Transcript The Grammar of Shakespeare - Ms. Eiland's Class Website

The Grammar of
Shakespeare
Shakespeare spoke
Early Modern English.
•All’s well that end’s well.
•As dead as a doornail
•Love is blind
•Vanish into thin air
Pronouns
Early Modern
Modern
Subject
Thou
You
Object
Thee
You
“Thou art a villain.”
“Come, let me clutch thee.”
“What is thy name?”
Possessive
Thy/Thine
Yours
Thyself
Yourself
You are a villain.
Come, let me clutch you.
What is your name?
Verb
Conjugations
Typically added to the end of verbs, particularly
those in 2nd person, are –EST and –ST.
“Thou growest tall.”
“Dost thou know the time?”
You grow tall.
Do you know the time?
-ETH and -TH are also added to the end of
some verbs.
“He hath honoured me.”
“Dost thou speaketh?
He has honored me.
Do you speak?
The verb “are” changes to “art.”
Here, There,
and Where
Hither
To here
Thither
To there
Whither
To where
“Whither goest thou?”
“O, hither and thither.”
To where do you go?
O, here and there.
Hence
From here
Thence
From there
Whence
From where
“Whence came you?”
From where did you come?
Sentence
Inversion
In its most basic form, Modern English sentences
follow this structure:
Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
John caught the ball.
However, Shakespeare commonly used SOV and OSV
inversion:
Subject-Object-Verb or Object-Subject-Verb
John the ball caught.
The ball John caught.