Within the infusion word order appears to be reasonably systematically standardised. Although there are still illustrations of non-standard sentence structure within this transition, for case ; but suer I am it will ( l.27 ) , the text largely conforms to Present Day English ordinances of word order following the general regulation of topic, verb, object. For illustration ; the land is to be devided between the chilldren ( l.5 ) . Here the land is the topic, devided is the verb, and the chilldren is the object, as we would anticipate to see in PDE.
The regulations using to word construction by and large appear to hold bit by bit developed and become standardized within the fifteenth Century, more specifically, after about 1430[ 1 ]. This suggests that the infusion was likely written some clip after this day of the month. It seems likely that it would hold been written tardily into the fifteenth Century, perchance even later some clip into the 16th, or even mid-17th, Century, due to the more developed use apparent within the text.
The bulk of Extract B is constructed with the usage of indicative mood, syntactical sentences, for case ; Oh god sweet Hartes aˆ¦ was Wrighte ( ll.16-19 ) . The usage of syntaxis suggests that the text may be dated some clip closer to the eighteenth Century, since this is when syntaxis started to go more popularly favoured[ 2 ]. Although there is some grounds of simple sentence construction in this transition ; The Preest that preached was beaten all in peeces. ( ll.21-22 ) , the infusion is chiefly made up of longer, more complex sentences such as ; Yet for all aˆ¦ a great astonishment ( ll.25-29 ) . The usage of some reasonably long parenthetical clauses, so insible aˆ¦ our good God ( ll. 26-27 ) , besides suggests a deficiency of clarity, puting the text within a pre-18th Century epoch, as the eighteenth century was a clip when authorship was valued for its elegance[ 3 ]. However, the fact that some grounds of simpler sentence construction is besides evident suggests that the text might hold been written in a clip heading towards this more elegant eighteenth Century manner. The grounds so far hence by and large appears to suggest at a seventeenth Century day of the month, puting the text within a ulterior portion of the early Modern English period.
Grammar
The formation of plurals within this transition are highlighted systematically by the inflexional ‘-es ‘ or ‘-s ‘ that follow the modern-day PDE criterions. However by the fourteenth Century these plural terminations had ‘definitely been accepted all over England as the normal mark of the plural in English nouns[ 4 ]‘ , and this is therefore of reasonably small usage in dating the infusion, other than that it inform us that it is more than probably post-14th Century, which already appears to be reasonably obvious.
The transition is chiefly written in the past tense, but there are besides some occasions where the hereafter tense is evident. This is to be expected since the text is a missive and the author is hence informing the receiver of what he has been making antecedently in the past tense, every bit good as what he will be making in the hereafter. The formation of tenses seems to conform likewise to the criterions that would be expected in PDE. For case the ‘-ed ‘ postfix, frequently used to show past tense, can be observed in this text, every bit good as the subsidiary verb was ; was altered ( l.14 ) , and the usage of the subsidiary verb will to stand for the hereafter tense is besides used, for illustration ; it will be ( l.27 ) .
Throughout the text there is frequent usage of proper nouns in topographic point to present societal associates, such as ; SI¬ Phillipp Carye ( l.3 ) , SI¬ Fra: Lee ( l.3 ) and Lady Webbe ( l.23 ) . The rubrics ‘sir ‘ and ‘lady ‘ might propose that the author could be an upper-class figure himself. The comparative pronouns in the transition by and large conform to the criterions of PDE once more ; nevertheless the personal pronouns present more fluctuation within the authorship, every bit good as bespeaking societal differences[ 5 ]. The personal pronoun thee ( l.12, 39 ) , is used within the transition, foremost to mention to Sir Francis which suggests that he might be a friend, and secondly to mention to his married woman, perchance to portray once more a friendly and informal attitude. Thy ( l.40 ) is besides used, proposing this conversational attitude one time once more, perchance uncovering the author ‘s fondness since it is used at the terminal of the missive and it goes on to state faithfull loving Husband ( l.40 ) . Besides apparent is the usage of Thou ( l.31 ) which, in ulterior Modern English, is by and large merely seen in scriptural mentions, and in this instance it is used when citing from St Math: ( 1.31 ) . The pronoun you ( l.33, 38 ) is besides apparent in the transition proposing a somewhat more modern text. ‘You ‘ was one time used as a manner of mentioning to a individual of a higher position, or as a manner of being polite. In the context of this transition the author refers to his married woman as ‘you ‘ which suggests he may be utilizing it as a manner of niceness, or perchance as a manner of being more formal, since it is when he is discoursing a more serious issue within the missive. This might besides propose that the text could be dated closer to the terminal of the eMnE period, subsequently on in the 1600s, when the older ‘thou ‘ and ‘thee ‘ were get downing to be more often replaced by ‘you ‘ .
