The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during th: English, besides forming new words from existing words and their roots, also borrows words from other languages. This borrowing is commonplace in many world languages, but English has been especially open to borrowing of foreign words throughout the last 1,000 years.[231] Nevertheless, most of the core vocabulary and the most common words in English are still West Germanic.[232][233] The English words first learned by children as they learn to speak are mainly Germanic words from Old English.[225] It is not possible to speak or write English without Germanic words, but it is possible to write or speak many sentences in English without foreign loanwords.[234]