148-730: The Puerta del Sol ( Spanish: [ˈpweɾta ðel ˈsol] , English : "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid , one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ( Km 0 ) of the radial network of Spanish roads . The square also contains the famous clock whose bells mark the traditional eating of the Twelve Grapes and the beginning of a new year. The New Year's celebration has been broadcast live since 31 December 1962 on major radio and television networks including Atresmedia and RTVE . The Puerta del Sol originated as one of
296-546: A mixed language or a creole —a theory called the Middle English creole hypothesis . Although the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern English is widely acknowledged, most specialists in language contact do not consider English to be a true mixed language. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares innovations with other Germanic languages including Dutch , German , and Swedish . These shared innovations show that
444-519: A parliamentary system ; that is, the head of government —known as the "president"—is dependent on the direct support from the autonomous legislature , whose members elect him by a majority . The Statute of Autonomy of the Madrid Autonomous Community is the fundamental organic law in conjunction with (and subordinated to) the Spanish constitution . The Statute of Autonomy establishes that
592-635: A 2012 official Eurobarometer poll (conducted when the UK was still a member of the EU), 38 percent of the EU respondents outside the countries where English is an official language said they could speak English well enough to have a conversation in that language. The next most commonly mentioned foreign language, French (which is the most widely known foreign language in the UK and Ireland), could be used in conversation by 12 percent of respondents. A working knowledge of English has become
740-471: A consequence of a long process of repopulation that took place over the course of four centuries. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had been granted the authority to repopulate. In the 13th century, Madrid was the only town of the current-day region that preserved its own juridical personality, at first with the Old Fuero (Charter) and later with
888-651: A distinct language from Modern English and is virtually impossible for 21st-century unstudied English-speakers to understand. Its grammar was similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had many more inflectional endings and forms , and word order was much freer than in Modern English. Modern English has case forms in pronouns ( he , him , his ) and has a few verb inflections ( speak , speaks , speaking , spoke , spoken ), but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and verbs had more person and number endings. Its closest relative
1036-432: A distinct regional identity. Since the 1833 provincial organization, Madrid was part of the historical region of New Castile along with the provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. Thus, it was first planned that the province of Madrid would be part of the future community of Castile–La Mancha (which was roughly similar to New Castile, with the addition of Albacete ) but with some special considerations as
1184-484: A foreign language, make up the "expanding circle". The distinctions between English as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language are often debatable and may change in particular countries over time. For example, in the Netherlands and some other countries of Europe, knowledge of English as a second language is nearly universal, with over 80 percent of the population able to use it, and thus English
1332-514: A higher altitude close to the Sierra de Guadarrama feature a colder climate, also generally with more precipitation (particularly in the winter), with climate subtypes ranging from the Csa to the warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb ) and the dry summer continental climate (Köppen: Dsb ) on the peaks of the mountain range, with temperature averages below freezing point during January and February in
1480-520: A more standard version of English. They have many more speakers of English who acquire English as they grow up through day-to-day use and listening to broadcasting, especially if they attend schools where English is the medium of instruction. Varieties of English learned by non-native speakers born to English-speaking parents may be influenced, especially in their grammar, by the other languages spoken by those learners. Most of those varieties of English include words little used by native speakers of English in
1628-688: A number of other Anglic languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland. Like Icelandic and Faroese , the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. English is not mutually intelligible with any continental Germanic language, as it differs in vocabulary , syntax , and phonology . However, some of these, such as Dutch or Frisian, do show strong affinities with English, especially with its earlier stages. Unlike Icelandic and Faroese, which were isolated,
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#17328845572811776-402: A population transfer from the capital to the rest of municipalities of the metropolitan area emerged. This process accelerated when the autonomous community was founded, and it took placed along a strong decrease of birth rates. The creation of the contemporary Community of Madrid was preceded by an intense political debate. Autonomous communities were to be created by one or more provinces with
1924-679: A requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. English has become so important in scientific publishing that more than 80 percent of all scientific journal articles indexed by Chemical Abstracts in 1998 were written in English, as were 90 percent of all articles in natural science publications by 1996 and 82 percent of articles in humanities publications by 1995. International communities such as international business people may use English as an auxiliary language , with an emphasis on vocabulary suitable for their domain of interest. This has led some scholars to develop
2072-407: A rich inflectional morphology and relatively free word order to a mostly analytic pattern with little inflection and a fairly fixed subject–verb–object word order . Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses , aspects and moods , as well as passive constructions , interrogatives , and some negation . The earliest form of English
2220-462: A seventh of the national total, mostly concentrated in the metropolitan area of Madrid . It is also the most densely populated autonomous community. Madrid has both the largest nominal GDP , slightly ahead of that of Catalonia , and the highest GDP per capita in the country. Madrid's economy is highly tertiarised , having a leading role in Spain's logistics and transportation. The Community of Madrid
2368-744: A significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million), Australia (at least 17 million), South Africa (4.8 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. The inner-circle countries provide
2516-461: A strategic military post in the 11th century. The Muslim rulers created a defensive system of fortresses and towers all across the region with which they tried to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The fortress of Mayrit (Madrid) was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and which constituted the foundation of
2664-409: A unified region as several lords and churches had jurisdiction over their own autonomous territories. During the 18th century, the fragmented administration of the region was not solved despite several attempts. During the reign of Philip V , the intendencia was created as a political and administrative division. Nonetheless, the intendencia of Madrid did not fully solve the problem, and the region
