ENGLISH Introduction History of English Facts about English

ENGLISH ØIntroduction ØHistory of English ØFacts about English

Introduction � English is a west-German language and belongs to European language family. Indo- � English is thought to be one of the most important languages in the world. � English is widely spoken language in the world. � It is also called ‘lingua franca’ (widely spoken language in Italian language). � About 360 million people speaks English all over the world. � There are 104 countries where English is spoken as the first language.

English as first language. English as second/third language.

Inner circle countries contains large number of native speakers. Outer circle countries contains average number of English speakers. Expanding circle countries are learning English as foreign language.

History of English Old English Middle English Modern English (before 11 th century) (11 th to 15 th century) (15 th to now)

Old English �Before 11 th century. �The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon. �Old English is very different from Modern English, and is difficult for 21 st century English speakers to understand.

Middle English �Between 11 th to 15 th century. �Old English transformed into Middle English through language contact.

Modern English �After 15 th century. �The works of William Shakespeare in Modern English. � By the late 18 th century the British Empire had facilitated the spread of Modern English.

Facts about English �A new English word is created in every 2 hours. �‘ TIME ’ is the most commonly used noun in English. �‘ Twyndyllyng ' is the longest word in the English without any vowels. language �The word ‘SET' has the highest number of definitions in the dictionary. �"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcasnoconiosi" is the longest word according to the Oxford Modern English. � A lung disease caused by inhaling ash and sand dust.

�The word ‘ abstemious' has all the vowels in the alphabetical order. � The English language does not have a script of its own. �English what we are writing are in Roman alphabets. �Worldwide, India comes second only to the U. S. A in it's English speaking population. �“I am” is the shortest sentence in English.

�SWIMS will be SWIMS even when turned upside down.

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