English for beginners or where to start learning English. English - grammar - article - use of the indefinite article English language

02.07.2020

We present to you the first article in the series "English Grammar for Beginners". In this series of materials, we decided to outline all the rules briefly and in simple words so that beginners "from scratch" or those who do not remember the basics of English well, could independently understand grammar, understand it and apply it in practice.

Plural in English

V English language, as in Russian, all words are divided into countable and uncountable. This is important to understand when forming the plural of a word. Countable nouns denote items that can be counted, for example: table (table), book (book), apple (apple). Uncountable nouns are abstract concepts, liquids, products, etc., that is, something that cannot be counted. For example: knowledge, water, meat, flour. These words have no plural or singular.

Countable nouns can be used in singular and plural forms. The singular noun denotes one thing, this is the form of the word that is indicated in the dictionary: apple - apple. The plural noun denotes several things: apples - apples.

How the plural forms of nouns:

Usually, the plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s: book - books to the word. However, there are several peculiarities of spelling:

If the word ends with -o, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, then add the ending -es: hero - heroes (hero - heroes), bus - buses (bus - buses).
Exceptions: photo - photos (photography - photos), video - videos (video recording - video recordings), radio - radios (radio - several radios), rhino - rhinos (rhino - rhinos), piano - pianos (piano - several pianos), hippo - hippos (hippopotamus - hippos).
If the word ends with -f, -fe, then we change the ending to -ves: knife - knives (knife - knives), leaf - leaves (leaf - leaves), wife - wives (wife - wives).
Exceptions: roof - roofs (roof - roofs), giraffe - giraffes (giraffe - giraffes), cliff - cliffs (cliff - cliffs).
If the word ends with -y, preceded by a consonant, then -y we change to -ies: body - bodies.
If the word ends in -y, preceded by a vowel, then add the ending -s: boy - boys.

In English there is also exclusion words, which form a plural not according to the rules. You just need to memorize such words, fortunately, there are not very many of them.

Singular	Plural
man - man	men - men
woman - woman	women - women
child - child	children - children
person - person	people - people
foot - foot	feet - feet
mouse - mouse	mice - mice
tooth - tooth	teeth - teeth
sheep - sheep	sheep - sheep

Try our test to see how well you have mastered the material.

English Plural Test

Articles in English

There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. They are not translated into Russian. In the overwhelming majority of cases, one of these articles should be placed before a noun in the singular.

The indefinite article a / an is used only with countable nouns in the singular: a girl (girl), a pen (pen). If the word begins with a consonant, we write the article a (a girl), and if the word begins with a vowel, we write the article an (an apple).

The indefinite article a / an is used in the following cases:

We call any, some kind of indefinite object, and we have one, so we use the article a, which comes from the word one (one):
It is a book. - This is a book.
We first mention the subject in a speech:
I see a shop. - I see (some, one of many) shop.
We are talking about a person's profession or indicate that he belongs to a group:
He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
She is a student. - She's a student.

We use the definite article the when it comes to a specific familiar subject. This article can appear before a singular or plural noun.

The definite article the is used in the following cases:

We already mentioned the subject earlier in our speech:
I see a shop. The shop is big. - I see a shop. (This) store is big.
It is believed that the definite article comes from the word that (that), therefore it is intended to indicate a certain, familiar subject to the interlocutors.
We are talking about an object that in this context is one of a kind, it cannot be confused with something else:
Honey, I'm washing the car. - Honey, I'm washing the car. (there is one car in the family, so we are talking about a specific subject)
Look at the girl in the red dress. - Look at the girl in the red dress. (we point to a specific girl in a specific dress)
We are talking about a one-of-a-kind subject, there is no other such thing: the sun, the moon, the world, the President of France, etc.:
The earth is our home. - Earth is our home.

Verb to be

There is always a verb in an English sentence. And if in Russian we can say "I am a doctor", "Mary is beautiful", "We are in the hospital", then in English this is unacceptable: in all these cases, after the subject there must be the verb to be. Therefore, you can remember a simple rule: if there are no ordinary verbs in a sentence, then you need a verb to be.

The verb to be has three forms:

We add Am to the pronoun I when we talk about ourselves:
I am beautiful. - I'm beautiful.
Is we put after the pronouns he, she, it:
She is beautiful. - She's beautiful.
Are we use after you, we, they:
You are beautiful. - You are handsome.

The verb to be in English is most often used in the following cases:

We inform you by whom is a person (name, profession, etc.):
I am a doctor. - I'm a doctor.
We inform you what quality is possessed by a person or an object:
Mary is beautiful. - Mary is beautiful.
We inform you where there is a person or object:
We are at the hospital. - We're in the hospital.