2812-447: A verb ending ( present plural): From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Old English gradually transformed through language contact with Old Norse in some regions. The waves of Norse (Viking) colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries put Old English into intense contact with Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in
2960-552: Is Old Frisian , but even some centuries after the Anglo-Saxon migration, Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility with other Germanic varieties. Even in the 9th and 10th centuries, amidst the Danelaw and other Viking invasions, there is historical evidence that Old Norse and Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility, although probably the northern dialects of Old English were more similar to Old Norse than
3108-516: Is 3° 40' of longitude west of Greenwich , England, and 40° 23' north of the equator. Most of the province lies between 600 and 1,000 m above sea level. However, there the altitude ranges from 2,428 metres of Peñalara to 430 metres at the Alberche river when it leaves Villa del Prado into the province of Toledo. Other considerable heights, as well as being famous, are the Bola del Mundo ("Ball of
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#17328845572813256-517: Is almost an equilateral triangle, in whose center would be the city. First, by the western side, it borders the " Sistema Central " (the Guadarrama mountain range ), the southern border features a protrusion following the Tagus River in order to include the royal site of Aranjuez in the region; the eastern edge of the triangle comes from the rupture of the fluvial river basins. This autonomous community
3404-718: Is almost entirely comprised in the Tagus Basin , from the Central System ( Sistema Central ) reliefs in the north and northwest to the Tagus River bed in the southern border. The climate is generally temperate, ranging from mediterranean to semi-arid , except in the Central System highlands. It contains four World Heritage Sites : the Monastery and Royal Site of El Escorial , the university and historic centre of Alcalá de Henares ,
3552-566: Is also common in the area. Side streets close to the square also contain residential flats, some small offices, and tourist hostels . [REDACTED] Media related to Puerta del Sol at Wikimedia Commons 40°25′01″N 3°42′13″W / 40.41694°N 3.70361°W / 40.41694; -3.70361 English language English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , whose speakers, called Anglophones , originated in early medieval England on
3700-400: Is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in 59 sovereign states (such as India , Ireland , and Canada ). In some other countries, it is the sole or dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law (such as in
3848-459: Is also undergoing change under the influence of American English, fuelled by the strong presence of American English in the media and the prestige associated with the United States as a world power. As of 2016 , 400 million people spoke English as their first language , and 1.1 billion spoke it as a secondary language. English is the largest language by number of speakers . English
3996-603: Is also widely used in media and literature, and the number of English language books published annually in India is the third largest in the world after the US and UK. However, English is rarely spoken as a first language, numbering only around a couple hundred-thousand people, and less than 5% of the population speak fluent English in India. David Crystal claimed in 2004 that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in
4144-407: Is an official language of countries populated by few descendants of native speakers of English. It has also become by far the most important language of international communication when people who share no native language meet anywhere in the world. The Indian linguist Braj Kachru distinguished countries where English is spoken with a three circles model . In his model, Kachru based his model on
4292-528: Is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon ( c. 450–1150 ). Old English developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, often grouped as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic , and originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia , Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles , Saxons , and Jutes . From the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as
4440-464: Is home to mountain peaks rising above 2,000 m, holm oak dehesas and low-lying plains. The slopes of the Guadarrama mountain range are cloaked in dense forests of Scots pine and Pyrenean oak . The Lozoya Valley supports a large black (monk) vulture colony, and one of the last bastions of the Spanish imperial eagle in the world is found in the Park Regional del Suroeste in dehesa hills between
4588-968: Is located in the basin of the Tagus River. The Tagus passes through the southern border of the Autonomy in its path west toward the Atlantic Ocean , draining the waters of the Jarama River (collecting in turn the waters of the Lozoya , the Guadalix , the Manzanares , the Henares and the Tajuña ), the Alberche and the Guadarrama in the Community. This autonomous community also includes
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4736-479: Is no longer a judicial district as of 1985). These jurisdictions relate to the judicial administration, with their seat having at least one court of first instance . Madrid is the autonomous community with the highest income per capita in Spain, at €38,435 in 2022 – significantly above the national average and ahead of the Basque Country , with €35,832, Navarra , €33,798, and Catalonia , €32,550. In that year,
4884-527: Is often arbitrarily defined as beginning with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, but it developed further in the period from 1150 to 1500. With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the now-Norsified Old English language was subject to another wave of intense contact, this time with Old French , in particular Old Norman French , influencing it as a superstrate. The Norman French spoken by
5032-567: Is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain . It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula , and of the Central Plateau ( Meseta Central ). Its capital and largest municipality is the City of Madrid , which is also the capital of the country. The Community of Madrid is bounded to the south and east by Castilla–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and León . It
5180-424: Is routinely used to communicate with foreigners and often in higher education. In these countries, although English is not used for government business, its widespread use puts them at the boundary between the "outer circle" and "expanding circle". English is unusual among world languages in how many of its users are not native speakers but speakers of English as a second or foreign language. Many users of English in
5328-517: Is spoken by communities on every continent and on islands in all the major oceans. The countries where English is spoken can be grouped into different categories according to how English is used in each country. The "inner circle" countries with many native speakers of English share an international standard of written English and jointly influence speech norms for English around the world. English does not belong to just one country, and it does not belong solely to descendants of English settlers. English
