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How was Early Modern English different from English used today?
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, detail of an oil painting attributed to John Taylor, c. 1610. The portrait is called the “Chandos Shakespeare” because it once belonged to the duke of Chandos.
Early Modern English, the language used by William Shakespeare, differed from modern English in several key ways:
- Vocabulary and Meaning: Many words have shifted in meaning over time. For example, in Shakespeare’s era, presently typically meant "immediately," silly denoted "innocence" or "purity," and rage could mean "folly."1
- Pronunciation: During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Great Vowel Shift fundamentally altered the pronunciation of long vowels, causing high vowels to become diphthongized and others to be raised. Consequently, words that do not rhyme today, such as tomb and dumb, may have rhymed in Shakespeare's time.21
- Standardization: During the Elizabethan period, the English language was actively expanding its range through the adoption of foreign terms and the restoration of older words. While the availability of printed books helped standardize grammar and vocabulary, spelling remained less consistent than it is today.3
- Syntax and Style: Sentence structures and metrical responses often differed from modern usage, and expressions that appear formal or stiff to contemporary audiences may have sounded fresh and lively to Elizabethan listeners.1