Sentences with the verb to be in the present tense are constructed as follows:

Affirmative sentences	Negative sentences	Interrogative sentences
Principle of education
I + am	I + am not (’m not)	Am + I
He / She / It + is	He / She / It + is not (isn’t)	Is + he / she / it
We / You / They + are	We / You / They + are not (aren’t)	Are + we / you / they
Examples of
I am a manager. - I am a manager.	I am not a manager. - I'm not a manager.	Am I a manager? - I am a manager?
He is awesome. - He's great.	He is not awesome. - He's not great.	Is he awesome? - He's great?
She is a doctor. - She is a doctor.	She isn’t a doctor. “She’s not a doctor.	Is she a doctor? - She is a doctor?
It (ball) is red. - He (the ball) is red.	It (ball) isn’t red. - He (the ball) is not red.	Is it (ball) red? - Is it (the ball) red?
We are the champions. - We are champions.	We aren’t the champions. - We are not champions.	Are we the champions? - We are champions?
You are ill. - You are sick.	You are not ill. - You are not sick.	Are you ill? - You are sick?
They are at home. - They are at home.	They aren’t at home. - They are not at home.	Are they at home? - They are at home?

We think you are now ready to take the test and test your knowledge.

Test for the use of the verb to be

Present Continuous Tense - present for a long time

Present continuous Tense most often shows that the action is taking place at the moment.

Any English sentence has a subject and a predicate. In Present Continuous, the predicate consists of the auxiliary verb to be in the desired form (am, is, are) and the main verb without the particle to, to which we add the ending -ing (playing, reading).

She is playing tennis now. - She is now plays tennis.
I am reading a novel at the moment. - I am at the moment read novel.

The verb to be in this tense is an auxiliary verb, that is, this word that stands before the main verb (playing, reading) and helps to form tense. You will find auxiliary verbs in other tenses, this kind of verbs include to be (am, is, are), do / does, have / has, will.

Pay attention to the following Present Continuous tense words: now, at the moment, today, tonight, tonight, these days, nowadays, at present, still (still).

Affirmative sentences in Present Continuous time are formed as follows:

Usually in this tense, you just need to add the ending -ing to the main verb: walk - walking, look - looking. But some verbs change this way:

If the verb ends in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing: write - writing, dance - dancing.
An exception: see - seeing.
If the verb ends in -ie, we change -ie to -y and add -ing: lie - lying, die - dying.
If a verb ends with a stressed syllable with a short vowel between two consonants, the final consonant is doubled by adding -ing: begin - beginning, swim - swimming.

In negative sentences in Present Continuous, you just need to insert the particle not between to be and the main verb.

She isn’t cooking at the moment. - At the moment she does not cook.
You are not listening to me now. - You don't listen me now.

V interrogative sentences in Present Continuous, you need to put the verb to be in the first place, and after it, put the subject and the main verb.

Is she cooking at the moment? - She trains Currently?
Are you listening to me now? - You me now listen?

And now we propose to pass the Present Continuous time use test.

Present Continuous use test

We've brought you the first 5 basic English topics. Now your task is to understand them thoroughly and work out as productively as possible with the help of exercises. In order not to burden you with a large amount of grammar at once, we will release the next article from this series in a few weeks. Subscribe to our newsletter, then you will definitely not miss important information. We wish you success in learning English!

An article is a service word showing that the word behind it is a noun and describing some of its features. Articles allow you to distinguish from other parts of speech. They do other things as well.

There are two articles in English: uncertain — a (an) and definite — the.

The indefinite article before words that start with a consonant is used in the form a[ə], for example: a desk [ə’desk], a book [ə’bʊk]; before words that begin with a vowel sound, in the form an[ən], for example: an animal [ən'ænɪməl], an eye [ən'aɪ]. The name of the article itself (without a noun) always sounds [eɪ].

Definite article the before words that begin with a consonant, pronounced as [ðə], for example: the table [ðə’teɪbl], the pen [ðə’pen]; before words that start with a vowel like [ðɪ], for example: the apple [ðɪ’æpl], the arm [ðɪ’ɑːm]. The name of the article itself is always pronounced as [ðɪ].

When writing and pronouncing articles, it is important with which sound the word begins, and not with which letter. For example, if the initial letter is u reads like [ʌ], then you need to put an(an uncle [ən'ʌŋkl]), but if how, then - a(a union ['ju: nɪon]).

Another example: if at the beginning of a word the letter h pronounced, then you need to put a(a hen [ə’hen] chicken), but if not pronounced, then - an(an hour [ən'auə] hour).

Indefinite article

has two forms - a and an;
denotes an incomprehensible / unfamiliar subject.

Definite article

has one form - the;
denotes an understandable / familiar subject.

Articles are never stressed and in speech they merge with the word that follows them. If there is an adjective, the article is placed before it. Compare: an apple - a big green apple.

Use of the article

When using articles, it is important to consider in what number (singular or plural) the noun stands and what its type is, namely: common noun or proper, countable or uncountable, abstract or specific.

In many cases, the use (or absence) of an article is governed by grammatical rules, but in some cases it is traditional. Such cases need to be remembered.