5476-777: Is the third person pronoun group beginning with th- ( they, them, their ) which replaced the Anglo-Saxon pronouns with h- ( hie, him, hera ). Other core Norse loanwords include "give", "get", "sky", "skirt", "egg", and "cake", typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent. Old Norse in this era retained considerable mutual intelligibility with some dialects of Old English, particularly northern ones. Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting. Although, from
5624-798: Is to the southeast. Under the square lies a public transport hub served by lines 1, 2 and 3 of the Madrid Metro . A commuter service was inaugurated on 27 June 2009, four years behind schedule. The lateness of the construction was in part due to the discovery of the remains of the Church of Our Lady of Good Success during the excavation of the main chamber. The new station connects the Puerta to Madrid's commuter rail system and, by extension, to Spain's railroads via direct connections to Atocha and Chamartín railway stations [2] . The square connects several commercial and recreational areas together, and thus both it and
5772-567: The Alcázar or Castle of the city. Alcalá de Henares grew in importance as cultural center since the foundation by the Cardinal Cisneros of its university . In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy . The surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid. But it was not
5920-479: The Augustinian canon Orrm , which highlights the blending of both Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in English for the first time. In Wycliff'e Bible of the 1380s, the verse Matthew 8:20 was written: Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis . Here the plural suffix -n on the verb have is still retained, but none of the case endings on the nouns are present. By the 12th century Middle English
6068-508: The Bonelli's eagle , the cinereous vulture , the peregrine falcon and the black stork . Exotic invasive species of birds and mammals in the region include the red-eared slider , the monk parakeet , the common snapping turtle , the rose-ringed parakeet , the American mink and the raccoon . Species described as "out of place" and with an increasing population include the black-headed gull ,
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6216-516: The Cytisus oromediterraneus and the common juniper as well as the Scots pine take over. There are also masses of black pine and the pyrenean oak situated above the domain of the holm oak. Eurosiberian flora is not common in the region, and species such as the moor birch and the silver birch are restricted to very specific humid valley areas with special climate conditions. The climax vegetation in
6364-490: The Danelaw area around York, which was the centre of Norse colonisation; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English . The centre of Norsified English was in the Midlands around Lindsey . After 920 CE, when Lindsey was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon polity, English spread extensively throughout the region. An element of Norse influence that continues in all English varieties today
6512-532: The European Free Trade Association , Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) set English as their organisation's sole working language even though most members are not countries with a majority of native English speakers. While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of
6660-525: The Germanic language branch, and as of 2021 , Ethnologue estimated that there were over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide. Old English emerged from a group of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons . Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse , a North Germanic language . Then, Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects , which are
6808-563: The Guadarrama Mountains ; they both fought for the control of the Real de Manzanares, a large comarca (shire) that was finally given to the House of Mendoza . Castilian monarchs showed a predilection for the center of the peninsula, with abundant forests and game. El Pardo was a region visited frequently by kings since the time of Henry III , in the 14th century. The Catholic Monarchs started
6956-555: The Iraq War [1] . In 2011, the square became established as a focal point and a symbol for the ongoing Spanish democracy demonstrations . The demonstrations included camping in the middle of the plaza (@acampadasol), which began on 15 May 2011 amidst the election campaign for city halls and Autonomous Communities governments and which was fueled by social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook. The demonstrations then spread to more than sixty other cities throughout Spain. Since 12 June 2011,
7104-731: The Low Saxon and Frisian languages . English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into the Anglic languages in the British Isles , and into the Frisian languages and Low German /Low Saxon on
7252-641: The United Nations at the end of World War II , English had become pre-eminent and is now the main worldwide language of diplomacy and international relations. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations. Many other worldwide international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee , specify English as a working language or official language of the organisation. Many regional international organisations such as
7400-450: The ayuntamiento are directly elected through proportional representation with closed party lists and a 5% electoral threshold . In turn, the councillors are charged with electing from among themselves (by default candidates are the head of each electoral list) the Mayor presiding over the ayuntamiento . There are twenty judicial districts ( partidos judiciales ), whose seats correspond to
7548-705: The campiña is the holly oak . Some of the species that take over when the holly oak forest degrades are the "sticky shrub" , the Retama sphaerocarpa , the French lavender , the Thymus mastichina and the Thymus zygis . The lower reaches of Guadarrama Mountain Range are populated by species such as the Juniperus thurifera , the maritime pine , the Portuguese oak , the stone pine ; only in
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#17328845572817696-452: The construction sub-sector also took place. During this period the Community of Madrid stood out due to its role as centre for welcoming immigration, due to its condition as transport node vis-à-vis the Spanish geography, and due to its condition as scientific and cultural centre of the country. Like the rest of autonomous communities, the Community of Madrid is organized politically within
7844-506: The lesser black-backed gull , the great cormorant and Eurasian collared dove , while the emblematic iberian ibex is presented as a case of a species "gone out of control" in La Pedriza following its re-introduction in the region in 1990 after roughly a century disappeared from the Madrilenian mountains. The mountain amphibians living at a high altitude include the fire salamander ,
7992-567: The marbled newt , the alpine newt , the iberian frog , the European tree frog or the common midwife toad . At a middle elevation in the mountain reaches close to water streams there are species such as the Bosca's newt , the southern marbled newt , the mediterranean tree frog or the iberian midwife toad . The common parsley frog and the Alytes obstetricans pertinax dwell in the limestone lowlands near
8140-511: The palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic (see Phonological history of Old English § Palatalization ). The earliest varieties of an English language, collectively known as Old English or "Anglo-Saxon", evolved from a group of North Sea Germanic dialects brought to Britain in the 5th century. Old English dialects were later influenced by Old Norse -speaking Viking invaders and settlers , starting in
