Morphological Changes in English

What was the morphological change in Old English regarding the inflectional system?

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Answer explanation

The morphological change in Old English involved a simplification of the inflectional system, leading to a reduction in the number of inflections for nouns, verbs, and adjectives, which contributed to the transition towards Middle English.

What classification did verbs have in Old English?

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Answer explanation

In Old English, verbs were classified into strong and weak categories. Strong verbs formed their past tense by changing the vowel (ablaut), while weak verbs used a dental suffix. This distinction was crucial in verb conjugation.

What was a common method for forming new words in Old English?

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Answer explanation

A common method for forming new words in Old English was compounding, where two or more words were combined to create a new term, reflecting the language's rich ability to create descriptive terms.

What grammatical feature did nouns have in Old English?

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Answer explanation

In Old English, nouns had grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and were inflected for case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative), which affected their endings and usage in sentences.

What happened to inflectional endings in Middle English?

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Answer explanation

In Middle English, inflectional endings began to simplify and reduce, leading to a loss of many grammatical distinctions. This change contributed to the transition towards a more analytic language structure.

What replaced inflection in Middle English?

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Answer explanation

In Middle English, inflection was largely replaced by a more fixed word order and the use of prepositions to indicate grammatical relationships, simplifying the language structure.

What shift occurred in the grammatical gender system in Middle English?

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Answer explanation

In Middle English, the grammatical gender system shifted from a more complex system with three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) to a simpler system that largely eliminated gender distinctions, leading to a more natural gender usage.

What became the standard plural form in Early Modern English?

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Answer explanation

In Early Modern English, the standard plural form became the addition of '-s' or '-es' to nouns, replacing older forms like '-en' or vowel changes, which were less consistent.

What auxiliary verb emerged in Early Modern English for negation and questions?

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Answer explanation

The auxiliary verb 'do' emerged in Early Modern English for negation and questions, replacing earlier forms and becoming essential for constructing negative sentences and interrogatives.

What change occurred in the use of comparatives in Early Modern English?

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Answer explanation

In Early Modern English, the use of comparatives shifted from using 'more' and 'less' with adjectives to a more standardized form, often employing '-er' endings for shorter adjectives, reflecting a simplification in comparative structures.