How did the plays of William Shakespeare affect the English language?

Answer 1

SHAKESPEARE HELPED TO "STANDARDIZE" THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Since Shakespeare's use of the English language and its embracement by the "OxBridge system", English has become somewhat standardized. The OxBridge system refers to alumni of Oxford and Cambridge who exert a great deal of influence on Britain and the English language. They hold high positions in government, education et al which, in effect, greatly influence what is and what is not proper English. There has not been a great change in the language in recent times. One can comprehend English from Shakespeare's era to the present with little difficulty because of this standardization. "Middle English" Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" offers a good example of the changes as the vocabulary/spelling is very different and the grammar is not quite the same. Sir Winston Churchill's great opus, "The History of the English Speaking People", provides some pertinent historical examples of how and why English has evolved from its Celtic roots into its present form.

SHAKESPEARE INVENTED A HUGE NUMBER OF NEW WORDS

Shakespeare contributed more new words to the English language than any other single person, (around 2,000!) Some of the many words he invented which are still used today include:

Accused Addiction Amazement Arouse Assassinate Bandit Blushing Bet Bump Buzzer Champion Circumstantial Compromise Courtship Countless Critic Dawn Dwindle Epileptic Equivocal Elbow Excitement Exposure Frugal Generous Gloomy Gossip Gust Hint Hobnob Impartial Invulnerable Jaded Label Lacklustre Lonely Luggage Majestic Negotiate Obscene Pedant Premeditated Puke Rant Scuffle Swagger Torture Tranquil Varied Worthless Zany


HE INVENTED MANY "CLICHÉS"

Many of the phrases we consider clichés today were first used by Shakespeare. When we say something vanished into thin air, someone is tongue-tied or dull as dishwater,someone wont budge an inch, someones own flesh and blood, the game is up, somethings done without rhyme or reason or refer to jealousy as the green-eyed monster we are using phrases first coined by Shakespeare.


HE PROVIDES A USEFUL STEPPING STONE IN THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Because Shakespeare was so prolific, he provides us with many examples of Early Modern English. (Very briefly, we started off with Old English, which Beowulf was written in, then the French influence following the Norman Conquest gave us Middle English, which the Canterbury Tales was written in, then The Great Vowel Shift happened and created Early Modern English which Shakespeare wrote in.)

Because Shakespeare arrived at the beginning of a new era in the English language, when spellings were just beginning to become standardised and because he became so famous, his language has in many cases become Standard English.

Answer 2

Fer Shure .. he invented over 300 words in his plays and many are still in common use today!

Answer 3

they met with politeness & kindness