English is a Germanic language, though today it is easier to see how Latin than German has influenced English. Latin was language of the church and scholars, although Greek has influenced scientific terms as it the second language of scholars.
The English language has also borrowed words many other languages but the one language that has influenced English the was Norman French.
After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the English language became very confused terms of grammar, as both languages were used at the time with different words for the same subject or idea. instance, the word 'beef' comes from the Norman word for cow, yet 'cow' is an Anglo-Saxon word. In modern English is a difference in the meaning, as we understand that 'beef' the meat we eat from the cow, while 'cow' is the animal .
In the late eighteenth century, scholars, poets and philosophers tried to create a 'standard' English, based the English spoken in London. Many of the unusual grammatical rules in English from that time. Such examples are the rule about the progressive case, is not used in many European languages, and the rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition. This last rule, , is common German, which is our sister language.