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 prestige until the time of the Norman Conquest, after which English ceased for a time to be of importance as a literary language. The history of Old English can be subdivided into: The Old English period is followed by Middle English (12th to 15th century), Early Modern English (c. 1480 to 1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650). Old English should not be regarded as a single monolithic entity, just as Modern English is also not monolithic. It emerged over time out of the many dialects and languages of the colonising tribes, and it is only towards the later Anglo-Saxon