8288-453: The province of Toledo and joined that of Marid, and in 1850, when the small municipality of Valdeavero (19 km ), until then part of the province of Guadalajara , joined the province of Madrid. One of the limits so far for the growth of the capital, water supply, experienced a substantial change in 1858 following the arrival to the city of Madrid of water from the Lozoya River with
8436-609: The viperine snake . The fish species are affected by the high number of reservoirs in the region. Among the threatened species in the rivers stand out the European eel , the iberian barbel , the Squalius alburnoides , the Cobitis calderoni and, potentially, the Chondrostoma lemmingii . Conversely the set of invasive species of fish includes pike , black bullhead catfish , pumpkinseed , zander , common bleak and black-bass . In
8584-505: The "outer circle" countries are countries such as the Philippines , Jamaica , India , Pakistan , Singapore , Malaysia and Nigeria with a much smaller proportion of native speakers of English but much use of English as a second language for education, government, or domestic business, and its routine use for school instruction and official interactions with the government. Those countries have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to
8732-469: The 19th century. Around the town of Madrid, an administrative territory was created known as Tierra de Madrid (Land of Madrid), the origin of the province that included the areas of the current municipalities of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Cobeña, Las Rozas de Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Torrejón de Velasco, Alcorcón, San Fernando de Henares, and Griñón. Madrid was in constant strife with the powerful council of Segovia , whose jurisdiction extended south of
8880-427: The 8th and 9th centuries. Middle English began in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest of England, when a considerable amount of Old French vocabulary was incorporated into English over some three centuries. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the start of the Great Vowel Shift and the Renaissance trend of borrowing further Latin and Greek words and roots, concurrent with
9028-448: The Angles. English may have a small amount of substrate influence from Common Brittonic, and a number of possible Brittonicisms in English have been proposed, but whether most of these supposed Brittonicisms are actually a direct result of Brittonic substrate influence is disputed. Old English was divided into four dialects: the Anglian dialects ( Mercian and Northumbrian ) and the Saxon dialects ( Kentish and West Saxon ). Through
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#17328845572819176-406: The British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s, former colonies often did not reject English but rather continued to use it as independent countries setting their own language policies. For example, the view of the English language among many Indians has gone from associating it with colonialism to associating it with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India. English
9324-417: The City where people gossip"). The House of the Post Office was built by French architect Jacques Marquet between 1766 and 1768. The building was the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and State Security in Francoist Spain . It is currently the seat of the Presidency of the Madrid Community . Sol has seen protests against the March 11th 2004 attacks on commuter trains, and Spain's involvement in
9472-434: The Early Modern period includes the works of William Shakespeare and the translation of the Bible commissioned by King James I . Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight , gnat , and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent
9620-409: The English Language , which introduced standard spellings of words and usage norms. In 1828, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English language to try to establish a norm for speaking and writing American English that was independent of the British standard. Within Britain, non-standard or lower class dialect features were increasingly stigmatised, leading to the quick spread of
9768-429: The English-speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce koineised forms of English in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival. Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers. English has ceased to be an "English language" in
9916-491: The GDP per capita growth was 8.6%. Madrid has a GDP of €230.8 billion ($ 281 billion) as of 2018; making it the largest economy of Spain, ahead of Catalonia , where regional GDP amounted to €228.7 billion and the most populated Spanish region, Andalusia (€160.6 billion). In 2005, the Community of Madrid was the main receptor of foreign investment in the country, at 34.3% of the total. The community ranks 34th amongst all European regions (evaluated in 2002), and 50th amongst
10064-429: The Government Sub-delegate, the successor office to the provincial civil governor. The seats of both the delegation and the subdelegation are located at the Borghetto Palace [ es ] in Madrid. The Community of Madrid, following the long-standing form of local government in Spain , is divided administratively into 179 municipalities (featuring 801 towns and entities). Its municipalities comprise 2.2% of
10212-403: The Gredos and Guadarrama ranges. The recent possible detection of the existence of Iberian lynx in the area between the Cofio and Alberche rivers is testament to the biodiversity of the area. Taking advantage of the orography, there are several reservoirs and local dams, with the Santillana reservoir being the largest. When looking at a map of the province of Madrid, it can be seen that it
10360-451: The Lozoya Valley in the late 19th century intending to achieve a purer water from the river, that provided the capital with water for consumption. However, the bulk of the process took place after the Spanish Civil War, with a largely successful repopulation with several species of conifers . The Madrid region features a climate marked by dry summers, while average temperature varies with altitude, marking different climate subtypes. Most of
10508-424: The Post Office, it was visited by those eager for the latest news. The stairs to the Saint Philip church at the square were known as the Gradas de San Felipe , and were among the most prolific mentideros de la Corte (this Spanish idiom sounds as " lie-spreaders of the Court", but it is related with the verb mentar , "to say about someone", not mentir , "to lie", so it is more appropriately translated as "places of
10656-658: The Post Office: one is devoted to the neighbours of Madrid who rose up against the Napoleonic invasion of Spain on May 2, 1808; the other one is a memorial of the victims of the March 11th, 2004 terrorist attacks. In 2020, another plaque was added, conmemorating those who died during the COVID-19 pandemic . Also on its south side, the square holds a mounted statue of Charles III of Spain , nicknamed "el rey alcalde" ("the mayor-king") due to
10804-600: The Roman economy and administration collapsed . By the 7th century, this Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain , replacing the languages of Roman Britain (43–409): Common Brittonic , a Celtic language , and British Latin , brought to Britain by the Roman occupation. At this time, these dialects generally resisted influence from the then-local Brittonic and Latin languages. England and English (originally Ænglaland and Ænglisc ) are both named after
