NOTE of Fixing the English Language

(1) What are the features of old Old English, middle English and Modern English?
Ans:
1.Old English, developed from the Germanic branch of Indo- European language, was characterized by limited vocabulary with word endings that identified the gender,number and case of words.
2.Middle English was distinguished by a large influx of French words into the language, and the shift to more simplifed word forms.
3.Modern English featureda move toward standardization of the language by formalizing both usage and spelling.

(2) In the 17th and 18th century, why did some writers hold a low opinion of Englisg?
Ans:They felt that because French and Latin followed specitic patterns and rules, these languages were more prestigious than English.

(3)How did English writers at that time slove this problem?
Ans:Writers as Jonathan Swift and John Dryden concluded that the corruption they saw in their native tongue could be improved by standardization of the lanuage, so it was proposed the English academy should create a standardization grammer and dictionary for the English.

(4)Describe prescriptive and descriptive grammar.
Ans:Describe grammar objectively described the rules native speakers seemed to follow, and the second kind of grammar prescribe correct usage of the English language.

(5)Examples of the debate between the prescriptivists and the descriptivists.
Ans:According to prescriptive grammar rules set up by Dyden and his colleague, English sentences should never end with a preposition. However, prepositions show up quite regularly at the end of sentences. Prescriptivists also view the usage of "ain't"as a contraction of "am not"as inelegant and wrong, whereas many dictionaries list "ain't"indicating the word is used by speakers of English.