Shakespeare Made English the World's Language

Shakespeare played a critical role in shaping modern English and helping to make it the world’s language. The first major dictionary compiled by Samuel Johnson drew on Shakespeare more than any other writer. Three thousand new words and phrases all first appeared in print in Shakespeare’s plays. I remember from my own childhood how many of them are found for the first time in Henry V. Words like ‘dishearten’, ‘divest’, ‘addiction’, ‘motionless’, ‘leapfrog’ — and phrases like ‘once more unto the breach’, ‘band of brothers’ and ‘heart of gold’ — have all passed into the English language today with no need to reference their original context. Shakespeare also pioneered innovative use of grammatical form and structure — including verse without rhymes, superlatives and the connecting of existing words to make new words, like bloodstained — while the pre-eminence of his plays also did much to standardise spelling and grammar.