Dilp Mukerjea writes in his new book, BrainTales:

The Emergence of English as The World’s Premier Language

The history of the English language commenced with the arrival of three Germanic tribes, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, into Britannia. They crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark, and northern Germany, around A.D. 449. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. The invaders spoke a Low Germanic tongue that, in its new setting, became Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, the ancestor of the English we use today. It was not long before these Teutonic plunderers pushed the Celtic speakers west and north into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles were the dominant tribe; during the reign of King Egbert in the ninth century, the land became known as Englaland (“the land of the Angles”) and the language Englisc—from which the words England and English are derived. 

A major influence on the English language took place with the next conquest of England, two centuries after the rule of Egbert, by the Norman French, who came from Normandy. These people had been Vikings and freebooters from the Scandinavian countries. They spoke French and had taken to French customs. The invasion took place in 1066, under William, Duke of Normandy. In a bloody battle at Hastings, the Normans defeated the Saxons and Danes, and killed Saxon King Harold. They forced the surviving nobles to accept Duke William as King of England. 

Now, one may wonder why French did not become the language of England. Victory by the French-speaking Normans resulted in them far outnumbering their captives. This meant that, in order to communicate with them, they needed to learn English. In time, they lost their ties to France, and took to English as easily as their Norman forbears had dropped their Norse speech for French. Old English morphed into Middle English because many French words entered the vocabulary. 

Meanwhile, with the Roman conquest of England in the first century B.C. by Julius Caesar, many Latin words had crept into and stayed within the English language. This was further bolstered with the influence of the Roman church and missionaries a few centuries later. Thus, by the time the Normans were well settled in England, the influence of Latin, either directly or indirectly, was permanent. 

During the Renaissance, from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, Europe witnessed the rediscovery of a love affair with all things Latin and Greek. Many classical words entered the English vocabulary, mainly via scholarly writing, and due to new discoveries in art, science, medicine, literature, and world geography. 

Whilst Anglo-Saxon is the foundation of the English language, its linguistic evolution resulted in a mingled history and a three-tiered vocabulary: Anglo-Saxon, French, and Latin / Greek. This means, in essence, we now have three options for conveying approximately the same meaning. The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. 

The much larger vocabulary of Late Modern English is due to two principal factors: new words arising from the Industrial Revolution and its associated technology; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. 

Some expressions that the British call “Americanisms” are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). 

Today, American English is particularly influential. This is due to the American dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example, Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English. The essential reasons for the ascendancy of English lie in the internationality of its words and the relative simplicity of its grammar and syntax.

During the Renaissance, from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, Europe witnessed the rediscovery of a love affair with all things Latin and Greek. Many classical words entered the English vocabulary, mainly via scholarly writing, and due to new discoveries in art, science, medicine, literature, and world geography. Whilst Anglo-Saxon is the foundation of the English language, its linguistic evolution resulted in a mingled history and a three-tiered vocabulary: Anglo-Saxon, French, and Latin / Greek. This means, in essence, we now have three options for conveying approximately the same meaning. 

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. The much larger vocabulary of Late Modern English is due to two principal factors: new words arising from the Industrial Revolution and its associated technology; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. 

Some expressions that the British call “Americanisms” are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). 

Today, American English is particularly influential. This is due to the American dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English. The essential reasons for the ascendancy of English lie in the internationality of its words and the relative simplicity of its grammar and syntax.

Here's the Prelude to Dilip Mukerjea's new book, English Eloquence: Detonating the Language Barrier, by tackling the crucial basics of grammar, eloquence, and erudition, using Applied Imagination, Catalysed Creativity, and Intellectual Polish:

ENGLISH is the Language of the 21st Century! 

Good English is an Imperative! What are YOU doing about it?

“True eloquence is irresistible. It charms by its images of beauty, it enforces an argument by its vehement simplicity. Orators whose speeches are 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,' only prevail where truth is not understood, for knowledge and simplicity are the foundation of all true eloquence. Eloquence abounds in beautiful and natural images, sublime but simple conceptions, in passionate but plain words. Burning words appeal to the emotions as well as to the intellect; they stir the soul and touch the heart.” 

~ Albert Ellery Bergh

PRELUDE

The world of tomorrow is being shaped in the institutions of today. Are our students gaining the knowledge and skills they need to make the shift from classrooms to boardrooms? Cognitive overload has become a common evolutionary malady. The cost of confusion has escalated. Are our educators, administrators, and leaders in governance, clear, compelling, and eloquent in their articulations? Are we being educated for Global Competence? We need a disciplinary and inter-disciplinary understanding of the world. 

English is the language of the 21st century. It affects and impacts all aspects of life. Enduring competitive advantage is hard to achieve in a time of great uncertainty and volatility: thus, the ability to communicate with power and eloquence has become more crucial than ever. It calls for flexible intelligence that drives our ability to persuade, inform, entertain, and advance from breakdown to breakthrough! 

In the end, it is not what we achieve in the short term that matters, it is what we leave behind for the long term—what we call the perpetuity principle. Language is thus a peak-priority imperative to create and impel our visions towards winning outcomes. 

This book has been designed to be visually provocative, where text and imagery blend into a force of single-pointedness, directed at enabling you to make exponential progress in any domain of endeavour. It complements my earlier book, English Angles. 

Richard Mayer, an expert on learning and memory spent decades studying the effects of multimedia learning. His five main conclusions, obtained from empirical data about how humans learn best, are: 

(1) We learn better with words and images than with words alone. 

(2) We learn better when the words and images are presented simultaneously as opposed to consecutively. 

(3) We learn better when the words and images are close together. 

(4) We learn better when any irrelevant material is removed from the presentation. 

(5) We learn more with animated images and narration than with animated images and text on a screen. 

New graduates, and an army of executives, are going full-speed to nowhere if they 

• lack critical, creative and systems thinking skills; 

• exhibit poor attention to detail, and fail to synthesise vast reams of data; 

• make massive errors in writing [absence of expertise in grammar]; 

• are inarticulate at public speaking. 

I urge you to work through this book with the aim of emerging profoundly eloquent! 

Bon voyage!