The English reference article from the Simple Wikipedia on 01-May-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

English

The word English means from or about the country of England, especially a person from England or the language of England.

The language called English is used by many people in the world today.

English began in the country of England, which is on a large island in Europe. Many different people came to the island at different times, speaking different languages, and these languages mixed together to create English. English contains some words from Greek, Latin, and French.

Because England is on an island, the English people often travelled on the sea. They started many new countries in many parts of the world, and also new governments in some old countries. Partly because of this, English is an important language in many places today, including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, and the United States, as well as England. Many people find it useful to learn English to communicate with people from other counties. We say that these people are learning English as an additional language.

English has kept the habit of adding new words from other languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, and Spanish.

Many famous stories and plays have been written in English. Shakespeare was a famous English writer of poems and plays. In modern times, many famous songs and movies use the English language.

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