Indefinite article

The indefinite article comes from the numeral one(one). It is usually not translated into Russian, but it could be translated as “one”, “one of” or “some”, “some”. Therefore, the indefinite article can only be used with countable nouns and only in the singular. '

When an object, creature or person is mentioned for the first time, for example: I see a boy (I see (some) boy).
If turnover is used there is, for example: There is an apple in my pocket (I have an apple in my pocket / in my pocket).
If turnover is used have something / have got something, for example: I have (got) an orange.
If the profession, position, nationality and other characteristics of a person are named, for example: I am a teacher (I am a teacher); Her son is a pupil (Her son is a pupil).
When you need to indicate that a given object (creature, person) belongs to a certain group (the property of the group is expressed by an adjective), for example: Do you know that town? Yes, it is a nice small town. (In this case, it is not necessary for the item to be mentioned the first time.)
If you need to specifically emphasize that there is only one subject, for example: Do you have pencils? Yes, I have a pencil (Do you have pencils? Yes, there is (one)). (Here, too, the subject does not have to be mentioned the first time.)

Definite article

The definite article comes from the demonstrative pronoun that(this). He singles out a specific object from among similar ones ("this", "this one", "the same").

If the subject has already been mentioned and the speech continues about it, for example: My friend has got a dog. He walks with the dog every day (My friend has a dog. He walks the dog every day). But: My friend has got a dog. My sister also has a dog (My friend has a dog. My sister also has a dog).
If the item or items belong to a special group, for example: The flowers in our garden are very beautiful. (Here in our garden is a special group, so the word flowers is spelled with the definite article. In this case, the word may be mentioned for the first time, but the article will be definite.)
If the noun is preceded by an ordinal, for example: The second lesson is English. (In this case, we are talking about the specific and the only one: there can be only one second lesson.)
If there is a superlative adjective before the noun, for example: Not is the best pupil in our school. (In this case, it is about the specific and the only thing: there can be only one best student.)
When it comes to a unique phenomenon or object. (Therefore, the Earth and the Sun are usually written. Here the use of the definite article is similar to the spelling of a word with a capital letter in Russian.)
If we are talking about familiar furnishings and the surrounding world, for example: Where is my coat? It hangs at the door (It is not necessary that a specific door is meant - it is simply called a familiar piece of furniture).
If abstract noun used in some of its private manifestations, for example: I cannot see anything in the darkness! (I can't see anything in this darkness!)

No article (zero article)

In the absence of an article, they also say that there is a zero article.

When an object (thing, creature, person) is mentioned for the first time in the plural, for example: I see boys in the street (I see (some) boys on the street).
If turnover is used there are with a plural noun, for example: There are apples in my pocket (I have apples in my pocket).
If turnover is used have something / have got something, for example: I have (got) oranges in my fridge (I have oranges in my fridge).
If the name of the profession, position, nationality and other characteristics of two or more people, for example: We are teachers (We are teachers); Her sons are pupils.
When you need to indicate that these items belong to a certain group (the property of the group is expressed by an adjective), for example: Did you hear these songs? Yes, these were very nice songs (Did you hear these songs? Yes, they were very nice songs). (In this case, it is not necessary for the word to be named the first time.)
If an abstract noun is used in the most general sense, for example: Darkness is the absence of light.
If the noun is preceded by a possessive pronoun, for example: My house is yellow.
If a noun is preceded by a negation no(not not!), for example: We have no bread on the table.

It's important to know! If in cases 1-5 uncountable nouns are used (they do not have a plural), then the article is also absent. All of these cases are analogous to the use of the indefinite article with countable nouns in the singular.

Use of the article with proper names

Proper names are usually used without an article, for example: Moscow, New York, Elizabeth, Trafalgar Square, Elbrus.

Names of rivers, seas, oceans, for example: the Mississippi - Mississippi (river); the Baltic Sea - Baltic Sea; the Atlantic Ocean - Atlantic Ocean.
The names of some states, for example: the Russian Federation - the Russian Federation; the Ukraine - Ukraine; the Brazil - Brazil; the USA - USA; the United Kingdom - United Kingdom.
Some other geographical names (with the article - by tradition), for example: the Caucasus - Caucasus; the Crimea - Crimea; the Hague - The Hague (city in the Netherlands).
Names of mountains (mountain systems), for example: the Alps - Alps.
Names of the cardinal points: the North - north; the South - south; the East - east; the West - west.
The names of newspapers and magazines, for example: the Times - The Times.
Hotel names, for example: the Savoy - "Savoy".
The name of the whole family (all family members) by surname, for example: the Krasnovs - Krasnovs (Krasnov family).

Continental names, for example: America - America; Asia - Asia; Africa - Africa.
The names of most countries, for example: Russia - Russia; India - India; France - France; Great Britain - Great Britain.
City names, for example: London - London; Paris - Paris; Moscow - Moscow.
Names of streets and squares, for example: Green Street - Green street; Red Square - Red Square.
Names of months and days of the week, for example: I'll see you in September / on Sunday.
Names and surnames, for example: Jack Black, Ivan Petrov.

