Claim: English language is influenced by Norman French.

Middle English -LRB- ME -RRB- is collectively the varieties of the English language spoken after the Norman Conquest -LRB- 1066 -RRB- until the late 15th century ; scholarly opinion varies but the Oxford English Dictionary specifies the period of 1150 to 1500 . This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the High to the Late Middle Ages .   Middle English developed out of Late Old English , seeing many dramatic changes in its grammar , pronunciation and orthography . Writing customs during Middle English times varied widely , but by the end of the period , about 1470 , aided by the invention of the printing press , a standard based on the London dialect -LRB- Chancery Standard -RRB- had become established . This largely forms the basis for Modern English spelling , although pronunciation has changed considerably since that time . Middle English was succeeded in England by the era of Early Modern English , which lasted until about 1650 . By that time , a variant of the Northumbrian dialect -LRB- prevalent in northern England and spoken in southeast Scotland -RRB- was developing into the Scots language .   During the Middle English period many Old English grammatical features were simplified or disappeared . Noun , adjective and verb inflections were simplified , a process that included the reduction -LRB- and eventual elimination -RRB- of most grammatical case distinctions . Middle English also saw a mass adoption of Norman French vocabulary , especially in areas such as politics , law , the arts , religion and other courtly language . Everyday English vocabulary remained mostly Germanic , with Old Norse influence becoming apparent . Significant changes in pronunciation took place , especially for long vowels and diphthongs , which in the later Middle English period began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift .   Little survives of early Middle English literature , most likely due to the Norman domination and the prestige that came with writing in French rather than English . During the 14th century , a new style of literature emerged with the works of notable writers such as John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer , whose Canterbury Tales remains the most studied and read work of the period . Poets wrote both in the vernacular and courtly English .   It is popularly believed that William Shakespeare wrote in Middle English , but he actually wrote in Early Modern English .