ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -David Crystal explains how Middle English developed from Old English, changing its grammar, pronunciation and spelling and borrowing words from French and Latin.

Detailed explanation-2: -Middle English was influenced by both Anglo-Norman, and later Anglo-French (see characteristics of the Anglo-Norman language).

Detailed explanation-3: -It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the literary standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle and Modern English would develop mainly from Mercian, and Scots from Northumbrian.

Detailed explanation-4: -Three main languages were in use in England in the later medieval period – Middle English, Anglo-Norman (or French) and Latin.