Collocations with and without an article

Combinations without article

after school / work - after school / work
at half past two - at half past two
at night - at night
at home - at home; at work - at work
at school - at school (in the classroom)
at table - at the table (that is, at lunch, etc.)
by heart - by heart
by post - by mail
from beginning to end - from beginning to end
from morning till night - from morning to evening
go to bed - go to bed
in front of - in front
play football / hockey - play football / hockey
to go / come home - go / come home

Indefinite article combinations

at a quarter past two - at a quarter past two
go for a walk - go for a walk
have a good time - have a good time
have a look - take a look
in a hurry - in a hurry
in a low / loud voice - quiet / loud
It's a pity! - It's a pity!
It's a pleasure! - Very nice!
It's a shame! - Ashamed!

Combinations with a definite article

go to the theater / cinema - go to the theater / cinema
in the country - outside the city, in the village
in the morning / afternoon / evening - morning / afternoon / evening
keep the house - stay at home
on / to the right / left - right, right / left, left
play the piano / guitar - play the piano / guitar
the other day - the other day
What is the time? - What time is it now?

The article is one of the determinants of a noun and is placed before the noun or before the words that are definitions to it.

Indefinite article a(an - before words starting with a vowel) comes from the numeral one and means one of many, some, any.

I am a student. I am a student (one of many).
This is an apple. This is an apple (one of many).

If a noun in the singular is preceded by an indefinite article, it is omitted in the plural.

This is a book. These are books.

Thus, the indefinite article a (an) can only be used before singular nouns.

The definite article the comes from the demonstrative that. Often translated into words this, this, this, these. Used before both singular and plural nouns.

The definite article is used:

When it comes to a specific person or object.
Where is the pen? Where is the pen? (known to us)

Before a noun if it is preceded by a superlative adjective or ordinal.
What is the longest river in the world? He was the first to come.

Before place names (names of oceans, seas, rivers, mountain ranges, parts of the world, etc.).
The Indian ocean, the Baltic sea, the North, the Thames, the Alps.

Before one of a kind nouns.
What is the highest mountain in the world?

In a number of expressions such as
in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon, etc.

If this is your first time mentioning a subject, use the article a (an). Next time at the mention this subject, for details, use the.

I have a dog.
The dog is black and has white ears.

Zero article. Articles are not used:

If any noun is used in the most generalized meaning.
Crime is a probem in most big cities. Crime as such, not a specific crime.
Life has changed a lot in the last two years. Life as such, in general.

Before proper names (names of countries, cities, states, provinces, lakes, mountain peaks; the exception is the union of states or the plural in the name, for example, The United States, The Netherlands):
England, Russia, London, Mr. Johnson, Tuscany.

However, the definite article is used before surnames that are used in the plural to denote members of the same family.
The Johnsons. The Johnson family.

Before the names of the seasons, months, and days of the week.
He always goes the South in summer. English classes are on Monday.

When it comes to eating, using transport, and also when it comes to places (for example: home, work, hospital, university, church, prison, etc.)

I go home by bus.
I go to school. (I am a student)
We have dinner at 2 o'clock.

In the previous example - I go to school, the article is not used, since it is understood that I am a student, therefore, the purpose of going to school lies in the purpose of the building itself - to study.

But such a situation is also possible I go to the school. In this case, it means that the purpose of the visit to the school is different. For example, I go to the school, because I want to see the head master.

My mother is in hospital now. (She's ill.)
Every day I go to the hospital to see her.

Good day, dear readers. You are well on your way to learning English. But few people know where this language came from, how it appeared. It's time to find out. Everyone knows that Latin became the basis of modern European languages. For example, German dialect is a cross between Latin and Gothic, French is Latin and Gaulish, and English is a mixture of Latin and Celtic.

English language

The history of modern English began as far back as the 8th century BC. During this period, the territory of modern Great Britain was inhabited by the Celts, who communicated in the Celtic language. So the word "Britain" itself comes from the Celtic - brith — painted... Also from the Celtic came words such as "Slogan" = sluagh + ghairm = battle cry, "whiskey" = uisce + beathadh = living water.

After Britain was conquered great Caesar, and in the 1st century BC. it began to be considered part of the Roman Empire. Some Romans began to move to the province, who had to closely communicate with the local population, that is, with the Celts, which was reflected in the language. So, in modern English, words with Latin roots appeared.

For instance, "Street" = via strata = paved road, common nouns - "Wine - vinum, pear - pirum, and many place names - Manchester, Lancaster. So the Romans and Celts interacted with each other, forming new English words right up to the 5th century AD, until the Germanic tribes invaded Britain, and a new period began in the history of the development of English.

