Shakespeare is by far the most influential writer in history. He not only influenced all types of writings, Shakespeare also contributed 1700 common words to the English language. His writings were so influential to English poetry in the 1880s that the critic George Steiner called all English poetic dramas as “feeble variations on Shakespearean themes.”

Shakespeare invented 1700 common words by switching up the use of the words. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, connected words never before used together, added prefixes and suffixes, and developed entirely new words. These common words include skim milk, label, unreal and worthless.

During Shakespeare’s time, English grammar and spelling was ordinary than today, and his use of it helped shape modern English. Shakespeare has invented many phrases. Some of the phrases Shakespeare invented include, “It’s Greek to me” when you don’t understand something, “vanished into thing air” when you can’t find something that seems to have disappeared, slept not one wink, green-eyed jealousy, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, O Lord!, Tut, tut! For goodness’ sake! What dickens! But me no buts. Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone conclusion" (Othello) are still used today.

The phrases Shakespeare invented have been used by many authors in their novels Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley; The Dogs of War  by Robert Stone; The Winter of our Discontent  by John Steinbeck; The Undiscovered Country  by Auther Schnitzer; Something Wicked this Way Comes  by Ray Bradbury; and Bell, Book, and Candle  by John van Druten. In Samuels Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, the first serious work of its time, Johnson quotes Shakespeare more than any other author.

Shakespeare has also influenced major novelists such as Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Thomas Dickens and William Faulkner. Dickens uses many of Shakespeare’s quotations throughout his works. Dickens has also derived at least twenty-five of his titles from Shakespeare. Melville was even more influenced by Shakespeare. He not only used devices such as formal stage directions and extended soliloquies in Moby-Dick. Melville used the classic Shakespearean tragic figure, as his novel’s main antagonist, Captain Ahab, “a great man brought down by his faults,” inspired by King Lear.

Shakespeare changed the view of romance as a valuable topic for tragedy. In Romeo and Juliet, he extended the potential of characterization, plot, language, and genre in tragic, dramatic plays. Before this play, soliloquies had only been used to communicate information about the characters or events; instead he used them to explore character’s minds.

Shakespeare was the best at everything he did. No one is better at summing up human emotions in simple, yet eloquent phrases. Shakespeare’s stories surpass time and culture, which is why many authors around the world continue to adapt them. Shakespeare’s characters are like no other, particularly his tragic heroes. All of his characters are complex.