How has English changed over time, and how do you analyse and compare texts from different periods in Unit 3?
Language change over time: how English has changed in lexis, semantics, grammar, orthography and graphology from earlier periods to the present, and the theories that explain change, applied to the comparison of texts.
How to answer WJEC Unit 3 Language over Time: analysing diachronic change in lexis, semantics, grammar, orthography and graphology across texts, and the theories (substratum, functional, prescriptivist and descriptivist) that explain why English changes.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this dot point is asking
Unit 3, Language over Time, is an A2 written examination of 1 hour 30 minutes. It asks you to analyse and compare texts from different periods and explain how and why English has changed. This is diachronic study (change across time), and it rewards systematic comparison through the language levels plus the theories that account for change. This page sets out the kinds of change and the explanatory frameworks.
The answer
Diachronic change and the periods of English
You do not need to date a text exactly, but recognising period features (very old inflections, Early Modern spelling, eighteenth-century print conventions) helps you frame the comparison.
Lexis and semantics
Grammar
Grammar changes more slowly but visibly. Earlier English used more inflection (word endings now lost), different word order, archaic pronouns and verb forms ("thou hast", "-eth" endings), and constructions once standard that are now non-standard, such as the double negative. When you compare grammar across texts, identify what has been simplified or regularised and what has remained stable.
Orthography and graphology
Why English changes: the theories
How Unit 3 is assessed
The unit rewards AO1 (terminology and the language levels), AO2 (concepts and theories of change) and AO4 (comparison and connections across texts). The discriminator is comparison and explanation: weaker answers describe each text in turn, while top answers compare level by level and explain the changes with theory, judging change and continuity.
Examples in context
Model paragraph (comparing an eighteenth-century and a modern text). The two texts show clear diachronic change once they are compared level by level. At the level of orthography, the earlier text uses variable spelling and the capitalisation of common nouns, conventions of print before Johnson's dictionary helped fix forms, whereas the modern text is standardised, so the contrast is evidence of standardisation rather than carelessness. Lexically, the earlier text contains words now archaic or obsolete and uses others in older senses, and a comparison reveals semantic change: a term that carried a neutral or positive meaning then has narrowed or pejorated since, which shows meaning shifting with usage. Grammatically, the earlier text retains features such as longer, more subordinated sentences and the occasional inflection or construction now lost, while the modern text is more economical, reflecting gradual simplification. Read together, the texts demonstrate both change (in spelling, vocabulary and sentence style) and continuity (the core grammar remains intelligible), best explained by standardisation and functional adaptation, a descriptivist account of natural change rather than decline.
Try this
Q1. What is the difference between diachronic and synchronic study? [2 marks]
- Cue. Diachronic study examines language change across time; synchronic study examines language at a single point in time.
Q2. Define semantic narrowing and give an example. [2 marks]
- Cue. Narrowing is when a word's meaning becomes more specific; for example "meat" once meant any food but now means flesh.
Q3. Analyse and compare how language has changed over time, using the texts provided. [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. A level-by-level comparison naming processes of change (lexical, semantic, grammatical, orthographic), explained with theory (standardisation, functional, descriptivist), judging change and continuity.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC Unit 3 (specimen)20 marksAnalyse and compare the ways in which language has changed over time, using the texts provided.Show worked answer →
The core Unit 3 question, rewarding diachronic comparison across the language levels and informed by theory.
Strong answers compare texts level by level, not text by text, and explain change rather than just listing differences.
Work through lexis and semantics (archaic and obsolete words, borrowings, semantic change such as broadening, narrowing, amelioration and pejoration), grammar (older inflections, word order, double negatives once standard), and orthography and graphology (variable spelling before standardisation, the long s, capitalisation, layout). Then explain the changes with theory.
The top band frames change with concepts (standardisation, the influence of print and the dictionary, functional and descriptivist views) and judges patterns of change and continuity across the texts.
WJEC Unit 3 (sample)12 marksIdentify and comment on three ways in which the spelling and punctuation of the earlier text differ from present-day conventions.Show worked answer →
A focused question on orthography and graphology in a historical text.
Markers reward named features with an explanation tied to the history of standardisation.
Worked points: variable, non-standardised spelling (the same word spelt differently) reflects the period before the dictionary fixed forms; older conventions such as the long s and capitalised common nouns mark eighteenth-century print; lighter or different punctuation shows evolving conventions.
The best answers explain these as evidence of English before and during standardisation, not as mistakes, and link them to the spread of printing and dictionaries.
Related dot points
- Contemporary English: present-day language in use, including the influence of technology, electronic communication and social change, analysed for Unit 1 Section B.
How to answer WJEC Unit 1 Section B on contemporary English: the features of present-day language in electronic and digital communication, the influence of technology and social change, and how to discuss them with the language levels.
- Analysing language: using the language levels (phonetics, phonology and prosodics; lexis and semantics; grammar and morphology; pragmatics; discourse) plus genre, audience, purpose and mode to analyse an unseen text in Unit 1 Section A.
How to analyse an unseen text in WJEC Unit 1 Section A using the language levels: phonology and prosodics, lexis and semantics, grammar and morphology, pragmatics and discourse, framed by genre, audience, purpose and mode.
- Language issues (part a): the key debates including standard and non-standard English, accent and dialect, language and power, language and gender, and language acquisition, discussed with reference to data.
The WJEC Unit 2 part (a) language issues essay: standard and non-standard English, accent and dialect, language and power, language and gender, and language acquisition, and how to argue about them with data and theory.
- Analysing spoken language (Section A): the features of speech (prosodics, fillers, pauses, overlaps, turn-taking, adjacency pairs, repair) and the theories of conversation, applied to a transcript.
How to answer WJEC Unit 4 Section A: analysing a spoken-language transcript using features of speech (fillers, pauses, overlaps, turn-taking, adjacency pairs, repair, prosodics) and conversation theory such as Grice's maxims and politeness.
- Creative re-casting (Section B): transforming a given source text into a new genre, audience, purpose or mode, making deliberate language choices appropriate to the new form.
How to answer WJEC Unit 4 Section B creative re-casting: transforming a source text into a new genre, audience, purpose and mode, selecting and reshaping content, and making deliberate linguistic choices that fit the new form.