10952-472: The Royal Fuero , granted by Alfonso X of Castile in 1262 and ratified by Alfonso XI in 1339. On the other hand, the town of Buitrago del Lozoya , Alcalá de Henares and Talamanca de Jarama , which were rapidly repopulated until that century, were under the dominion of the feudal or ecclesiastical lords. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the archbishopric of Toledo and remained so until
11100-400: The Spanish territory (8,110). It is ranked 23rd amongst Spanish provinces in number of municipalities, which is slightly above average. The average is 165 municipalities by province. The ayuntamiento , presided by its alcalde (Mayor) is the formal institution charged with the government and administration of most municipalities. The municipal councillors forming the deliberative assembly of
11248-452: The Tagus in the south-east of the region. Among the all-around amphibians adaptable to different heights stand out the natterjack toad , the common toad and the iberian green frog . Other species with a wide distribution range (although in this case restricted by altitude) are the gallipato , the iberian spadefoot toad , the iberian painted frog , and the Spanish painted frog . Regarding
11396-490: The Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . In the countries of the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in nineteen of the twenty-five member states where it is not an official language (that is, the countries other than Ireland and Malta ). In
11544-507: The United States and United Kingdom ). It is a co-official language of the United Nations , the European Union , and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become the de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science , technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the Internet . English accounts for at least 70% of total speakers of
11692-724: The World") in Navacerrada , at a height of 2,258 m, the Siete Picos ("Seven Peaks") in Cercedilla , at 2,138 m, and the Peña Cebollera (2,129 m) at the northernmost end of the province, a tripoint between the Madrid region and the provinces of Segovia and Guadalajara. Among the protected species of birds nesting in the region stand out the Spanish imperial eagle , the golden eagle ,
11840-407: The base from which English spreads to other countries in the world. Estimates of the numbers of second language and foreign-language English speakers vary greatly from 470 million to more than 1 billion, depending on how proficiency is defined. Linguist David Crystal estimates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. In Kachru's three-circles model,
11988-449: The basis for the required controlled natural languages Seaspeak and Airspeak, used as international languages of seafaring and aviation. English used to have parity with French and German in scientific research, but now it dominates that field. It achieved parity with French as a language of diplomacy at the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. By the time of the foundation of
12136-400: The beginning, Englishmen had three manners of speaking, southern, northern and midlands speech in the middle of the country, ... Nevertheless, through intermingling and mixing, first with Danes and then with Normans, amongst many the country language has arisen, and some use strange stammering, chattering, snarling, and grating gnashing. John Trevisa , c. 1385 Middle English
12284-584: The chimes at the same time as the archipelago. The Puerta del Sol contains a number of well known sights both domestically and internationally associated with Spain. On the south side, the old Post Office was the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and State Security in Francoist Spain . The basement of the DGS (Spanish: Dirección General de Seguridad , lit. 'General Directorate of Security')
12432-459: The city. It soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of Talamanca and Qal'-at'-Abd-Al-Salam (Alcalá de Henares). In 1083 (or 1085) Alfonso VI took the city of Madrid in the context of his wider campaign to conquer Toledo. Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation. The recently conquered lands by the Christian kingdoms were desegregated into several constituencies, as
12580-464: The competences of the old " Diputación Provincial " and the new ones the Statute considered. During the first 25 years of the "autonomic" period, this autonomous community accounted for the biggest economic growth in Spain, becoming a platform for the internationalisation of the Spanish economy , featuring a marked preponderance of the service sector . By the turn of the 21st century, a strong boost to
12728-697: The consensus of educated English speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation. American listeners readily understand most British broadcasting, and British listeners readily understand most American broadcasting. Most English speakers around the world can understand radio programmes, television programmes, and films from many parts of the English-speaking world. Both standard and non-standard varieties of English can include both formal or informal styles, distinguished by word choice and syntax and use both technical and non-technical registers. The settlement history of
12876-582: The construction of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez . In the 16th century, San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built and became another royal site of the province. The town of Madrid, which was one of the eighteen cities with the right to vote in the Cortes of Castile , was seat of the Courts themselves on several occasions and was the residence of several monarchs, amongst them the emperor Charles I who reformed and expanded
13024-682: The continent. The Frisian languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages , are the closest living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though this grouping remains debated. Old English evolved into Middle English , which in turn evolved into Modern English. Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into
13172-421: The creation of many social, economic, and cultural institutions, some of which are still operating. Madrid grew to a population of 156,672 inhabitants by the end of the eighteenth century. The current territory of the region was roughly defined with the 1833 reorganization of Spain into provinces promoted by Javier de Burgos , in which the province of Madrid was classified in the region of New Castile (lacking
13320-696: The cultural landscape of Aranjuez and the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro park in Madrid City. In addition, the Montejo Beech Forest [ es ] is part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site. Despite the existence of a large urban area of nearly 7 million people, the Community of Madrid still retains some remarkably unspoiled and diverse habitats and landscapes. Madrid
13468-476: The development of English was influenced by a long series of invasions of the British Isles by other peoples and languages, particularly Old Norse and French dialects . These left a profound mark of their own on the language, so that English shows some similarities in vocabulary and grammar with many languages outside its linguistic clades —but it is not mutually intelligible with any of those languages either. Some scholars have argued that English can be considered
13616-515: The distinct characteristics of Early Modern English. In the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, written in Early Modern English, Matthew 8:20 says, "The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests." This exemplifies the loss of case and its effects on sentence structure (replacement with subject–verb–object word order, and the use of of instead of the non-possessive genitive), and
