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>which shares a common ancestry

English shares no ancestry with French. However, in 1066 England was invaded by the Normans, leading to the entire aristocracy and upper classes speaking Norman French, causing a lot of French vocabulary to enter the English Language. Most of these words are for stuff in higher registers, though. The basic vocabulary in English is entirely Germanic (it's nigh-on impossible to write a sentence with only French words in English), while much of the more advanced or formal stuff is French (or Latin or Greek).



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