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Probably the number one complaint about reading Shakespeare is that it doesn’t always read like “normal” English. It’s a natural and reasonable ______. Shakespeare wrote for an audience over 400 years ago. Think about how word meanings and expressions change over a relatively short time; four centuries bring with them a lot of______. The Renaissance and England’s emerging status as a sea power ______ the language to an ever-increasing range of cultures and languages. At the same time, there was no real standardization in English. Formal dictionaries and grammar textbooks ______ did not exit, and “proper education focused much more on classical Latin than on colloquial English. Despite this neglect- or perhaps because of it-English by the reign of Elizabeth had a certain flexibility to it, of which Shakespeare ______.

So how can a reader today______ that gap between then and now? There are two critical areas to______: word usage and grammar. Once you understand there fundamental concepts, Shakespeare becomes a lot more ______. First and foremost, there have been numerous vocabulary changes in English since Shakespeare was writing. While many words are still recognizable today, others have shifted in their meaning or dropped altogether from usage. ______, when was the last time you heard anyone use words such as bodkin (a piercing tool), contumely (verbal abuse), or fardel (a bundle)? Often the context in which a word is used will help you determine its meaning. A good ______ with detailed footnotes will help you, as well as a good dictionary. The main thing is to be aware that even a familiar word from today may be used within a different meaning in Shakespeare’s works. Grammar is where the ______ of Shakespeare English is often most apparent. Parts of speech are frequently ______, such as nouns or adjectives becoming verbs. Verbs and subjects don’t always ______. Even sentence construction can be ______, with inversions of the basic subject-verb-object order. ______ we would say, “John caught the ball”, Shakespeare might treat the same statement with the same meaning as “John the ball caught” or “The ball John caught.”