Was English different 200 years ago?

Answer 1

There were differences, and those differences also depend upon the region you which to specify. It tends to hold true in writing, and some claim that it was also true in spoken English, that speakers were more verbose than they are now, or spoke in greater sentence length. There were, of course, words which we have in our language which were not present then, and also words that they used which seem archaic to us now (words like "aught", meaning "anything/something", or "betwixt" meaning "between"). You would have been able to understand a New England area English speaker well 200 years ago.

If you are further interested in the history and change of the English language, you might research the Middle English and Old English.