13764-401: The early period of Old English were written using a runic script . By the 6th century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms . It included the runic letters wynn ⟨ ƿ ⟩ and thorn ⟨ þ ⟩ , and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ ð ⟩ , and ash ⟨ æ ⟩ . Old English is essentially
13912-539: The educational reforms of King Alfred in the 9th century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex , the West Saxon dialect became the standard written variety . The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Cædmon's Hymn , is written in Northumbrian. Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from
14060-684: The elite in England eventually developed into the Anglo-Norman language . Because Norman was spoken primarily by the elites and nobles, while the lower classes continued speaking English, the main influence of Norman was the introduction of a wide range of loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social domains. Middle English also greatly simplified the inflectional system, probably in order to reconcile Old Norse and Old English, which were inflectionally different but morphologically similar. The distinction between nominative and accusative cases
14208-421: The exclave of Dehesa de la Cepeda (part of the municipality of Santa María de la Alameda ), a mostly open-area geographically located between the provinces of Ávila and Segovia in the autonomous community of Castile and León . The Province of Madrid occupies a surface area of approximately 8,028 km (3,100 sq mi) (1.6% of all Spanish territory). More specifically, the exact position of Madrid
14356-408: The expanding circle use it to communicate with other people from the expanding circle, so that interaction with native speakers of English plays no part in their decision to use the language. Non-native varieties of English are widely used for international communication, and speakers of one such variety often encounter features of other varieties. Very often today a conversation in English anywhere in
14504-581: The extensive public works program he set in motion. The famous Tío Pepe lighted sign was above the square's eastern building between the Calle de Alcalá and the Carrera de San Jerónimo ( Apple Store today) for a long time, now is on top of the former Paris Hotel. Also on the east side lies the statue of The Bear and the Strawberry Tree (in Spanish, el Oso y el Madroño ), the heraldic symbol of Madrid. Until 2009,
14652-493: The gates in the city wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th century. Outside the wall, medieval suburbs began to grow around the Christian Wall of the 12th century. The name of the gate came from the rising sun which decorated the entry, since the gate was oriented to the east. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the area was an important meeting place: as the goal for the couriers coming from abroad and other parts of Spain to
14800-710: The growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been. As Modern English developed, explicit norms for standard usage were published, and spread through official media such as public education and state-sponsored publications. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of
14948-538: The history of English was Early Modern English (1500–1700). Early Modern English was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardisation. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It was a chain shift , meaning that each shift triggered a subsequent shift in the vowel system. Mid and open vowels were raised , and close vowels were broken into diphthongs . For example,
15096-407: The history of how English spread in different countries, how users acquire English, and the range of uses English has in each country. The three circles change membership over time. Countries with large communities of native speakers of English (the inner circle) include Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English, and South Africa, where
15244-417: The home of the national capital. The other provinces that were to become part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha expressed fears of inequality if Madrid were associated with them. These provinces opposed such a special status, and after considering other options for Madrid—like its inclusion in the community of Castile and León or its constitution as an entity similar to a federal district . —it
15392-451: The inauguration of the bringing of the Canal de Isabel II . In decadence since the middle 18th century, the city of Alcalá de Henares , experienced a relative demographic and economic upturn in the second half of the 19th century, based on its newly acquired condition of military outpost, to which an embryonic industrial nucleus was also added. During the reign of Ferdinand VII the south of
15540-403: The inner-circle countries, and they may show grammatical and phonological differences from inner-circle varieties as well. The standard English of the inner-circle countries is often taken as a norm for use of English in the outer-circle countries. In the three-circles model, countries such as Poland, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, and other countries where English is taught as
15688-524: The introduction of loanwords from French ( ayre ) and word replacements ( bird originally meaning "nestling" had replaced OE fugol ). By the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English
15836-467: The introduction of the printing press to London. This era notably culminated in the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare . The printing press greatly standardised English spelling, which has remained largely unchanged since then, despite a wide variety of later sound shifts in English dialects. Modern English has spread around the world since the 17th century as a consequence of
15984-483: The island of Great Britain . The namesake of the language is the Angles , one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain . It is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations ) and the United States . English is the third-most spoken native language , after Standard Chinese and Spanish ; it
16132-431: The languages have descended from a single common ancestor called Proto-Germanic . Some shared features of Germanic languages include the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs , and the sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants, known as Grimm's and Verner's laws . English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as
16280-464: The later any sort of administrative institution at the regional level nonetheless). The government institution at the provincial level was the deputation ( diputación ). In addition to the former body, another provincial political authority was the civil governor discretionarily designated by the central government. Two modest changes to the 1833 provincial boundaries that concerned Madrid took place shortly before 1845, when Aranjuez (187 km ) left
16428-573: The later case. The territory of the Community of Madrid has been populated since the Lower Paleolithic , mainly in the valleys between the rivers of Manzanares , Jarama , and Henares , where several archaeological findings have been made. Some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos (between 1970 and 1470 BCE), from the Bell beaker culture . During the Roman Empire ,
