The 9th PPT presentation on the History of Language. This is for pages 128-133 of the Old English chapter.

1. Old English Syntax
Dr. Mubarak Alkhatnai

2. OE syntax has close kinship to Modern
English syntax, yet there are differences:
1- Nouns, adjectives and most pronouns
had fuller inflections than their modern
developments. The inflected forms were
used to signal the word’s function in the
sentence.
2- Adjectives agreed in case, number, and
gender with their nouns.
3- Adjectives were inflected for
“definiteness” in what was called strong
and weak declensions.

3. 4- Numbers were used (as in ME) to
◦ Modify a noun e.g. pritig rihtwisra “Thirty
Shillings”
◦ As nominals in genitive case. e.g. prtig
rihtwisra “thirty of rightous men”.
5- OE used the genitive inflection in many
circumstances. (of phrase in ME). e.g. “a
great deal of the Island”
6- OE had no articles. Anglo-Saxons used
se “that” pes “this” for definite article. For
indefinite articles an “one” sum “certain”.

4. 7- OE could form verb phrases like ME
(Have + be with participles). e.g. has run
– is running.
◦ The form has been running was not used
◦ ME he had come = OE he ær com “he earlier
come”.
8- OE formed passive like ME but tended to
use the infinitive. Heo heht hine læran
“she ordered him to be taught”
9- Subjunctive mood (for wishes, emotions
..etc) was more common in OE. e.g. if I
were you, I would ….

5. 10- OE has a number of impersonal verbs
that were used without a subject. e.g. Me
lyst rædan “[it] Pleases me to read”
11- The subject of OE verb could be
omitted if it was implied by the context.
12- The subject of OE verb could be
mentioned twice.
13- OE negative adverb ne came before the
verb. Ic ne dyde “I not did” instead of I
did not.
14- OE word order was not fixed as ME.
Object pronoun might come before verb
instead of after it.

6. 15- OE has different ways of subordinating
clauses.
Parataxis (the act of placing side by side).
It is a literary technique that favors short,
simple sentences with the use of
coordinating (and, or, nor …) rather than
subordinating conjunctions (although, as
far as …).