Editing Modern English (section)

===Alphabet===
{{see also|Early Modern English#Orthography}}
Changes in alphabet and spelling were heavily influenced by the advent of printing and continental printing practices. 
*The letter [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] (þ), which began to be replaced by ''th'' as early as Middle English, finally fell into disuse. In Early Modern English printing, thorn was represented with the Latin ''y'', which appeared similar to thorn in blackletter typeface <big>(𝖞)</big>. The last vestige of the letter was in [[Typographic ligature|ligature]]s of thorn, y<sup>e</sup> (thee), y<sup>t</sup> (that), y<sup>u</sup> (thou), which were still seen occasionally in the [[King James Bible]] of 1611 and in Shakespeare's folios.
*The letters ''i'' and ''j'', previously written as a single letter, began to be distinguished; likewise for ''u'' and ''v''. This was a common development of the [[Latin alphabet]] during this period.
Consequently, Modern English came to use a purely [[English alphabet|Latin alphabet of 26 letters]].