How has English changed from the beginning of the 20th century to now?

Answer 1

The most obvious change is that English has gained many thousands of new words. We have so many words for all the technology that didn’t exist a hundred years ago, as well as for foods and other cultural elements that have been adopted by English-speaking countries. It has also lost some words in the process.

In terms of syntax, the progressive tense is used more frequently now. Similarly the -ing is often used where “to” would have been in nominalized verbs (eg started to go → started going”). Conversely certain modal verbs like “shall” and “ought” have sharply declined in their use.