This period covers the period from 449 to 1066. In 449 A.D. the ancestors of the English language, the Celts and Romans, were invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes, who, in terms of their numbers, significantly exceeded the local population. So the Anglo-Saxon dialect gradually began to supplant the Celtic dialect, destroying or transforming the existing words.

Only in remote and remote areas of Britain did the Germans fail to reach, and the Celtic languages remain there to this day. These are Wells, Highlands, Cornwall and Ireland. Therefore, if you want to touch the ancestors of modern English, then head there.

Celtic alphafite Thanks to the Germanic tribes, many words with common roots from the Germanic ones appeared in English, which were also borrowed at one time from Latin. These are words like “ butter, Saturday, silk, mile, pound, inch "... In 597 the Roman Church began to Christianize pagan Britain, and by the early 8th century AD. most of the British Isles were already practicing the new religion.

The close interaction of these cultures was naturally reflected in the language. By borrowing words from Latin and assimilating them with Germanic dialects, many new lexemes have appeared. For example, "School" comes from Latin "Schola", "Bishop"- from " Episcopus "," mount "- from "Montis" and many others. It was during this period that over 600 words with Latin and Germanic roots came to the English language.

Then, in the second half of the 9th century, the Danes began to conquer the Anglo-Saxon lands. The Scandinavian Vikings intermarried with the Anglo-Saxons, mixing their Old Icelandic language with the dialect used by the local peoples. As a result, words from the Scandinavian group came to English: amiss, anger, awe, aye. The combination of the letters "sc-" and "sk-" in English words - clear sign borrowings from Scandinavian languages: sky, skin, skull.

Middle English period of development of the English language

This is the period from 1066 to 1500. AD In the middle of the 11th century, during the Middle Ages, England was conquered by the French. This is how the era of three languages began in the history of the development of the English language:

French - for the aristocracy and the judiciary
Latin - for science and medicine
Anglo-Saxon - for the common people

The confusion of these three adverbs gave rise to the formation of the English that the whole world is studying today. By mixing vocabulary doubled. The vocabulary was split into high (from French) and low (from Germanic) variants of the language. The same distinctions can be traced in the semantic series, synonyms that arose as a result of the use of the languages of the aristocracy and peasants.

Map of Britain 11th century So, an example of social division can be the names of domestic animals that have Germanic roots, that is, workers' and peasants: swine, cow, sheep, calf. But the name of the meat of these animals, which the intelligentsia ate, came from the French: pork, beef, mutton, veal. However, despite not all external factors influencing English, its core still remained Anglo-Saxon.

In the 14th century, English becomes literary, that is, exemplary, and it also becomes the language of education and law. In 1474, the first book in English appeared. It was William Caxton's translation of R. Lefebvre's Collected Stories of Troy. Thanks to Caxton's work, many English words have acquired completeness and integrity.

During this period, the first grammatical rules appeared. A lot of verb endings have disappeared, adjectives have acquired degrees of comparison. Changes are also taking place in phonetics. In the early 16th century, the London pronunciation became popular in Britain. About 90% of the total population of the country spoke this dialect.

With the beginning of mass migration from England to North America, the language began to change there in a different direction. This is how British, American and other variants of modern English appeared, which today differ significantly from each other, both grammatically, phonetically, and lexically.

New English Period of Formation of English

This period begins from 1500 to the present day. William Shakespeare is considered to be the founder of modern literary English. It was he who purified the language, gave it a form, introduced many idiomatic expressions and new words that are now used for communication by English speakers. In the Age of Enlightenment in 1795, L. Murray's textbook “ English grammar". For almost 200 years, everyone learned from this book.

Lindley Murray Linguists argue that modern English is a confusion different languages and even today it is not static, constantly being updated. This is the main difference between this language and other European dialects. English not only permits, but welcomes neologisms, different dialects and variations. As you can see, he still keeps the tradition of "mixing dialects".

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a globalization of the English language, which was promoted by the colonial policy of the United Kingdom. In the middle of the last century, the global importance of the United States increased, which also contributed to the popularity of the American version of the language.

English has long become not only the No. 1 language of international communication, but also the language of science, media, education, technology. Today it is difficult to calculate how many people speak this language. Figures from 700 million to 1 billion are named. Someone is its bearer, and someone, like you and me, are trying to learn it.

One thing is clear that English, having undergone many changes, has become essential tool communication in the era of globalization of the world. And perhaps it is the history of its appearance and formation that will help you understand the origin of some words, and make it easier for you to memorize complex phonetic and grammatical rules.

Wish you success! Till!

Mikhail Zadornova - about English

Saint Lucia
Barbados
Grenada
Dominica
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Guyana
Belize
Netherlands Total number of speakers:

Mother tongue: 309-400 million
Second language: 199-1400 million

Rating :

3rd or 4th as a native (on a par with Spanish), 2nd in total number of speakers

Classification Category: German branch West German group Anglo-Frisian subgroup Writing: Language codes GOST 7.75–97: ISO 639-1: ISO 639-2: ISO 639-3: See also: Project: Linguistics

English language (English English, the English language) - the language of the English (the official language of England and Great Britain), the inhabitants of the United States (the official language of thirty-one states), one of the two official languages of Ireland, Canada and Malta, the official language of Australia, New Zealand. It is used as an official one in some states of Asia (India, Pakistan, etc.) and Africa. English speakers are called anglophones in linguistics; this term is especially common in Canada (including in a political context).

