ABSTRACT
This chapter gives you a sense of what English was like at each of its various stages of development, from Old English to Present Day English, and to examine in more detail some of the linguistic and social elements responsible for the development of English. Once you have an overall picture in place of what English was like at its various stages of development, doing the suggested further reading will allow you to gain a wider knowledge and deeper understanding of these issues. Knowing how to pronounce Old English will sometimes help you to work out what a particular Old English word means. A word may look unrecognisable but may sound very similar to a modern English equivalent. The global spread of English from the late 1500s onwards has led to the emergence of numerous international varieties of English, or World Englishes.
