Old English SyntaxDr. Mubarak Alkhatnai

OE syntax has close kinship to Modern English syntax, yet there are differences:

1- Nouns, adjectives and most pronouns had fuller inflections than their modern developments. The inflected forms were used to signal the word’s function in the sentence.

2- Adjectives agreed in case, number, and gender with their nouns.

3- Adjectives were inflected for “definiteness” in what was called strong and weak declensions.

4- Numbers were used (as in ME) to ◦ Modify a noun e.g. pritig rihtwisra “Thirty Shillings”

◦ As nominals in genitive case. e.g. prtigrihtwisra “thirty of rightous men”.

5- OE used the genitive inflection in many circumstances. (of phrase in ME). e.g. “a great deal of the Island”

6- OE had no articles. Anglo-Saxons used se “that” pes “this” for definite article. For indefinite articles an “one” sum “certain”.

7- OE could form verb phrases like ME (Have + be with participles). e.g. has run – is running. ◦ The form has been running was not used

◦ ME he had come = OE he ær com “he earlier come”.

8- OE formed passive like ME but tended to use the infinitive. Heo heht hine læran“she ordered him to be taught”

9- Subjunctive mood (for wishes, emotions ..etc) was more common in OE. e.g. if I were you, I would ….

10- OE has a number of impersonal verbs that were used without a subject. e.g. Me lyst rædan “[it] Pleases me to read”

11- The subject of OE verb could be omitted if it was implied by the context.

12- The subject of OE verb could be mentioned twice.

13- OE negative adverb ne came before the verb. Ic ne dyde “I not did” instead of I did not.

14- OE word order was not fixed as ME. Object pronoun might come before verb instead of after it.

15- OE has different ways of subordinating clauses.

Parataxis (the act of placing side by side).

It is a literary technique that favors short, simple sentences with the use of coordinating (and, or, nor …) rather than subordinating conjunctions (although, as far as …).