Early in his career, ten Kate was a merchant, as a partner with his father, Herman ten Kate (1644–1706). The ten Kates engaged in the business of trading in corns, but it was not a preference for the younger man. He eventually left the family business, giving his attention to linguistics, especially, historical-comparative work, etymology, methodology and the standard language. An early
phonetician, he wrote linguistic and theological treatises on Dutch and other
Germanic languages. His first published work on linguistics was at the instigation of Verwer. In his
Aenleiding tot de kennisse van het verhevene deel der Nederduitsche sprake (1723), he made scientific comparisons of older language stages. By observation of the written and spoken language of his own time, he developed linguistic rules to detect and capture language changes. As his publications were all in his native Dutch and not in Latin, he was not known internationally. ==Death==