In the morphology of the language, analytical forms of expression prevail grammatical meaning... The word order in the sentence is generally strict. In the vocabulary, about 70% of words are borrowed. Writing based on the Latin alphabet has existed since the 7th century (in the early Middle Ages, additional letters were used, but they fell out of use). Traditional spellings take a significant place in spelling.

Alphabet

The English alphabet contains 26 letters.

The transfer of English names and titles in the Russian text is determined by a rather complex system of rules, compromising between phonetic and spelling systems, for more details see the article "English-Russian practical transcription". Many names and titles, however, are transmitted according to tradition, archaic, in partial or complete contradiction to these rules.

Systemic differences from the Russian language

There is no consistent systemic correlation between the spelling of words and phonology, that is, without knowing the traditional pronunciation in advance, it is not always possible to correctly read the word “from the sheet”.
In the third person, people use the pronouns "he" ("he") and "she" ("she") (or "they" ("they", for persons of unknown gender), most other nouns (including names animals) is replaced by the pronoun "it" ("it"). Exceptions - the name of the vehicle "ship", "ship", which is desirable to refer to the pronoun "she", as well as the sun - "he" and the moon - "she". In addition, to express an attitude towards a given object or concept, the pronoun "she" can denote what you like, which causes a positive reaction (life, love, youth, health, etc.), and the pronoun "he", on the contrary, denotes such words that can cause rejection or negative reaction (death, old age, illness, etc.). Often the pronouns "he" and "she" are used to denote animals - characters in fairy tales or pets.
There is practically no inflection depending on the role of the word, including in cases; case relations are conveyed by the position of words in a sentence and prepositional constructions.
Frequent conversion is the identity of the same root words of different parts of speech (for example, "flower", "floral" and "blossom" denoted by one word "flower"). In view of this, the sequence of words in phrases is extremely important. In a sentence, in most cases, there is also a fixed order of words-members of the sentence (subject-predicate-direct object-indirect object), in contrast to the Russian language.
In most cases, there is no distinction between addressing another person on "you" and "you", only one form is used - "you". However, the Old English pronoun "Thou" ("you") can still be found in fiction, computer games, etc.
Species relations in the system of verb tenses are expressed various forms, both simple and analytical.
There are articles (indefinite - "A" ("An" before vowels) - and a certain - "The").
When writing proper names (for example, works of literature and art, names of periodicals, etc.), quotes are not used, they are highlighted in italics or not at all.
There are no double negatives (however, the rule is often violated in vernacular, as well as in poetic texts. An example is the song “I Don’t Wanna cry # More "by Helloween).
Wider combinability of words, there is no rule of semantic agreement.
In affirmative sentences, the direct word order is used, that is, the initial position is taken by the subject, followed by the predicate, followed by the circumstances of the place, mode of action and time, respectively. An example is the sentence "He was running down the street very fast at 5 o`clock." Russian "At five o'clock he was running very fast down the street." ... In questions, as a rule, there is an inversion - the subject and predicate are reversed: "When was he running down the street?" - "When did he run down the street?"

Phonetics

If we take the so-called standard pronunciation of English in England, the Commonwealth states and the United States as a unit of comparison, without taking into account the peculiarities of modern dialects and dialects of the United States and England, we can note:

almost complete absence of "soft", that is, palatalized consonants;
the absence of stunning final voiced consonants, a phenomenon observed in the Russian language;
assimilation and dissimilation in English is carried out much less frequently than in Russian.

