William Shakespeare
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Ruzhyo
How did Shakespeare's work contribute to the development of the English language itself?
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replied to:  Ruzhyo
ignati
Replied to:  How did Shakespeare's work contribute to the development of the English...
Shakespeare's work directly contributed to the regularization of the rules of English grammar. Samuel Johnson's quotes Shakespeare more than any other writer in his work A Dictionary of the English Language.
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replied to:  ignati
lasrus
Replied to:  Shakespeare's work directly contributed to the regularization of the rules of...
Shakespeare introduced many new words and phrases into the language, as well as new grammatical and poetic structures including blank verse.
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replied to:  lasrus
Zarabeth
Replied to:  Shakespeare introduced many new words and phrases into the language, as...
He also used many words that already existed in new ways. For example, "bedroom" used to mean the space on the floor where people would spread out bedding each night. The Bard used it in the modern sense of "an actual room with a bed in it/chamber for sleeping in."
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replied to:  Zarabeth
SandyPrice
Replied to:  He also used many words that already existed in new ways....
Bringing Shakespeare's own brand of English usage to audiences who could barely understand their own dialog. It increased the vocabulary in my own home as my older daughter played Titania in Junior High School and the younger was a spear carrier in the Geer Shakespearean theater. When she wasn't on stage she was on book and knew most of our plays by heart. We had no television in the mountains and we lived through our books and plays.

I took a Shakespearean class from Santa Barbara Univ. of California and took 40 Students of the University to London and Stratford. 3 weeks of nonstop Shakespeare with our professor was incredible.
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