This conjugation has entirely disappeared in English.

CORRESPONDING GERMAN VERBS.

Compare in Latin 2. plango, 4. tango, perf. tetigi, with reduplica

tion.

CONJUGATION XI.

This conjugation includes verbs which have, or rather originally had, ai (i strengthened by guna,) in all the forms, and a reduplication also in the past tense.

The only verbs in English with which we are here concerned are 1. hight, (in behight,) 2. laugh, 3. ——

The type or model of this conjugation in Gothic is perfect; and

the reduplication appears in full vigor.

This conjugation is nearly regular in Anglo-Saxon, but the redu

Nothing remains of this conjugation in English but the obsolete forms behot and behoten.

Compare in Latin, 1. cito, 3. scindo, perf. scicidi, with reduplication.

CONJUGATION XII.

This conjugation includes verbs which have, or rather originally had, au (u strengthened by guna,) in all the forms, and a reduplication also in the past tense.

The English verbs which are here to be considered, are, 1. eke, 2. hew, 3. leap, 4. toss.

The type or model of this conjugation in Gothic is perfect, and the

reduplication appears in full vigor.

The reduplication has disappeared as in the other Teutonic dialects, and the verbs marked a have imitated Conjugation VIII.

Nothing remains of this conjugation in English, but the participle

hewn, and the obsolete past tense lope.

The peculiarities of this conjugation are entirely lost in German.

Compare in Latin, 1. augeo, 4. tundo, perf. tutudi, with reduplication.

II. ENGLISH WEAKLY INFLECTED VERBS.

In weakly inflected verbs, the past indicative and the past participle are formed alike.

In these verbs the present tense is the root, and not the past tense as in the strongly inflected verbs.

There are two processes for weakly inflected verbs, which differ again as to their age; the one more ancient, according to which the past tense and the past participle end in d or t; and the other more modern, which forms the past tense and the past participle by adding ed to the root.

The first of these processes forms two conjugations, and the latter process one conjugation of weakly inflected verbs.

CONJUGATION I.

This conjugatiou includes verbs which form the past tense and the past participle by adding d or t; as,

1. Lay, laid; comp. Anglo-Sax. lecgan, lede, geled. So pay, paid, from Fr. payer, and stay, staid, from Fr. étayer; which, although of foreign origin, have followed suit to lay, laid.

2. Say, said; comp. Anglo-Sax. secgan, sæde, gesad. The suggestion of Dr. Webster, that said is a contraction of sayed, has no historical support.

3. Have, had; comp. Anglo-Sax. habban, hæfde, hafed. So flee, fled; shoe, shod. Also clothe, past participle clad; do, past tense did. 4. Make, made; comp. Anglo-Sax. macian, macode, macod. The Anglo-Saxon form leads us to expect maked.

5. Hear, heard; comp. Anglo-Sax. hyran, hyrde, hyred.

6. Deal, dealt; comp. Anglo-Sax. dælan, dælde, gedæled. So feel, felt; kneel, knelt.

7. Spill, spilt; comp. Anglo-Sax. spillan, spilde, spilled. So dwell, dwelt; spell, spelt.

8. Mean, meant; comp. Anglo-Sax. mænan, mænde.

So

9. Creep, crept; comp. Anglo-Sax. creopan, creap, cropen. sleep, slept; sweep, swept; weep, wept. These verbs in Anglo-Saxon retain the ancient strong inflection.

10. Keep, kept; comp. Anglo-Sax. cepan, cepte.

11. Lose, lost; comp. Anglo-Sax. losian, losode, losod. The An

glo-Saxon form leads us to expect losed. So pass, past participle past, from Fr. passer; toss, tost, from Fr. tasser.

12. Cleave, cleft; comp. Anglo-Sax. clifian, clifode. So bereave, bereft. The Anglo-Saxon form leads us to expect cleaved and bereaved, which are also in use.

