In the current study, data from A Corpus of English Dialogues (1560-1760) are used to consider contexts with the have-perfect and temporal adverbs of the definite past time such as yesterday, last night, ago. Data analysis is conducted within the framework of a usage-based approach, which gives evidence to the hypothesis that in Early Modern…

Vantage Theory (VT) and Cognitive Grammar (CG) both rely crucially on the cognitive phenomenon of categorization as well as on the semantic/pragmatic notion of participant point of view in making claims about human linguistic production and perception. In this paper these commonalities of commitment are explored, as are the differences in the ways…

Reading Old English poses many problems for a beginning student. Even though it has some similarities to modern English, the special characters, obsolete words, inflected grammar, and alien word order of Old English makes it difficult for Old English neophytes to reconstruct the propositional content in a poem such as "Beowulf." Experts…

Intended for college teachers and students of Anglo-Saxon literature, this paper provides an overview of the sophisticated poetic devices used by the "Beowulf" poet. The paper examines how old English words for color range in hues in a way that modern English words do not, and how these words for color are used in "Beowulf."…

Intended for college teachers and students of Anglo-Saxon literature, this paper provides an overview of the poetic devices available to poets of the fourteenth century. The paper examines how the "Pearl" poet made use of numerical symbolism and the principles of formal logic as structural devices, giving examples of these devices from…

Revised version of a working paper presented at the Dictionary of Old English Conference, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, September 26, 1970. Article is part of Lexicography and Dialect Geography, Festgabe for Hans Kurath''. (DD)

The element of play is underutilized in the secondary classroom in spite of the fact that play produces unique opportunities for meaningful learning. The ways in which the elements of epic poetry, Beowulf, and the Old English diction differed from the modern usage is discussed.

After tracing the history of English grammar, the author defends the teaching of traditional grammar. A suitable English grammar must: (1) recognize the influence of Latin upon English; (2) describe the language while acknowledging its ambiguities; and (3) serve as a reliable guide to usage. (PP)

This curriculum guide, developed for pre-kindergartners through grade 12 as part of the total English curriculum, is concerned with the English language as it is now known and as it evolved from its Indo-European roots. Materials include (1) an overview of the origin and development of the English language from Old English through middle English…