Changes in written style

By late modern English capital letters had begun to be caitalised according tlo the rules we follow today- mainly because 18th century grammarians felt that a system was needed. Previously in Early Modern English, capital loetters were used, as nw, at the begining of every sentence and every proper name. They were also used rhetorically for personified and abstract nouns, writers capitiallised any  noun that they considered important. However, you may still see some of these practices in textrs from the earlhy 18th century. Standardisation was a key event in the 18th century, it was a major factor in 'fixing' English grammar, even if it is clear that not all of these practices have made it to the present day.

Hester Thrale Piozzi, observations and reflections made in the course of a jouney thorugh France, Italy and Germany, 1789.

Key features i noticed about grammar:

• Negation: constructing a negative in the 18th century is unlike the modern uses of dummy auxilary verb 'do'. Examples here are ' no very uncommon occurrence', 'i know not', 'for windows we have none', 'Italins seem to me have no feeling of cold'.
• Syntax: in this text the syntax differs from modern usage, for example with 'certain it is' the complement comes before the main subject and verb and in 'continies still' the adverb comes after the verb.
• Pronouns: Piozzi's choice of 'one a litlle' employs a pronoun that we now view as archaic and representing a received pronounciation.