Among Shakespeares greatest contributions to the English language must be the introduction of new vocabulary and phrases which have enriched the language making it more colorful and expressive. Some estimates at the number of words coined by Shakespeare number in the several thousands. Warren King clarifies by saying that, In all of his work – the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems – Shakespeare uses 17,677 words: Of those, 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare. He is also well known for borrowing from the classical literature and foreign languages. He created these words by, changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original. Many of Shakespeares original phrases are still used in conversation and language today. These include, but are not limited to; seen better days, strange bedfellows, a sorry sight, and full circle huffingtonpost/2014/01/14/shakespeare-words_n_4590819.html
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:11:41 +0000