Section A : Grammar

Section A : GRAMMAR
1 English Language NOTES

Language is the means by which human beings communicate their thoughts,

feelings and various emotions to other human beings. The sign languages are
those means of communication where the body, face, fingers movements and
gestures are used. In course of time man has modified and developed these as
witnessed in the elaborate sign language of the indigenous communities and
tribals from America, Australia, Africa and India. They use smoke and coloured
flags to deliver a messages. Traffic signals where hand movements coordinate
with the light are of great significance the world over. For acquiring a driving
license knowledge of these communication system is a essential. Importance of
these sign language lies in communicating without a spoken or written word.
When a hunter lost or injured in the woods seeks help, he fires three shots
from his gun-he is calling for help. When a truck driver about to be passed by
a faster truck blinks his lights, it means “safe to pass”. Thus the fire signal used
by ancient Romans, smoke puffs used by the American Indians and smoke
used by African tribes were all the telegraphic or instant communication. The
Persians led by Xerxes at sea first used the signal flags. Shakespeare in his
book “The comedy of errors” wrote,
“We discovered two ships from a far making amain to us.”
He was aware of ships signals. At that time the signal demanding surrender was
5
called “waving amain” derived from a Spanish word meaning lower the sails.
Communication Skills & The simplest of the sound language are the groan, cries and exclamations. The
Personality Development exclamations like “ooh”,”ah” and “ouch” convey very specified meaning. Be-
sides, mimicking the sound created by the birds and animals was also a very
convenient mode of communication adopted by man. Man uses the most elaborate
NOTES of the sound languages that is speech. When the speech is accompanied by
various body gestures , facial expressions ; it becomes a combination of signs
and sound. And the communication becomes more effective.
How? When ? and Where ? of language is not known , yet , people have
made guess ever since the time of Greeks and Egyptians. Linguists are the
scientists who study languages and they believe that it is not worthwhile to
study ancient languages to find out about origin of languages. Since, man has
been living in groups and communities for million of years, language must also
be that old. Therefore, language must have been existing thousand of years
before its oldest record is available. The oldest record available of a language
is approximately 8000 years old.
It is estimated that more than 3000 known languages exist today. Some of
these are no longer spoken and are known only from written records. Other
languages are spoken in course of day to day life. However, English is the most
widespread of all these languages, followed by Chinese. Most of the languages
spoken can be traced to a common source of language. All the languages
derived from one common source or ancestor belong to one family of lan-
guages. English is a member of Indo-European family of languages. Other
languages belonging to this family are French , Italian, German, Norwegian,
Greek, and Albanian. These languages are different from one another and each
has to be learnt separately. Yet, there is abundant proof that they all came from
an common ancestral language.
Language changes constantly, the socio-political upheavals and other significant
events introduce new words. During World War 11 words like- blitz, radar and
jeep became a part of English language. With the exploration of the outer
space new words like astronaut, cosmonaut, spaceship, count down and blast
off have been added to the language. Over the years English language has
added words like television, medicare which are derived from Latin and Greek.
Freeway is derived from two English words. Further, spoken languages that
have no written form tend to change rapidly because no record is kept of them.
Whereas, the written languages change rather slowly. When the language de-
velops written literature , it slows down change even more. It is to be noted
here that pronunciation changes more rapidly than does the written form of a
language. This is because of English literature , English words today are spelled
much as they were spelled 500 years ago but they are pronounced with new
sounds. And that is the reason why both English- speaking school children and
foreigners learning English have trouble spelling words like cough, enough,
bough, buy, women, deaf, knight, and knee.
To learn English one must know the difference in intonation and pronunciation
of different countries. To understand each of them would call for lot of prac-
tice.
6
It is estimated that more than 270 million people speak english. It is the prin- Section A : Grammar
cipal language of Great Britain, Canada, the United States, New Zealand,
Australia and South Africa. Besides , it has great importance in international
affairs. In many countries English is used as second language in the schools.
NOTES
OLD ENGLISH
The first period of English, from 400 to 1150 is called old English or
Anglo-Saxon.
The literature of this period is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon. The
Anglo-Saxon or Old English literature was quite different from the English
which is used today. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes brought with them
songs and poems that reflected their lives as warriors. However, this formed
the oral tradition of these people . By 6th century Romans introduced not
only Christianity in England but also Latin Alphabets. With the introduc-
tion of alphabets the Anglo-Saxons wrote their history and poems. With
the spread of Christianity the poetry dealt less with heroic deeds of the
warriors and more with biblical subjects. The most important of these
poems is about the Beowulf. The other poems which still exist are the
religious lyrics written by Cynewulf and a hymn by a Yorkshire farm hand
named Caedmon. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the major surviving prose
work of this period , it had been written by the monks. By 1066 William
of Normandy conquered the Anglo-Saxons and Norman French became
the language of the court and polite society. French was taught in the
monastery schools, native poetry almost disappeared. Old English was
spoken only by middle and lower classes of the society.
MIDDLE ENGLISH
The period from 1150 to 1500 is called period of Middle English.
During the middle English period , the literature was written in Latin,
French, and English. Latin was the language mainly of scholars and writ-
ers. Most of the poetry during this period was written in French. The
writing in English was mainly religious and was intended for less educated
people. Gradually English language was taken over by the court and the
scholars. By 14 th century English was well established in court and out-
side. During this period the English statesman Geoffrey Chaucer was writing
in English and produced the first great work of English literature.His Canterbury
Tales a collection of stories in verse is famous. Check Your Progress
MODERN ENGLISH 1. Write down the first
period of English,
The grammar of modern English has been simplified. It comes from the called Old English or
language spoken by the Anglo-Saxon-Jute invaders of 5th century. Many Anglo-Saxon ?
words were borrowed from these dialects and also from Norse languages.
2. Which year the out of
Most of the words have Latin origin. French words have also been bor- printing was intro-
rowed. The English learnt the art of printing from Cologne , Germany.By duced in English ?
1476 this art was introduced in England.With the books available at cheaper
rates to the students spirit of learning spread through out Europe. Latin
alphabets were introduced for writing and the period of renaissance brought 7
Communication Skills & about advancement in science and arts. Thus English was classified as
Personality Development West division of the Teutonic branch of the Indo-European family of lan-
guages.

NOTES
Exercise
Answer the following questions :
1. What is language ?
2. Why is language a necessity for man ?
3. Describe various means of communication.
4. Write out the story of your favourite book.
5. Visit your library and make a list of the English classics which you
need to read.