When people talk about Shakespeare's contribution to the English language, they usually refer to the words he used. His works contain the first recorded use of many words, including bandit, dwindle, excellent and tranquil. That does not mean that he coined the words, just that no-one can find any written evidence of them before him. An academic from Strathclyde University has said that Shakespeare was no more inventive than his contemporaries when it came to vocabulary, but where he was really innovative was in the grammatical constructions he used. One example is his use of adjectives to describe inanimate objects; talking of horses and their "proud hoofs" was ground-breaking at the time.
Here's a Daily Telegraph article on the subject.
Having read the claim that "he completely reinvented grammar" I was rather underwhelmed by the passage that Dr Hope "highlighted" - “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended." If that's his best shot then I'll stick to
Crystal's book "Think on my Words", which covers the subject of Shakespeare's language in more depth.
Posted by: Alan | February 01, 2012 at 10:17 PM
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Posted by: eclat administrators Sr Lanka | February 03, 2012 at 09:14 AM