Anglo-Saxon and Franco-Norman came into closer contact, and the linguistic survival techniques on both sides led to the emergence of a supple, adaptable language in which you could invent or half-borrow words and didn't have to worry so much about whether your sentences had the right verb endings or respected certain strict rules of word order and style {as this sentence proves}. The result was the earliest form of what would become English.
( Stephen Clarke )
[ 1000 Years of Annoying the ]
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