English today would have great difficulty understanding the old English of back then. Actually, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots.” (What is English? http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm) The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

In 1066, the Duke of Normandy invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors, which were called the Normans, brought with them a kind of French. This became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. “For a long period, there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century, English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added.” (What is English? http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm) This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer, but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

Towards the end of Middle English, a change in pronunciation started, with vowels being pronounced differently. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the language of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

“The difference between the two styles of English was vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, coming from two principal factors: first, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words and second, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface.” (What is English? http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm) The English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

Today, American English is influential due to television, media, trade, technology, and popular music. Although, American English is the type we use in America, there are different type of English used around the world including Australian English, New Zealand English, and South African English. 

Cyber Bullying :)

   To me, cyber bullying is a type of action to hurt others feelings through the process of technology. I'll be honest, i've done it before. It's something that lots of people do. I think we have so much influence with technology, that it comes natural for us to bully someone over the internet. The thing is i don't think most of us actually know how it affects a person when we do hurt them over the net. If it's on the internet, everyone can see it. No matter what.

   Today we had an assembly about cyber bullying. It taught us about self-control. How we need to know how to manage what we say, how we say it and where we say it. When people find out about things, they automatically want to tell someone about it; usually via text message. Technology has grown so much in the past years that our main way of communication is through phones or the internet. The things that are said over the net are going to be seen, even if you block it. Someone, somewhere will see it and it'll come back to that person. Either way, someone is getting hurt. If you wouldn't like someone writing stuff about you on the internet, then you shouldn't do it either. It affects everyone.

History of the English Language Paper

The History of the English Language

By: Ana Jimenez

The history of the English language started when three Germanic tribes arrived and invaded Britain during the 5^th century AD. The tribes were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These tribes crossed the North Sea from what today is called Denmark and Northern Germany. During this time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language, but most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders; mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc - from which the words England and English are derived.

The Germanic tribes that invading all spoke similar languages, which later developed into what we call now old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. People who speak regular English today would have great difficulty understanding the old English of back then. Actually, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors, which were called the Normans, brought with them a kind of French. This became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century, English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer, but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

Towards the end of Middle English, a change in pronunciation started, with vowels being pronounced differently. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the language of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

The difference between the two styles of English was vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, coming from two principal factors: first, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words and second, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface. The English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

Today, American English is influential due to television, media, trade, technology, and popular music. Although, American English is the type we use in America, there are different type of English used around the world including Australian English, New Zealand English, and South African English. 

On-Demand Letter (:

Dear News Democrat,

            It has been brought to my attention that in many national elections, only a small fraction of eligible voters actually cast ballots. In local elections, the turn out is even smaller. That’s why in some countries, like Australia, they make it mandatory to cast a vote. In my opinion, I think that compulsory voting should be enforced in the United States.

            One reason why I think the Untied States should enforce compulsory voting is because many people in our country long ago fought for us to have the right to vote. It’s a huge part of American history where many Americans fought for us to have the right to vote. The Bill of Rights is our proof. Not only is it a part of our history, but it is also one of our freedoms to be able to vote. We should take advantage of the opportunity we have in America to vote because in many other countries, they don’t have this freedom.

            Another reason why I think the United States should enforce compulsory voting is because we have a democracy in America. This means we the people have control in how we want our government to be ruled. We, as Americans, have the chance to run our country the way we want it to be run. The whole point of voting in elections is to see what the majority of our country wants. For example, in local elections, there are many candidates in the running for office, but it is the peoples’ choice in who gets to be ahead of the county. We should take advantage of the right to vote because, in my opinion, we would be letting our country down if we didn’t.

            The last reason why I think the United States should enforce compulsory voting is because it is essential to our countries well being. Many Americans don’t want to vote because they either don’t care about politics, they’re not interested, they simply just don’t care at all about anything, or they already don’t like how our country is already. The thing is, by having that ONE vote could change the outcome of everything in America. I mean this freedom wasn’t just given to us; we earned it by the actions of those great people back in the day. The least we could do is show some respect for them because our nation wouldn’t be this way of it wasn’t for the people who fought for this right.

            As you can see, there are many reasons why I think the United States of America should enforce compulsory voting. Some reasons are because it is one of our freedoms, America’s government is a democracy, and it is essential to our country’s well being. Voting in elections shouldn’t be taken for granted in the United States; it should be proudly used because we are one of the few countries in the world who have this freedom. The point of voting is to let others express their opinion and change what they do or don’t like. Could your vote change the outcome of something in your country?

                                                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Ana Jimenez-Luttrell 

Thematic Statement :)

Only caring about material things can sometimes lead to suffering.

Reflection :)

   In my opinion, I think that my letter to Mr. Leeper was well written, but i didn't really have that many supporting details. I mean my argument was great about how I think Wikipedia should be used in schools as a reliable search engine. Many people don't think that Wikipedia is a reliable source because people have the ability to change what is written on their site. As for Google, they gather sites that others have made all over the net instead of making their own articles. It's different in a way.
   My letter explained why Wikipedia should be allowed to be used, but I honestly don't think my explanations were as string as they could be. I could have used some vocabulary and explained more about the results we gathered from our experiment, but I didn't think about at the time.

On-Demand Letter :)

Dear Mr. Leeper,

            In Mr. Roberts’s class, we conducted an experiment on the accuracy of Wikipedia.  Most teachers, professors, and schools really don’t like that students use Wikipedia because of the lack in accuracy. So our class decided to test that out. Our experiment was to go on to the Wikipedia site, research an article, and change some information to make it false. The class followed these instructions and we waited to see how long it would take for Wikipedia to change the errors we made.

            The next day we were in class, Mr. Roberts checked to see our progress in the experiment. We all gave him our times to let him know how long it took the site to change our false facts. The results were shown to be that 89% of the errors were fixed in a short period of time. In conclusion, our experiment proved to be that Wikipedia is in fact a reliable source to get information.

            One reason why I think Wikipedia is a good search engine and should be used in schools is because their information is accurate. Most of the changes that were made by our class were changed in a matter of a few hours. By saying so, it is obvious that Wikipedia has people to check for false information. That way when people try to research things, the articles are carefully monitored so false information isn’t being addressed to other places.

            Another reason why I think Wikipedia is a good search engine is because at the bottom of every article, there are sources leading to other sites to let you know where they found that information. So the people at Wikipedia aren’t just making up all this information, they actually are backing it up with other sources. The sites they give you also give you further information about the topic you are researching.

            The last reason why I think Wikipedia is a good search engine is because people can edit what is written in their articles. For example, if some information wasn’t correct and someone sees it, they can edit it to fix the error into a fact. Wikipedia is a widely known site where there are many people who read everything it has to offer. So all of these people read, check and correct anything that they find is incorrect.

            In conclusion, Wikipedia is a site that should be allowed in school systems. The information is accurate, there are other sites that show you where they got their information, and everything is corrected by others in the Internet. Everything is monitored to keep all the info correct.