Morphology

Average word length

№	English	Russian
Swadesh List for English
1	I	I am
2	you	you
3	he	he
4	we	we
5	you	you
6	they	they
7	this	this, this, this
8	that	that, that, that
9	here	here
10	there	there
11	who	who
12	what	what
13	where	where
14	when	when
15	how	how
16	not	not
17	all	all, all, all, all
18	many	many
19	some	several
20	(a) few, some	few
21	other	different, different
22	one	one
23	two	two
24	three	three
25	four	four
26	five	five
27	great	big, great
28	long	long, long
29	wide	wide
30	thick	thick
31	heavy	heavy
32	small	little
33	short	short, short
34	narrow	narrow
35	thin	thin
36	woman	female
37	man	the male
38	person, man	Human
39	child	child, child
40	wife	wife
41	husband	husband
42	mother	mother
43	father	father
44	animal	beast, animal
45	fish	a fish
46	bird	bird, bird
47	dog	dog, dog
48	louse	louse
49	snake	snake
50	worm	worm
51	tree	tree
52	forest, wood	Forest
53	stick	stick, twig
54	fruit	fruit
55	seed	seed, seed
56	leaf	sheet
57	root	root
58	bark	bark
59	flower	flower
60	grass	grass
61	rope	rope
62	skin	leather
63	meat	meat
64	blood	blood
65	bone	bone
66	fat	fat
67	egg	egg
68	horn	horn
69	tail	tail
70	feather	feather
71	hair	hair
72	head	head
73	ear	an ear
74	eye	eye, eye
75	nose	nose
76	mouth	mouth
77	tooth	tooth
78	tongue	tongue)
79	nail	nail
80	foot	foot, leg
81	leg	leg
82	knee	knee
83	hand	hand
84	wing	wing
85	stomach	belly, belly
86	entrails	insides, intestines
87	neck	neck
88	back	back
89	breast	breast
90	heart	heart
91	liver	liver
92	drink	drink
93	eat	eat, eat
94	bite	bite
95	suck	suck
96	spit	spit
97	barf	vomit, vomit
98	blow	blow
99	breathe	breathe
100	laugh	laugh

One of the most characteristic features of the English language is a short word.

The result of counting the number of monosyllabic words in passages:

The first vertical rows are the result of counting all words, the second is the result of counting, in which repeated words are counted as one.

Already from this table it is clear that the short word prevails in the English language, but there are also long words, for example, individualization and even antiestablishmentarism (honorificabilitudinitatibus is considered the longest word in the English language - 27 letters). But there are relatively few such words in the language, and most importantly, they are rarely found in speech. The fact is that monosyllabic and generally short words are more often of Germanic origin, and long ones are of French and Latin origin. In spoken language, jargon, in poetic speech, there are more short words than in scientific prose and journalism.

The words of the English language have become shorter due to two processes: the first, completely embracing the language, is the falling away of endings. This process turned synthetic Old English into an almost purely analytical New English. A striking example of such abbreviations is the ancient Gothic word "Habaidedeima" associated with the same value English word "Had"- "had". The second process captures only a part of the vocabulary of the English language - this is the acquisition of a stronger Germanic stress by the borrowed words. The words are shortened as described below.

1. One or more initial syllables are dropped: "vanguard" - from the old French "avant-guarde" - "avant-garde". Sometimes a changed word coexists in the language along with a later borrowing that has not been changed, but they acquire different meanings: "History" - "history" and "story" - "story";

2. The syllable in the middle of the word falls out: "fantasy" gives "fancy" - "fantasy".

Middle English period

The next period in the development of the English language spans from to 1485. The invasion of the Norman feudal lords in 1066 introduced a powerful new lexical layer of the so-called Normanisms into the Old English language - words that go back to the Norman-French dialect of the Old French language, which was spoken by the conquerors. For a long time, Norman French remained in England the language of the church, government, and the upper classes. But the conquerors were too few to impose their language on the country unchanged. Gradually, medium and small landowners, who belonged to a relatively large extent to the native population of the country - the Anglo-Saxons, are gaining more importance. Instead of the dominance of the Norman-French language, a kind of "linguistic compromise" is gradually taking shape, the result of which is a language approaching what we call English. But the Norman French language of the ruling class retreated slowly: only in 1362 English was introduced into legal proceedings, in 1385 teaching in Norman French was discontinued and English was introduced, and from 1483 parliamentary laws began to be published in English. Although the basis of the English language remained Germanic, it included such a huge number (see below) of Old French words in its composition that it becomes a mixed language. The process of penetration of Old French words continues from about until the end of the Middle English period, but reaches a peak in the interval between -.

As you might expect, the vast majority of words related to government go back to Old French (with the exception of the original Germanic king - king, queen - queen and a few others):

reign - to reign, government - government, crown - crown, state - state, etc.;

most noble titles:

duke - duke
peer - peer;

words related to military affairs:

army - army,
peace - peace,
battle - battle,
soldier - soldier
general - general,
captain - captain,
enemy - enemy;

court terms:

judge - a judge,
court - court,
crime - a crime;

church terms:

service - service (church),
parish - arrival.

It is very significant that the words related to trade and industry are of old French origin, and the names of simple crafts are Germanic. An example of the first: commerce - trade, industry - industry, merchant - merchant. No less significant for the history of the English language are two series of words noted by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe:

the names of live animals are Germanic:

the meat of these animals is called Old French:

beef - beef
veal - veal
mutton - mutton,
pork - pork, etc.

During this period, the grammatical structure of the language undergoes further changes: the nominal and verbal endings first undergo confusion, weaken, and then, by the end of this period, they almost completely disappear. They appear in adjectives, along with in simple ways formation of degrees of comparison, new analytical, by adding words to the adjective more‘More’ and most'most'. By the end of this period (-), the country won a victory over other English dialects of the London dialect. This dialect arose from the fusion and development of southern and central dialects. In phonetics, the so-called Great Vowel Shift occurs.