16576-574: The most competitive cities-regions worldwide, ahead of Barcelona and Valencia , the other two largest metropolitan areas of Spain. The strengths of the economy of the community are its low unemployment rate, its high investment in research, its high development, and the added-value services therein performed. Its weaknesses include the low penetration of broadband and new technologies of information and an unequal male to female occupation. The service, construction, and industry sectors are prominent in Madrid's commercial productive structure. According to
16724-409: The municipalities of Alcalá de Henares , Alcobendas , Alcorcón , Aranjuez , Arganda del Rey , Collado Villalba , Colmenar Viejo , Coslada , Fuenlabrada , Getafe , Leganés , Madrid , Majadahonda , Móstoles , Navalcarnero , Parla , San Lorenzo de El Escorial , Torrejón de Ardoz , Torrelaguna , Valdemoro , and Valdaracete (the historical judicial district of San Martín de Valdeiglesias
16872-520: The period of the Visigothic Kingdom , the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns. Complutum was designated the bishopric seat in the 5th century by orders of Asturio, archbishop of Toledo , but this event was not enough to bring back the lost splendor of the city. The centre of the peninsula (the Middle Mark of Al-Andalus or aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Awsaṭ ) became
17020-405: The point from which kilometer distances are numbered in the Spanish road system. The Puerta is located in the very heart of Madrid. It serves as the kilometre zero from which all radial roads in Spain are measured. This is demonstrated by a plaque on the floor of the square, marking the exact point of Km.0. This was established in 1857, setting six major radial roads, clockwise: The old plaque
17168-649: The powers through which the self-government of the autonomous community is exercised are the following institutions: Since the creation of autonomous communities, the Government of Spain appoints a special representative to each autonomous community, the Government Delegate , part of the Peripheral State Administration. Unlike other single-province autonomous communities, the Government also appoints
17316-426: The prestige varieties among the middle classes. In modern English, the loss of grammatical case is almost complete (it is now only found in pronouns, such as he and him , she and her , who and whom ), and SVO word order is mostly fixed. Some changes, such as the use of do-support , have become universalised. (Earlier English did not use the word "do" as a general auxiliary as Modern English does; at first it
17464-546: The province was made up of small agricultural settlements of limited population. Among them, Getafe stood out in population, and became the seat of a judicial district in 1834, with the main economic activity of the former jurisdiction still being non-irrigated agriculture. Rail transport arrived in 1851, with the Strawberry train , the railway connecting Madrid and Aranjuez . During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939),
17612-559: The region (including the capital) has a climate intermediate between a hot-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ) and a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk ), with a dry summer and a moderate to low amount of rain primarily distributed throughout the rest of the year (in the case of the capital, roughly an equinoctial pattern of precipitation maximums), as well as summer temperature averages over 22 °C (with daily maximums consistently surpassing 30 °C in July and August). The areas at
17760-566: The region was part of the Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it, which belonged to Lusitania . It was crossed by two important Roman roads, the via xxiv-xxix (joining Astorga to Laminium and via xxv (which joined Emerita Augusta and Caesaraugusta ), and contained some important conurbations. The city of Complutum (today Alcalá de Henares ) became an important metropolis, whereas Titulcia and Miaccum were important crossroad communities. During
17908-565: The region. Among the species of all-around reptiles, adaptable to different biomes stand out the Spanish pond turtle , the salamanquesa , the western three-toed skink , the spiny-footed lizard , the ocellated lizard , the Algerian sand racer , Spanish psammodromus , the ubiquitous iberian wall lizard , the iberian worm lizard , the Coronella girondica , the Montpellier snake ; grass snake and
18056-657: The reign of Henry V . Around 1430, the Court of Chancery in Westminster began using English in its official documents , and a new standard form of Middle English, known as Chancery Standard , developed from the dialects of London and the East Midlands . In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began publishing the first printed books in London, expanding the influence of this form of English. Literature from
18204-555: The reptiles, species such as the Cyren's rock lizard , the European wall lizard , the iberian emerald lizard , the deaf adder or snakes such as the smooth snake or the Vipera latastei dwell in the mountain heights. At the lower reaches of the mountains the European pond turtle and the Brediaga's skink can be found, while the western false smooth snake is restricted to areas in the south of
18352-464: The sense of belonging only to people who are ethnically English . Use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication. Most people learn English for practical rather than ideological reasons. Many speakers of English in Africa have become part of an "Afro-Saxon" language community that unites Africans from different countries. As decolonisation proceeded throughout
18500-457: The somewhat more humid westernmost end of the region, near the Alto del Mirlo [ es ] , there are forests of chestnut tree . 54,4% of the surface of the region is soil categorised as forest areas of which the 51.4% (27.7% of the total of the region) it is already covered by forests, so there is room for tree re-population. The first modest efforts towards tree re-population were taken in
18648-478: The source of approximately 28% of Modern English words , and from Latin , which is the source of an additional 28% . As such, though most of its total vocabulary comes from Romance languages , Modern English's grammar, phonology, and most commonly used words in everyday use keep it genealogically classified under the Germanic branch. It exists on a dialect continuum with Scots and is then most closely related to
18796-474: The southern dialects. Theoretically, as late as the 900s AD, a commoner from certain (northern) parts of England could hold a conversation with a commoner from certain parts of Scandinavia. Research continues into the details of the myriad tribes in peoples in England and Scandinavia and the mutual contacts between them. The translation of Matthew 8:20 from 1000 shows examples of case endings ( nominative plural, accusative plural, genitive singular) and
18944-440: The square has held a free-standing domed structure made from pallets, which served as an information point for the 15-M Movement . This continued throughout the summer of 2011 until the dawn of 2 August, when the national police decided to evict the structure and protestors. Currently, dozens of committees have their assemblies in the iconic square. Despite once being the meeting point of the six major radial roads of Spain, in 2020
19092-502: The square was pedestrianized and closed to most traffic. Exceptions are made for supplies to shops, emergency services and blood donation campaigns. During New Year's Eve 2018–2019, the clock of the Puerta del Sol for the first time in history rang the bells according to the schedule of the Canary Islands . After the traditional twelve strokes of midnight, the clock delayed itself one hour to adjust to Canary Islands time, and also gave
