Understanding Literary Periods of British & American Literature

Periods of British Literature:

450-1066: Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period

1066-1500: Middle English Period

1500-1660: The Renaissance

1558-1603: Elizabethan Age

1603-1625: Jacobean Age

1625-1649: Caroline Age

1649-1660: Commonwealth Period (or Puritan Interregnum)

1660-1785: The Neoclassical Period

1660-1700: The Restoration

1700-1745: The Augustan Age (or Age of Pope)

1745-1785: The Age of Sensibility (or Age of Johnson)

1785-1830: The Romantic Period

1832-1901: The Victorian Period

1848-1860: The Pre-Raphaelites

1880-1901: Aestheticism and Decadence

1901-1914: The Edwardian Period

1910-1936: The Georgian Period

1914-1945: The Modern Period

1945-present: Postmodern Period

Periods of American Literature:

1607-1776: Colonial Period

1765-1790: The Revolutionary Age

1775-1828: The Early National Period

1828-1865: The Romantic Period (Also known as: The American Renaissance or The Age of Transcendentalism)

1865-1900: The Realistic Period

1900-1914: The Naturalistic Period

1914-1939: American Modernist Period

1920s: Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance

1920s, 1930s: The "Lost Generation"

1939-present: The Contemporary Period

1950s: Beat Writers

1960s, 1970s: Counterculture

In addition, American Literature recognizes works of:

African-American Writers

Native American Writers

Asian-American Writers

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What's a Phrasal Verb?

First, I have to say Phrasal Verbs make our speaking sound colorful and natural. They are strictly seen as informal items, but we should have a second thought about this issue; we can see them in authorative and formal documents too. It's important to mention that phrasal verbs are made up by a verb plus a particle (adverb or preposition) and create an idiomatic meaning, in many cases, totally different from the single verb (eg: get + up).

    Let's read an explanation of Phrasal Verbs excerpted from Longman Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, by Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt. 3rd Edition, 2002.

Phrasal verb

a verbal construction consisting of a verb plus an ADVERB PARTICLE. A distinction may be made between phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal-prepositional verbs, according to the different grammatical patterns in which they occur. For example:

Particle               Turn OFF the                     Verb may             I’ll APPLY for the

may be               light.                                   be stressed                  job.

stressed

Particle can       Turn the light off.               Particle                *I’ll apply the job

occur after                                                      cannot                  for.

the object                                                     occur after

                                                                       the object

short                      Turn it off                        Pronouns             I’ll apply for it.

pronouns              (*Turn off it)                    occur after            (*I’ll apply it for)

occur                                                              the verb+

between                                                         particle

the verb

and the

particle

A phrasal-prepositional verb consists of a verb, an adverb particle, and a PREPOSITION:

We must cut down on expenses.

They put their failure down to bad advice.

The meaning of some of these verbal constructions can be guessed from the meanings of their parts (e.g. cut down on). But the meaning of others is idiomatic (e.g. put down to).

Nowadays the term “phrasal verb” is often used to include phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal-prepositional verbs.


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Living Language: Easy American Idioms (Book only)

 

"It slipped my mind," "Don't fly off the handle," and "I'm counting on you" are just a few of the idiomatic expressions that native English speakers use on any given day, but that can completely confuse non-native speakers. Easy American Idioms cuts through the confusion and teaches natural-sounding conversational English.

The lessons in Easy American Idioms focus on everyday situations: meeting people, expressing likes/satisfaction, expressing dislikes/displeasure, working, shopping, socializing, sports, television, going out, and more. Each section features useful and appropriate idiomatic expressions with dialogues interspersed between lessons. 

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