In order to understand how the English language came to be as it is my sister had to know England’s history a little. Many English words have come to English from the language of the Angles and Saxons – it is called ‘Old English’. Then all the four centuries the Romans were in Britain. But Angles and Saxons took over the land and drove out many of the representatives of Britons. However the Britons managed to keep their language. They mastered it perfectly. For instance, they embrace such words as ‘basket’, cart’, ‘lad’, ‘lass’ and ‘cradle’. Many English words have come from Anglo-Saxon, that is, from old English. Some of words are changed as the years pass – ‘seolfor’ was for ‘silver’, ‘praettig’ – for ‘pretty’ and ‘maedgen’ for ‘maiden’. After a while the Danes, or Norsemen conquered the Anglo-Saxons and took over the rule of England. But it is interesting to say that they were not eager to make the people of England speak their language. They took over the customs of the people they conquered – they began speaking English. Nevertheless, they left some traces in this country. For instance, the words ‘anger’, ‘cake’, ‘ill’, ‘odd’, ‘ugly’, ‘sky’ and ‘wrong’ are taken from the Norsemen.

After William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon king in 1966, French became the court language of England. The Normans did not drive out the Anglo-Saxons out of England and their language, either. Noble people had to master French for some 200 years - it was the court language but English remained the language of the common people.

Then the English kings lost Normandy in France. They were no longer interested in keeping French customs. English came to be the court and fashionable language – it embraced all areas of the country. Of course, many French words slipped into English – such words as ‘trade’, ‘price’, and ‘expence’ were borrowed from French. The Anglo-Saxon and French words were both succefully used.

A great many new scientific words have been made from Latin or Greek words instead of English ones – ‘telephone’, for example.

During the centuries the English language has lost words, too – they are marked ‘obsolete’ in the dictionary. Such words can be found in Shakespeare’s plays, for instance.