The English language is the vacuum cleaner of the languages of the world and has been for as far back as we can trace its origins. All languages borrow words; English is exceptional in its borrowing habits. During the Old English period (ca. late-sixth to late-eleventh centuries), the language had a virtually unlimited capacity to form new compounds and to absorb new words to fill voids created by new concepts. It still does.

This capacity to create new compounds and absorb borrowed words constantly expands the vocabulary at the disposal of the language. It gives the English language an enormous vocabulary and an equally enormous capability to express exactly what you intend to say.

In spite of the extensive accumulation of borrowed words, the 1,000 most commonly used words in the modern vocabulary of English are original. Old English words, such as, "me, mine, he, his, him, we, us, with, this, that, these, why, where, what, whom, man, child, house, ship, boat, book, glove, king, craft, water, sing, seek, drive, bake, steal, is, are, was, were, before, after, over, work, wood, read, write," and "word," explain the tenacity with which English has retained its identity.

English has its peculiarities. Why, for instance, do we need the word "whom"? English used to have two objective cases, that is, one form of ending for the direct object (DO) and another for the indirect object (IO). The two forms eventually coalesced and are simply called the "object." The m' in "them," "him," and "whom," are the remnants of the old indirect object. It is still a useful distinction. We do not say, "I gave he a boat." We say "I gave him a boat." When we unpack the sentence, it reads, "I gave a boat (DO) to him (IO)." The need to unpack a sentence is another peculiarity of English. English has retained very few case endings. Other languages do not need to have sentences unpacked; they have retained case endings.

Many of the perplexities of English pronunciation derive from assimilating similar sounds in the foreign words into the spelling system. The confusion caused by the ough' spelling is the bane of many a native speaker, let alone the person learning English as a second language. We say cawf' for "cough"; slau' for "slough" (in England); enauf' for "enough." The g' marks where there once was a letter called a "yogh." The yogh looked like the number 3 and effected the pronunciation of the combination of g + h. Clear enou3h?

English survived and retained its

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