The first English writing system using the Roman alphabet was
developed in the 7 th century, after St. Augustine brought
church Latin to the saxons in Kent in 597. The language and
spelling have both changed a great deal since then. They did not
start to resemble current usage until… Read More It is well
known that English words derive mainly from old German and
Norman French, and that its alphabet of 26 letters makes it
impossible to represent its 43 ½ speech sounds with just one
symbol. But that is not why many English spellings, such as
‘daughter’, ‘brought’ and ‘people’, are… Read More To understand
the nature of English spelling today you need to probe beneath
the surface. For a start there is the English language itself.
In some respects this resembles a building, with an Anglo-Saxon
foundation, a superstructure that in many respects is Norman-
French, and fixtures and fittings acquired from all… Read More
The problems of English grammar and punctuation are relatively
easy. But English spelling is quite