DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOW CHAUCER WROTE AND HOW WE WRITE NOW

Present day English is considered a ‘standard’ language that is used by almost all English writers
in the English speaking world. On the other hand, Chaucer’s English was not standardised and
was not used outside of the London area. In his day, during the fourteenth century, there was
no standard written language used in England.

In the modern day, there are very little points of unsettled usage in the English language.
Whereas in Chaucer’s time, several alternative forms existed side by side, such as saw, sawe,
saugh, sigh, seigh, sy and say all representing the same word. He made great use of these
variants as a poet, to enable rhyming in his poetry compositions.