WORDS.

Words are articulate sounds, used by common consent as signs of ideas, or notions.

There are in English nine Sorts of Words, or, as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech.

1. TheArticle, prefixed to substantives, when they are common names of things, to point themout, and to shew how far their signification extends.

2. TheSubstantive, orNoun, being the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

3. ThePronoun, standing instead of the noun.

4. TheAdjective, added to the noun to express the quality of it.

5. TheVerb, or Word by way of eminence, signifying to be, to do, or to suffer.

6. TheAdverb, added to verbs, and also to adjectives and other adverbs, to express some circumstance belonging to them.

7. ThePreposition, put before nouns and pronouns chiefly, to connect them with other words, and to shew their relation to them.

8. TheConjunction, connecting sentences together.

9. TheInterjection, thrown in to express the affection of the speaker, though unnecessary with respect to the construction of the sentence.

1The2power7of2speech5is1a2faculty4peculiar7to2man,8and5was5bestowed7on3him7by3his4beneficent2Creator7for1the4greatest8and6most4excellent2uses;8but9alas!6how6often5do3we5pervert3it7to1the4worst7of2purposes?

In the foregoing sentence the Wordsthe,a, are Articles;power,speech,faculty,man,creator,uses,purposes, are Substantives;him,his,we,it, are Pronouns;peculiar,beneficent,greatest,excellent,worst, are Adjectives;is,was,bestowed,do,pervert, are Verbs;most,how,often, are Adverbs;of,to,on,by,for, are Prepositions;and,but, are Conjunctions; andalasis an Interjection.

The Substantivespower,speech,faculty, and the rest, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many sorts belonging to the same kind, or many individuals belonging to the same sort: as there are many sorts of power, many sorts of speech, many sorts of faculty, many individuals of that sort of animal called man; and so on. These general or common names are here applied in a more or less extensive signification, according as they are used without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articlesaandthe. The wordsspeech,man, being accompanied with no article, are takenin their largest extent, and signify all of the kind or sort, all sorts of speech, and all men. The wordfaculty, with the articleabefore it, is used in a more confined signification, for some one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man beside speech. The wordspower,creator,uses,purposes, with the articlethebefore them, (forhisCreator is the same astheCreatorof him) are used in the most confined signification for the things here mentioned and ascertained:the poweris not any one indeterminate power out of many sorts, but that particular sort of power here specified, namely, the power of speech;the creatoris the One great Creator of man and of all things;the uses, andthe purposes, are particular uses and purposes; the formerare explained to be those in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; such for instance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter, to be the worst, as lying, slandering, blaspheming, and the like.

The Pronounshim,his,we,it, stand instead of some of the nouns, or substantives, going before them; ashimsupplies the place ofman;hisofman’s;weofmen(implied in the general nameman, including all men, of which number is the speaker;)itofthe power, before mentioned. If instead of these pronouns the nouns for which they stand had been used, the sense would have been the same, but the frequent repetition of the same words would have been disagreeable and tedious: as, The power of speech peculiar toman, bestowed onman, byman’sCreator, &c.

The Adjectivespeculiar,beneficent,greatest,excellent,worst, are added to their several substantives to denote the character and quality of each.

The Verbsis,was bestowed,do pervert, signify severally, being, suffering, and doing. By the first it is implied, that there is such a thing as the power of speech, and it is affirmed to be of such a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the second it is said to have been acted upon, or to have suffered, or to have had something done to it; namely, to have been bestowed on man: by the last, we are said to act upon it, or to do something to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbsmost,often, are added to the adjectiveexcellent, andto the verbpervert, to shew the circumstance belonging to them; namely, that of the highest degree to the former, and that of frequency to the latter: concerning the degree of which frequency also a question is made by the adverbhow, added to the adverboften.

The Prepositionsof,to,on,by,for, placed before the substantives and pronounsspeech,man,him, &c.connect them with other words, substantives, adjectives, and verbs, aspower,peculiar,bestowed, &c.and shew the relation which they have to those words; as the relation of subject, object, agent, end;fordenoting the end,bythe agent,on, the object;toandofdenote possession, or the belonging of one thing to another.

The Conjunctionsand, andbut, connect the three parts of the sentencetogether; the first more closely both with regard to the sentence and the sense; the second connecting the parts of the sentence, tho’ less strictly, and at the same time expressing an opposition in the sense.

The Interjectionalas!expresses the concern and regret of the speaker; and though thrown in with propriety, yet might have been omitted without injuring the construction of the sentence, or destroying the sense.

The Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to shew how far their signification extends.

In English there are but two articles,a, andthe:abecomesanbefore a vowel or a silenth.

Ais used in a vague sense to point out one single thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate:thedetermines what particular thing is meant.

A substantive without any article to limit it is taken in its widest sense: thusmanmeans all mankind; as,

“The proper study of mankind is man:”Pope.

“The proper study of mankind is man:”

Pope.

wheremankindandmanmay change places without making any alteration in the sense.A manmeans some one or other of that kind, indefinitely;the manmeans, definitely, that particular man, who is spoken of: the former therefore is called the Indefinite, the latter the Definite, Article[1].