Orthography
The infusion provides grounds of & lt ; v & gt ; and & lt ; u & gt ; being used interchangeably throughout the text, for case ; V ( l.16 ) ; vse ( l.25 ) ; and vttermost ( l.32 ) . However, the usage of & lt ; u & gt ; in topographic point of & lt ; v & gt ; is non evident, which might propose that the text is dated during a period in which the interchangeable usage of these two letters was going less common. There is besides one illustration in the transition of the interchangeable & lt ; i & gt ; and & lt ; j & gt ; , deiected ( l.6 ) . As there is merely one illustration of this there is once more ground to believe that the text had been written as these letters were get downing to go less frequently interchangeable, once more corroborating a day of the month within the ulterior Modern English period.
There are few illustrations in fluctuations of spelling within the infusion, but there are still some illustrations however, for case with the usage of the word she, demoing the discrepancies & lt ; she & gt ; ( l.9 ) and & lt ; shee & gt ; ( l.8 ) . However, since there are non many spelling fluctuations present it might one time once more suggests an eMnE infusion at a clip when spelling was easy going more standardized. There is besides an illustration of the usage of brackets in the text ; ( thankes be god ) ( l.2 ) , every bit good as the usage of commas ; punctuation which was non introduced until the sixteenth Century. The usage of commas is reasonably consistent throughout, possibly connoting that the usage of the comma has had clip to develop, and this is yet once more implicative of a ulterior eMnE text.
Lexis
There are many illustrations of Gallic adoptions within this infusion, a few illustrations being ; partly, l.8 ; certainely, l.23 ; and flagitious, l.27. Having antecedently established that this infusion is about surely from the early Modern English period, when adoption was progressively popular, it is unsurprising to see such a frequent usage of these loan words within it.
The text contains a semantic field associating to faith, for illustration ; Jesuite ( l.19 ) ; Papist ( l.18 ) ; and Catholicke ( l.28 ) . The significances of which can besides assist slightly in dating this infusion. Jesuite for illustration, is defined by the OED as ; ‘A member of the ‘Society of Jesus ‘ , a Roman Catholic order founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1533, and sanctioned by Paul IV in 1540 ‘[ 6 ]. This implies that the infusion was likely written some clip after 1540 when the word Jesuite would hold had opportunity to hold been decently established within the vocabulary. The first relevant OED commendation uses the spelling ‘Iesuites ‘ , which dates at 1565. However, since this infusion spells the word with the more modern usage of & lt ; J & gt ; in topographic point of & lt ; I & gt ; it seems likely that it would had been written after 1565. Similarly, Papist is defined by the OED as ‘A Roman Catholic ; an advocator of apostolic domination ‘ . There is a relevant commendation dating at 1528 with an extra & lt ; -e & gt ; suffix but there is no commendation without the & lt ; -e & gt ; until 1657, perchance proposing one time more that the infusion is from the late 16th to mid-17th Century epoch. The first commendation of Catholicke in the context of ‘Roman Catholic ‘ in the OED besides dates at 1605, yet non with the same spelling as in the text until 1629. This might besides connote that the text is about surely within this period of the 1600s instead than the late 1500s.
After a careful analysis, looking closely at assorted characteristics of sentence structure, grammar, lexis and writing system, I have concluded that this text is about decidedly from the early Modern English period. There seems to be a sufficient sum of grounds to propose that the text should be dated within the early 1600s, and hence I would day of the month Extract B at around 1625.
