Late Modern English

When comparing the essay to Modern contemporary English we can use key language features such as lexis, grammar and orthography to help find the differences between late modern English and Modern contemporary English.
In terms of lexis many words were added to the English language in this period due to Industrial revolution. As you can see from the text many key words used for factories are present for example the word ' threadbare' sounds like it comes from the industrial revolution. Scientific words were also added to the English language through coinage and neologism, during this period a few of these are present in the text such as 'observed' and 'nauseous', this is due to the development of science which took place around this period. As well as scientific words and other new words being created loan words are also being introduced to the English Language.  This is due to England becoming to come in contact with other countries and cultures through things such as trade and travelling.  An example of this within the text would be ‘cultivated’. Loan words are quite popular in this period however we are still borrowing words from other countries today such as ‘cab’ for taxi which is originally from America.

Orthographically the texts are very similar with inflections being lost in the late modern period it makes the two texts more similar. During this period vowels and consonants became more established for example where U and V were less interchangeable in Middle English they are now separated into a vowel (u) and a consonant (v).  

Grammatically the two texts are very similar with an increase in literacy, books and public libraries in the 18^th century the English language was becoming more standardised. Within the text grammar is used correctly such as ‘rational hearers, and’ and ‘affectation, and not to the want of understanding.’

It is clear to see that the text is written in the late modern period due to the lexis and grammar used, however it is still very similar to contemporary English.