Example: “Manwas made for society, and ought to extend his good-will to allmen: buta manwill naturally entertain a more particularkindness forthe menwith whom he has the most frequent intercourse; and enter into a still closer union withthe man, whosetemper and disposition suit best with his own.”

It is of the nature of both the Articles to determine or limit the thing spoken of:adetermines it to be one single thing of the kind, leaving it still uncertain which;thedetermines which it is, or of many which they are. The first therefore can only be joined to Substantives in the singular number[2]; the last may also be joined to plurals.

There is a remarkable exception to this rule in the use of the Adjectivesfewandmany, (the latter chiefly with the wordgreatbefore it) which, though joined with plural Substantives, yet admit of the singular Articlea: as,a few men,a great many men;

“Told ofa many thousandwarlike French:”—“The care-craz’d mother ofa many children.”Shakespear.

“Told ofa many thousandwarlike French:”—“The care-craz’d mother ofa many children.”

“Told ofa many thousandwarlike French:”—

“The care-craz’d mother ofa many children.”

Shakespear.

The reason of it is manifest from the effect which the Article has in these phrases: it means a small or great number collectively taken, and therefore gives the idea of a Whole, that is, of Unity. Thus likewisea hundred,a thousand, is one whole number, an aggregate of many collectively taken; and therefore still retains the Articlea, tho’ joined as an Adjective to a plural Substantive: as,a hundred years;[3]

“For harbour ata thousand doorsthey knock’d;Not one of allthe thousand, but was lock’d.”Dryden.

“For harbour ata thousand doorsthey knock’d;Not one of allthe thousand, but was lock’d.”

“For harbour ata thousand doorsthey knock’d;

Not one of allthe thousand, but was lock’d.”

Dryden.

The Definite Articletheis sometimes applied to Adverbs in the comparative degree, and its effect is to mark the degree the more strongly, and to define it the more precisely: as, “The moreI examine it,the betterI like it. I like thisthe leastof any.”

A Substantive, or Noun, is the Name of a thing; of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

Substantives are of two sorts; Proper, and Common, Names. Proper Names are the names appropriated to individuals; as the names of persons and places: such areGeorge,London. Common Names stand for kinds, containing many sorts; or sorts, containing many individuals under them; as,Animal,Man.

Proper Names being the names of individuals, and therefore of things already as determinate as they can be made, admit not of Articles, or of Plurality of Number; unless by a Figure, or by Accident: as when great Conquerors are calledAlexanders; and some great ConquerorAnAlexander, orTheAlexander of his age; when a Common Name is understood, asTheThames, that is, theRiverThames;TheGeorge, that is, theSignof St. George: or when it happens that there aremany persons of the same name; as,ThetwoScipios.

Whatever is spoken of is represented as one, or more, in Number: these two manners of representation in respect of number are called the Singular, and the Plural, Number.

In English, the Substantive Singular is made Plural, for the most part, by adding to its; ores, where it is necessary for the pronunciation: as,king,kings;fox,foxes;leaf,leaves; in which last, and many others,fis also changed intov, for the sake of an easier pronunciation, and more agreeable sound. Some few Plurals end inen: as,oxen,chicken,children,brethren; andmen,women, by changing theaof the Singular intoe[4]. Thisform we have retained from the Teutonic; as likewise the introduction of theein the former syllable of two of the last instances;weomen, (for so we pronounce it)brethren, fromwoman,brother[5]: something like which may be noted in some other forms of Plurals; as,mouse,mice;louse,lice;tooth,teeth;foot,feet;goose,geese[6].

The English Language, to express different connexions and relations of one thing to another, uses, for the most part, Prepositions. The Greek and Latin among the antient, and some too among the modernlanguages, as the German, vary the termination or ending of the Substantive to answer the same purpose. These different endings are in those languages called Cases. And the English being derived from the same origin as the German, that is, from the Teutonic[7], is not wholly without them. For instance, the relation of Possession, or Belonging, is often expressed by a Case, or a different ending of the Substantive. This Case answers tothe Genitive Case in Latin, and may still be so called; tho’ perhaps more properly the Possessive Case. Thus, “God’sgrace:” which may also be expressed by the Preposition; as, “the graceof God.” It was formerly writtenGodisgrace; we now very improperly always shorten it with an Apostrophe, even tho’ we are obliged to pronounce it fully; as, “Thomas’sbook:” that is, “Thomasisbook;” not “Thomas hisbook,” as it is commonly supposed[8].

When the thing, to which another is said to belong, is expressed by a circumlocution, or by many terms, the sign of the Possessive Case is added to the last term: as, “The King of GreatBritain’sSoldiers.” When it is a Noun ending withs, or in the Plural Number ins, the sign of the Possessive Case is not added: as, “forrighteousnesssake; oneagleswings.” Both the Sign and the Preposition seem sometimes to be used: as, “a soldierof the king’s:” but here are really two Possessives; for itmeans, “oneofthe soldiersofthe king.”