As a result of the migration in 1169 of a part of the British in the Irish County of Wexford, the Yola language independently developed, which disappeared in the middle of the 19th century.

New English period

The period of development of the English language, to which the language of modern England belongs, begins at the end of the 15th century. With the development of typography and the massive distribution of books, the normative book language is consolidated, phonetics and spoken language continue to change, gradually moving away from dictionary norms. An important stage in the development of the English language was the formation of diaspora dialects in the British colonies.

Dialects

English has many dialects. Their diversity in Great Britain is much greater than in the United States, where the Mid-Atlantic dialect was the basis of the literary norm until the middle of the 20th century. Since the 1950s, the dominant role in the United States has shifted to the Mid-Western dialect.

England

Main article: Dialects of English in England

Cockney(Cockney) - term for a number of historical dialects of districts and artisan workshops in London
Geordie ( English) - dialect of the inhabitants of Northumberland, in particular, Newcastle on Tyne
West Country
East England(East Anglia)
Birmingham (Brummy, Brummie)(Birmingham)
Cornwall(Cornwall)
Cumberland(Cumberland)
Central Cumberland(Central Cumberland)
Devonshire(Devonshire)
East devonshire(East Devonshire)
Dorset(Dorset)
Durham(Durham)
Bolton lancashire(Bolton to Lancashire)
North lancashire
Radcliffe Lancashire
Northumberland(Northumberland)
Norfolk(Norfolk)
Tyneside northumberland(Tyneside Northumberland)
Somerset(Somerset)
Sussex(Sussex)
Westmorland(Westmoreland)
North wiltshire(Wiltshire)
Craven yorkshire(Yorkshire)
North yorkshire(North Yorkshire)
Sheffield yorkshire(Sheffield)
West yorkshire(West Yorkshire)

Scotland, Wales and Ireland

Lowland scottish(lowland Scotland) - also considered a separate language (Lowland Scots).
Edinburgh(Edinburgh) - Also considered a dialect of the Lowland Scots language.
Belfast(Belfast)
South wales(South Wales)
Yola is a dead language, separated from medieval English.

North America

American English (AmE, AmEng, USEng)
- Socio-cultural dialects
  - Standard American English
- Regional dialects
  - Northeastern dialects
    - Boston dialect
    - Dialect of Maine and New Hampshire
    - New York dialect, Northern New Jersey Dialect (New York metropolitan area)
    - Dialect of Providence, Road Island
    - Vermont dialect
    - Philadelphia dialect
    - Pittsburgh dialect
  - Inland Northern American dialect (includes western and central New York)
    - North Pennsylvania dialect (Scranton, PA)
  - Mid-Atlantic dialects
    - Washington dialect
    - Baltimore dialect
    - Tidewater dialect
    - Virginia Piedmont dialect
  - Inland northern dialects (lower Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, suburbs of Chicago, parts of Wisconsin and New York)
    - Chicago dialect
    - Buffalo dialect
  - North Central American dialect (mainly Minnesota, but also partly Wisconsin, upper Michigan, and partly North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa)
    - - Juper (A variation of the northern central dialect, used in upper Michigan and some neighboring areas)
  - Central American English
    - North Central (thin strip from Nebraska to Ohio)
    - Saint Louis dialect
    - South Central (thin strip from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania)
    - Appalachian English
  - South American dialects
    - Coastal Southeast (Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia)
    - Caijn (Descendants of the French in Louisiana)
    - Dialect of Harkers Island (North Carolina)
    - Dialect of the Ozarks
    - Podgorny dialect
    - Southern Highland dialect
    - Florida colonial dialect
    - Galla or geechee
    - Tampa dialect
    - Texas dialect
    - Yat (New Orleans)
  - Western dialects
    - California
    - Yut
    - Idaho
    - Buntling
    - Hawaiian
    - Pacific northwestern
Canadian English (CanE, CanEng)
- New foundland
- Primorsky dialect
  - Lunenburg dialect
- Western and Central Canadian English
  - Quebec dialect
  - Ottawa nasal
  - Pacific Northwest dialect

India

Indian English is one of the largest in the world in terms of the number of native speakers. It, in turn, breaks down into dialects, the most important of which are:

Standard Indian English- used in the federal media in India, almost the same as Hinglish
Hinglish- a dialect spoken mainly by people whose native language is Hindi
Punjabi English
Assamese English
Tamil English

Others

New Zealand English
Bermuda English ( English)
Canadian English

Pseudo-dialects

German pseudo dialect
French pseudo dialect
Italian pseudo-dialect

Anthroponymy

English in the world

It is difficult to name the exact number of native speakers of English and other common languages. Data in literary sources and on the Internet differ by tens of percent due to different methods of calculation. Various sources rank English as the second to fourth most native speaker in the world. The first place is taken by more than two times Chinese... The figures for the number of people who speak English as a foreign language also vary. Figures from 600 million to 1.2 billion are cited.