Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English

language.

This is Episode 164, somewhere in the middle.

In this episode, we're going to look at some important developments in the early 1580s.

During this period, England made its first attempts to establish a colony in North America

and to bring the English language with it.

But as we'll see, those attempts were not very successful.

This period was also marked by the rising tensions between England and Spain, as their lingering

cold war became increasingly hot.

This was also a period when modern English grammar was starting to take shape.

At this point there was no formal grammar textbook for English, so English grammar was

a bit loose and flexible.

So we'll look at some examples of that phenomenon as well.

And along the way, we'll tie all of those developments together by avoiding the extremes,

and by focusing on the happy medium that governs so much of life in the Elizabethan era.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is history of

EnglishPodcast.com, and you can sign up to support the podcast and get bonus episodes at patreon.com-historyofenglish.

Now in this episode, we're going to continue our look at the Elizabethan period of England,

and the various factors that were shaping the English language around the Midway point

in Elizabeth's reign.

And speaking of Midway points, that's really one of the recurring themes of this episode.

As we explore this period, we're going to find many examples where key figures chose

...