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Period: 410 to 436
Roman withdraw from Britain
Old English -
Period: 450 to 1150
The English was spoken in England. It was based more on German than the English we speak at present.
Old English -
Period: 500 to 600
Germanic peoples, speaking West Germanic dialects settle most of Britain
Old English -
Period: 800 to 1100
Beowulf was written
Old English -
Period: 800 to 1150
Because the people who ruled England spoke first Danish and later French. English became less like German
Old English -
Period: 1066 to 1075
Norman Invasion
Old English -
1384
John Wycliffe publishes his English translation of "The Bible"
Middle English -
1400
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Middle English -
1440
Invention of the printing press
Middle English -
1450
The great vowel shift begins
Middle English -
1492
Discovery of North America
Middle English -
Period: 1492 to 1493
Medieval phase book
Middle English -
Shakespeare made use of a wider vocabulary than ever before
Modern English -
Shakespeare's first folio
Modern English -
Period: to
English was spoken in India as well as in Africa and Asia. It became the language for government and education in India
Modern English -
Discovery of American Revolution
Modern English -
Some British people were taken to Australia. English began to be spoken in both countries
Modern English -
The English language was settled. Two big changes: Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary. Noah Webster wrote The American Dictionary of the English Language. The latter gave a separate identity to American English Spelling.
Modern English