Goodness gracious folks,

We certainly have strayed far from the original topic haven't we? I've followed this topic (as I do all others) with a great deal of interest. Much has been said about the English language (its origin), word definitions, and even the suggestion to go out and buy the "English Oxford Dictionary" to learn English grammar. Alec said, ". . . accurate solutions to problems are more appreciated on a forum." I agree. And I want to add that fact and truth rather than opinion are more appreciated on this forum. With fact and truth in mind, let me make the following comments.

The English language as it is known and used in this day and age is a far cry from the language in its infancy in the 5th century, for it was in the 5th century that the Angles and Saxons, who migrated to the British Isles from present day Germany, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, began to develop a language which became known as Old English. These early peoples spoke a tongue that was a mixture of Old Saxon and Old Frisian. The Viking settlers spoke a purely Scandinavian language and the Angles and Saxons incorporated a large body of Scandinavian words into the body of their budding language when the Vikings settled in the Isles. So the English language is not English at all ethnically speaking. It is an amalgamation of the Germanic, Frisian, Scandinavian, French, Latin, and Greek languages. It is a language that has been in a state of constant development since the early 5th century. That trend will continue into the future. Those are the facts! If you care to do your own research, may I suggest the Oxford Companion to British History would be a good place to start

And anyone who goes out and purchases a copy of the English Oxford Dictionary will NOT learn anything at all about grammar as alleged. Grammar is the study of the classes of words, their functions and relations in a sentence. A dictionary provides word definitions and other important information including pronunciation, syntactical and idiomatic uses, but will not teach you anything about grammar.

That's the truth!

Chuck