1. To be or not to be, that is the question...

2. William Shakespeare – possibly the most famous playwright in the history of England; revolutionised the English language; changed the world with the works of his pen. But what made him different from any old playwright or poet? His language of course! In this presentation, we will take you into the world of William Shakespeare – and his famous language.

3. William Shakespeare used early modern English in his poetry and plays. His language is known throughout the country nowadays as “complicated” and “confusing” – but in fact people in Elizabethan times didn’t actually talk like that! Shakespeare only used that style of English for dramatic effect, to really exaggerate the passion, love or humour he was trying to portray in that particular character’s line of the play. This is why we use such strange versions of words and abbreviations. On the next slide we will show you a few odd words from his language “dictionary” – and some are not what you might expect...!

4. NICE- PARD- HAPPILY- HUGGER-MUGGER- RASCAL- LASS-LORN- SANS- GORBELLIED- FOOLISH THE LEOPARD ACCINDENTLY SECRECY A LEAN DEER DESERTED BY MISTRESS WITHOUT FAT

5. 1.“If music be the food of love, play on” 2.“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” 3.“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” 4.“Something wicked this way comes” 5. “To be or not to be, that is the question” Twelfth Night As You Like It Romeo and Juliet Macbeth Hamlet

6. William Shakespeare used both poetry and prose in his writing, but not many people actually know what the difference is... Poetry is split up into lines, verses and stanzas, and has no grammatical order. It often uses rhyme and rhythm. Prose is written in paragraphs and sentences. It has a grammatical order and flows continually across the page.

7. Did you know? Shakespeare used approximately 31,534 words in his plays- and placed 3,000new words into our dictionary today. We only use between 6,000 and 15,000! Shakespeare influenced the English language so much we would be literally and grammatically years behind if he had never existed! Now test your knowledge in this quiz... http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/williamshakespearequiz.htm

8. Thanks for listening!