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Institute for Biblical & Scientific Studies

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Homeschool:
English


I. Introduction to language

There are three major groups of languages from which all other languages have originated, except Sumerian. They are named after the three sons of Noah, Japheth, Shem, and Ham (Genesis 10:1). 

  1. Japhetic-Indo-European.
    1. Germanic. English is West Germanic
    2. Celtic.
    3. Italic-Latin from which the 5 Romance languages have originated.
      1. Italian
      2. Spanish
      3. French
      4. Portuguese
      5. Romanian
    4. Hellenic-Greek.
      1. Doric
      2. Aeolic
      3. Mycenaean
      4. Attic-Ionic (Greek- Classical and   Koine - New Testament). 
    5. Anatolian-Hittite.
    6. Armenian.
    7. Balto-Slavic.
    8. Indo-Iranian.
      1. Iranic-Persian
      2. Indic-Sanskrit
  2. Hamitic
  3. Semitic
    1. North Semitic.
      1. Aramaic.
      2. Amorite.
    2. North-West Semitic.
      1. Hebrew.
      2. Canaanite-Ugaritic.
      3. Moabite.
      4. Phoenician.
    3. East Semitic.
      1. Akkadian.
    4. South Semitic.
      1. Arabic.
      2. Ethiopic.

II. History of the English Language.

  1. Old English 499-1100 AD.

    Matthew 6:9 "faeder ure bu be eart on heofonum, Si bin nama gehalgod."

  2. Middle English 1100-1500 AD.

    Matthew 6:9 "Oure fadir that art in heuenes , halewind be thi name."

  3. Early Modern English 1500-1800 AD.

    Matthew 6:9 "Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name." 

  4. Modern English 1800-Today. 

III. English language. The 8 parts of speech. 

  1. Noun - a person, place, thing, or idea. 
    1. Subjective-Nominative case subject of sentence, doing the action.
    2. Objective case- noun receiving the action of the verb.
    3. Possessive case - showing ownership.
      1. Singular add 's or ' if ending in s.
      2. Plural add s'.
  2. Pronoun - takes the place of a noun.
    1. Subjective case pronouns
      Singular Plural
      First Person I we
      Second Person you you
      Third Person he, she, it they

    2. Objective case pronouns
        Singular Plural
      First Person me us
      Second Person you you
      Third Person him, her, it them

    3. Possessive Case pronouns
        Singular Plural
      First Person my, mine our, ours
      Second Person your, yours your, yours
      Third Person his, her, hers, its their, theirs

    4. Demonstrative Pronouns
        Singular Plural
      Near this these
      Far that those

  3. Adjective - describes a noun.
  4. Verb - shows action, or state of being.
  5. Adverb - adds to the verb, never to a noun. Many end in -ly. 
  6. Conjunction - connect words and phrases like and, but, or, nor. 
  7. Preposition - shows position or relationship of an object.
  8. Interjection - Oh!  

Vocabulary

Many of our English words come from ancient languages. Below is a helpful chart. Can you think of other examples?

Number Greek Example Latin Example
one mono,mon monograph uni unicycle
two di,du dual du,bi bicycle
three tri tricycle tri trinity
four tetro tetrahedron quad quarter
five penta pentagon quin quintuplets
six  hex hexagon sex sextet
seven hept heptagon sept September
eight oct octopus oct octagon
nine enne ennead nov November
ten dec decimal DEC decade