[quote] Now: “Can you write a sentence in English the way it would look now, one hundred years ago, and five hundred years ago?” -100y (c.1917): First World War “Can you write a sentence in English the way it would look now, one hundred years ago, and five hundred years ago?” -400y (c.1617): Just after the death of William Shakespeare “Canst thou write a sentence in English, in the wise that it looketh now, and look’d an hundred years past, and yet five hundred years past?” -500y (c.1517): Mary Tudor was one year old “Canst thou writ a sentence yn Englissh, yn such wise as yt seemeth nou, and seemed an hundred yeeres gonne, and fiue hundred yeeres gonne?” -600y (c.1417): A few years before the birth of William Caxton, the first Printer in England. “Canst thou wryt ane sentence yn Englische yn this wise: that as yt semeth nouwe, and hath semed an hundred yeres ygonne, and fiue hundred yeres ygonne?” -1000y (c.1017): Cnut is king of England, and marries Emma of Normandy “Meaht þu writ an cwide þus in Ænglisc; þæt hit beoð nu, ⁊ hit wæs ær an hundred gear, ⁊ hit wæs ær fif hundred gear?” [/quote]