Late Modern English

Question 1

When was the late modern English (LME) time period

Answer 1

1700- 1900AD

Question 2

1858

Answer 2

Oxford English Dictionary

Question 3

Samuel Pepys - progressive verb forms
LME

Answer 3

The house is building - becomes - the house is being built
Verb adverb combinations - climb up, put down, set off

Question 4

Lowth

Answer 4

Prescriptivist
“Short introduction to English grammar”
No double negatives, never split an infinite “to boldly go” or end a sentence in a preposition “that’s who I spoke to”, “ain’t” is unacceptable in formal English
BUT - criticise almost every major English writer - Shakespeare + pope

Question 5

Dryden

Answer 5

Wanted to change English lang to Latin - prescriptivist.
Prepositions should never end a sentence “she’s the woman I spoke to”
Wanted a fixed form of English that was still rapidly changing
He used Latin as an ultimate arbiter - translate sentence into Latin and then back to English - didn’t work - English wasn’t 100% Latin

Question 6

Johnson

Answer 6

Disagree with Lowth and Dryden - said we couldn’t change the way people spoke - publish first ever dictionary 1755.
Said writing is the true basis of English grammar - Latin is a poor model, Shakespeare corrupt English Lang

Question 7

What happened in 1858

Answer 7

English dialect society - focus on one verity of English at the expense of others