All the patterns can be found in texts of both periods, though with very different frequencies

The table shows a definite trend towards the modern system

Putting the object before the verb is a striking feature of the pre-900 Parker Chronicle

Two thirds of the patterns are like this (see the lines SOV, OSV, OVS, OV)

In the Orrmulum, dated around 1200, we find that no less than three quarters of the patterns are the other way round

A major grammatical frequency change of the kind is extremely rare in the history of a language: grammar is not an aspect of language that changes very easily (unlike vocabulary and pronunciation)

The shifts in the balance of grammatical constructions that happened during the eleventh and twelfth centuries were crucial for distinguishing Middle English from Old English