19240-466: The statue stood on the north side at the entrance to Calle del Carmen . The Mariblanca (a female figure named for its white marble) is a copy of a statue (possibly of Venus, and so the restored pedestal claims), which marks the place of a former fountain displaying that figure. The kilómetro cero is a plaque on the ground directly north of the Post Office serving as the symbolic center of Spain, and
19388-455: The study of English as an auxiliary language. The trademarked Globish uses a relatively small subset of English vocabulary (about 1500 words, designed to represent the highest use in international business English) in combination with the standard English grammar. Other examples include Simple English . The increased use of the English language globally has had an effect on other languages, leading to some English words being assimilated into
19536-461: The surrounding streets consist mainly of shopping establishments catering to locals and tourists alike, like the several El Corte Inglés department store buildings in Preciados Street, La Mallorquina cafe, and numerous, ever-changing restaurants. The area remains active late into the night and early morning since nearby bars and dance clubs often only start entertainment at 1 am. Street music
19684-510: The territory was divided by the battlefront, with the southwest of the province controlled by the rebel faction , and the capital as well as a great part of the rest of the province by the side loyal to the Republic . The city of Madrid was target of many bombings during the conflict, becoming the first big city in Europe to suffer such systematic and massive air attacks. Since the 1970s, a process of
19832-404: The vicinity of the mountain peaks, oromediterranean vegetation such as Agrostis truncatula , Armeria caespitosa [ es ] , Festuca indigesta , Jasione crispa [ es ] , Jurinea humilis [ es ] , Minuartia recurva , Pilosella vahlii , Plantago holosteum and the Thymus praecox is common. Below the summit line, shrubby species such as
19980-540: The vocabularies of other languages. This influence of English has led to concerns about language death , and to claims of linguistic imperialism , and has provoked resistance to the spread of English; however the number of speakers continues to increase because many people around the world think that English provides them with opportunities for better employment and improved lives. Autonomous Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid ( Spanish : Comunidad de Madrid [komuniˈðað ðe maˈðɾið] )
20128-473: The word bite was originally pronounced as the word beet is today, and the second vowel in the word about was pronounced as the word boot is today. The Great Vowel Shift explains many irregularities in spelling since English retains many spellings from Middle English, and it also explains why English vowel letters have very different pronunciations from the same letters in other languages. English began to rise in prestige, relative to Norman French, during
20276-785: The world may include no native speakers of English at all, even while including speakers from several different countries. This is particularly true of the shared vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. English is a pluricentric language , which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents , but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English . The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by
20424-539: The world, but the number of English speakers in India is uncertain, with most scholars concluding that the United States still has more speakers of English than India. Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca , is also regarded as the first world language . English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment, and diplomacy. English is, by international treaty,
20572-438: The worldwide influence of the British Empire and the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media in these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation , and law. Its modern grammar is the result of a gradual change from a dependent-marking pattern typical of Indo-European with
20720-405: Was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent states that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. In the 20th century
20868-525: Was decided that the province of Madrid would become a single-province autonomous community by virtue of Article 144 of the Constitution, which empowers the Cortes to create an autonomous community in the "nation's interest" even if it did not satisfy the requirement of having a distinct historical identity. Thus, in 1983, the Community of Madrid was constituted and a Statute of Autonomy was approved taking over all
21016-457: Was formally created in 1983, in order to address the particular status of the City of Madrid as the national capital city and in urban hierarchy. Its limits are those of the province of Madrid, which was until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile ( Castilla la Nueva ). The Community of Madrid is the third most populous in Spain with 7,058,041 (2024) inhabitants, roughly
21164-511: Was fully developed, integrating both Norse and French features; it continued to be spoken until the transition to early Modern English around 1500. Middle English literature includes Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , and Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . In the Middle English period, the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors such as Chaucer. The next period in
21312-685: Was infamous for being a place where Dissidents to the regime were subjected to torture . The building now serves as the office of the President of Madrid , the head of the regional government of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (not to be confused with the Madrid City Council, which is housed in the Palacio de Cibeles ). There are two commemorative plaques in the front of the Royal House of
21460-500: Was lost except in personal pronouns, the instrumental case was dropped, and the use of the genitive case was limited to indicating possession . The inflectional system regularised many irregular inflectional forms, and gradually simplified the system of agreement, making word order less flexible. The transition from Old to Middle English can be placed during the writing of the Ormulum . The oldest Middle English texts that were written by
21608-533: Was only used in question constructions, and even then was not obligatory. Now, do-support with the verb have is becoming increasingly standardised.) The use of progressive forms in -ing , appears to be spreading to new constructions, and forms such as had been being built are becoming more common. Regularisation of irregular forms also slowly continues (e.g. dreamed instead of dreamt ), and analytical alternatives to inflectional forms are becoming more common (e.g. more polite instead of politer ). British English
21756-570: Was replaced in 2009, as it had become faded after years of foot traffic. It is also the reference for street numbers in Madrid, which begin at the street-end that is closest to Puerta del Sol. Immediately to the southwest lies the Plaza Mayor ; the Palacio Real , the official home of the Royal Family , is further west. Parliament and the museum district are to the east and the train station Atocha
21904-482: Was still fragmented into several small dominions even though some processes were centralized. This territorial dispersion had a negative effect on its economic growth; while the town of Madrid received economic resources from the entire country as the capital, the surrounding territories—in hands of noblemen or the clergy—became impoverished. During the eighteenth century, the town of Madrid was transformed through several grandiose buildings and monuments as well as through
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