Old English grammar in the feminine singular and neuter plural: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -ƿ: Old English had two main determiners: "se", which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and "þes" for 'this'. Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was possibly the source of Modern English 'she'. Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form
Old English literature "Beowulf", the sea is called the "whale road") and litotes, a dramatic understatement employed by the author for ironic effect. Alternative theories have been proposed, such as the theory of John C. Pope (1942), which uses musical notation to track the verse patterns. J. R. R. Tolkien describes and illustrates many of the features of Old English poetry in his 1940 essay "On Translating "Beowulf"". Even though all extant Old English poetry is written and literate, it is assumed that Old English poetry was an oral craft that was performed by a "scop" and accompanied by a harp. Most Old