Word Order Patterns in Old and Modern English

This thesis focuses on the patterns of the word structures in Old English and Present Day English. It is based on an analysis of two different texts. The theoretical part of this study concentrates on the evolution of the language itself which, is vital for understanding all the changes that have occurred during the evolution of English language. Different sentence structures and word order patterns are analysed in the practical part. I chose the poem Beowulf, because it is the best preserved work from the Old English period and a book by the author Agatha Christie who is a world-famous writer of the 20th century. Samples were selected from both written texts, and analysed with a focus on the word order patterns of different types of sentences (simple sentences, subordinate clauses of time, purpose, manner, conditional, etc.)