Changes

English has the smallest alphabet of widely used languages;<ref>Some describe the Hebrew alphabet, without vowels, as having only 22 characters, but modern Hebrew (spoken by a few million people) has more characters than English.  See http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hebrew.htm .</ref> this compact simplicity gives English an advantage, particularly in using computers.  For example, modern English lacks accented letters (such as the dots over the "e" in "noël"), hybrid letters (such as the "æ" used in British spelling like "encyclopædia"), and pictograph characters.

English has the smallest alphabet of widely used languages;<ref>Some describe the Hebrew alphabet, without vowels, as having only 22 characters, but modern Hebrew (spoken by a few million people) has more characters than English.  See http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hebrew.htm .</ref> this compact simplicity gives English an advantage, particularly in using computers.  For example, modern English lacks accented letters (such as the dots over the "e" in "noël"), hybrid letters (such as the "æ" used in British spelling like "encyclopædia"), and pictograph characters.

English features easy interchangeability of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, without much variance in form for pronouns and verbs. That promotes communication through brief, cryptic messages if necessary, the style preferred by electronic media.  English enjoys a powerful pipe-like quality, such that one phrase can be cut and pasted to another phrase with ease.  Computer-based cutting and pasting text works more efficiently in English than in many other languages, such as those using pictorial characters. This gives English an advantage in the internet medium, and about 80% of the internet uses English. One out of every five people in the world speak English; in countries where English is not the most popular language (such as France), English is the most popular second language.<ref>See Barbara Wallraff, “What Global Language?” 286 Atlantic Monthly No. 5, at 52 (Nov. 2000) (noting that “English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN” and is also “the official language of the European Central Bank”).</ref>

English features easy interchangeability of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, without much variance in form for pronouns and verbs. That promotes communication through brief, cryptic messages if necessary, the style preferred by electronic media.  English enjoys a powerful pipe-like quality, such that one phrase can be cut and pasted to another phrase with ease.  Computer-based cutting and pasting text works more efficiently in English than in many other languages, such as those using pictorial characters. This gives English an advantage in the internet medium, and about 80% of the internet uses English. One out of every five people in the world speak English; in countries where English is not the most popular language (such as France), English is the second most popular language.<ref>See Barbara Wallraff, “What Global Language?” 286 Atlantic Monthly No. 5, at 52 (Nov. 2000) (noting that “English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN” and is also “the official language of the European Central Bank”).</ref>

==The Age of Exploration==

==The Age of Exploration==