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Decoding Shakespeare’s English: How Different Is It Really?

I know Shakespeare didn't write in Old English, but his language still feels alien sometimes. What exactly was the English he wrote in, and how much have modern editors changed it?

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By Veena Answered 2 months ago

 He wrote in Early Modern English—the same basic language we speak today, but in its adolescent phase (c. 1500-1700). If you look at a facsimile of the First Folio, you'll see wild spelling, different punctuation, and some obsolete words. Modern editions act like a translator for your eye: they standardize the spelling and punctuation for clarity, but they keep the original vocabulary and sentence structure (the syntax). So, you're reading his words, just with 400 years of typographical dust brushed off.

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