374: History of English Dec 17, 2016

Over time English has lost some important grammatical features. Though the Normans are the cause of much of the change to English vocabulary and verb conjugation, the Vikings played their part as well. English lost gender when the Vikings invaded. Many people learned both Old Norse and Old English, and because both systems had very different assignments of gender, the English folk gave gender up, almost entirely. Pronouns are gendered the way that they are, with a singular masculine, feminine and neuter form, and and an identical form for all words plural because that is the way that Old English nouns were gendered. Comment if you would like more about the transition to Modern English, or if you would prefer to keep learning etymologies.