13. Leave, left; comp. Anglo-Sax. læfan, læfde, læfed. So the past participle adrift.

Rem. 1. The termination d, which is the appropriate exponent of the past tense and past participle, is retained after a vowel, or after the semi-vowel r. See Nos. 1 to 5. The termination d becomes t after consonants only. See Nos. 6 to 13.

Rem. 2. The long vowel, if any, of the original verb, is often shortened; as said, had, fled, shod, clad, did, heard, dealt, felt, meant, crept, slept, swept, wept, kept, lost, cleft, bereft, left, adrift.

Rem. 3. A subtonic mute is sometimes changed into the corresponding atonic; as lose, lost; cleave, cleft; bereave, bereft; leave, left. The atonic, however, is rather the original form.

CONJUGATION II.

This conjugation includes verbs ending in d or t, which require no addition of d or t to form the past tense and past participle; as bid, rid, bestead, shed, shred, spread; bleed, breed, feed, lead, read, speed; burst, cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, put, quit, set, shut, slit, split, spit, thrust, sweat; wet, whet; eat, meet, shoot, light; bend, build, gild, lend, rend, send, spend, wend, whence went.

Rem. 1. The termination d, the appropriate exponent, is retained, as before, after a vowel; but changed into t, when it comes after a consonant; as bend, bent; build, built; gird, girt; lend, lent; rend, rent; send, sent; spend, spent; wend, whence went.

Rem. 2. The long vowel, if any, is shortened, as before; as bled, bred, fed, led, read, (pronounced red,) sped; eat, (pronounced et,) met, shot, lit from light.

Rem. 3. Nearly all of these verbs are of Teutonic origin, some of them retaining the strong inflection in Anglo-Saxon; as bid, burst, let, slit, eat, shoot. Some few are of Latin or French origin; as cost, cut; hurt, from Fr. heurter.

from Lat. constare;

CONJUGATION III.

This conjugation includes verbs which, according to the more modern and now existing process, form the past tense and the past participle by adding ed; as,

1. End, ended. So fend, mend, tend, of Latin origin.

2. Plant, planted. So chant, grant, pant, of Latin origin.

3. Wade, waded. So trade, cede, of Latin origin.

4. Hate, hated. So rate, sate, of Latin origin. 5. Mad, madded. So add, of Latin origin. 6. Fit, fitted. So admit, remit, of Latin origin. 7. Dry, dried. So cry, justify, of Latin origin. 8. Sway, swayed. So decay, pray, of Latin origin. 9. Kill, killed. So repel, dispel, of Latin origin. 10. Love, loved. So move, of Latin origin.

Rem. 1. These examples fall phonetically under the same rule. For the mute e, in Nos. 3, 4, 10, is merely an orthographical expedient; the interchange of y and i, in No. 7, is merely orthographic; and the doubling of the final letter in Nos. 5, 6, is merely to preserve the vowel-sound short.

Rem. 2. Of these examples, those preceded by d or t, retain the e with most firmness; as ended, planted, waded, hated. They had commenced even in Anglo-Saxon to require a vowel sound before the d; as endode, plantode, hatode, eardode, weardode.

Rem. 3. In poetry the e is often omitted, (except in the cases noticed under Rem. 2.) and an apostrophe takes its place. It is the prerogative of poetry to use old forms.

Rem. 4. The spoken dialect has a strong tendency to omit the e, (except in the cases noticed under Rem. 2.) and also to change d into t, after sharp or atonic mutes; as filld, slamd, fand, slurd, cryd, strayd, chewd; also stept compared with stabd; quoft with movd; latcht with judgd; lookt with bragd; tost with whizd; pluckt, pusht, etc. In prosaic declamation, and in solemn reading, the e is retained.

Rem. 5. In adjectives and adverbs, formed from participles, the e is not omitted; as, a learned man; confessedly.

III. ENGLISH VERBS OF THE MIXED CONJUGATION.

Besides the strongly inflected verbs and the weakly inflected verbs, there is another, a small class, which combine the two modes of inflection. That is, some verbs, in the past tense and the past participle, not only change the radical vowel after the ancient mode of inflection, but also adopt the termination appropriate to the modern one. The following is a list of this class of verbs.