The English in its Substantives has but two different terminations for Cases; that of the Nominative, which simply expresses the Name of the thing, and that of the Possessive Case.

Things are frequently considered with relation to the distinction of Sex or Gender; as being Male, or Female, or Neither the one, nor the other. Hence Substantives are of the Masculine, or Feminine, or Neuter, that is, Neither, Gender: which latter is only the exclusion of all consideration of Gender.

The English Language, with singular propriety, following nature alone, applies the distinction of Masculine and Feminine only to the names of Animals; all the rest are Neuter: except when by a Poeticalor Rhetorical fiction things inanimate and Qualities are exhibited as Persons, and consequently become either Male or Female. And this gives the English an advantage above most other languages in the Poetical and Rhetorical Style: for when Nouns naturally Neuter are converted into Masculine and Feminine[9], the Personificationis more distinctly and forcibly marked.

Some few Substantives are distinguished as to their Gender by their termination: as,prince,princess;actor,actress;lion,lioness;hero,heroine; &c.

The chief use of Gender in English is in the Pronoun of the Third Person, which must agree in that respect with the Noun for which it stands.

A Pronoun is a word standing instead of a Noun, as its Substitute or Representative.

In the Pronoun are to be considered the Person, Number, Gender and Case.

There are Three Persons which may be the Subject of any discourse: first, the Person who speaks may speak of himself; secondly, he may speak of the Person to whom he addresses himself; thirdly, he may speak of some other Person.

These are called, respectively, the First, Second, and Third, Persons: and are expressed by the PronounsI,Thou,He.

As the Speakers, the Persons spoken to, and the Persons spoken of, may be many, so each of thesePersons hath the Plural Number;We,Ye,They.

The Persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present, from which and other circumstances their Sex is commonly known, and needs not to be marked by a distinction of Gender in their Pronouns: but the Person spoken of being absent and in many respects unknown, it is necessary that it should be marked by a distinction of Gender; at least when some particular Person is spoken of, who ought to be more distinctly marked: accordingly the Pronoun Singular of the Third Person hath the Three Genders,He,She,It.

Pronouns have Three Cases; the Nominative; the Genitive, or Possessive; like Nouns; and moreover a Case, which follows the Verb Active, or the Preposition, expressing the Object of an Action, or ofa Relation. It answers to the Oblique Cases in Latin; and may be properly enough called the Objective Case.

The Personal Pronouns have the nature of Substantives, and as such stand by themselves: the rest have the nature of Adjectives, and assuch are joined to Substantives; and may be called Pronominal Adjectives.

Thy,My,Her,Our,Your,Their, are Pronominal Adjectives: butHis, (that is,Hee’s)Her’s,Our’s,Your’s,Their’s, have evidently theForm of the Possessive Case: and by Analogy,Mine,Thine[12], may be esteemed of the same rank. All these are used, when the Noun they belong to is understood: the two latter sometimes also instead ofmy,thy, when the Noun following them begins with a vowel.

Beside the foregoing there are several other Pronominal Adjectives; which tho’ they may sometimes seem to stand by themselves, yet have always some Substantive belonging to them, either referredto, or understood: as,This,that,other,any,some,one,none; these are called Definitive, because they define and limit the extent of the thing, to which they either refer, or are joined. The three first of these are varied to express Number; as,These,those,others; the last of which admits of the Plural form only when its Substantive is not joined to it, but referred to, or understood: none of them are varied to express the Gender or Case.Oneis sometimes used in an Indefinite sense (answering to the Frenchon) as in the following phrases; “oneis apt to think;” “onesees;” “onesupposes.”Who,which,that, are called Relatives, because they more directly refer to some Substantive going before; which therefore is called the Antecedent. They also connect the following part of theSentence with the foregoing. These belong to all the three Persons; whereas the rest belong only to the Third. One of them only is varied to express the three Cases;Who,whose[13], (that is,who’s[14])whom: none of them have different endings for the Numbers.Who,which,what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions.The two latter of them have no variation of Number or Case.

Own, andself, in the Pluralselves, are joined to the Possessivesmy,our,thy,your,his,her,their; as,my ownhand;myself,yourselves; both of them expressing emphasis, or opposition; as, “I did itmy own self,” that is, and no one else: the latter also forming the Reciprocal Pronoun; as, “he hurthimself.”Himself,themselves, seem to be used in the Nominative Case by corruption instead ofhis self,their selves: as, “he camehimself;” “they did itthemselves;” wherehimself,themselves, cannot be in the Objective Case. If this be so,selfmust be in these instances, not a Pronoun, but a Noun. Thus Dryden uses it:

“What I show,Thyself mayfreely on thy self bestow.”

“What I show,

Thyself mayfreely on thy self bestow.”

Ourself, the Plural Pronominal Adjective with the Singular Substantive, is peculiar to the Regal Style.

Ownis an Adjective; or perhaps the Participle (owen) of the obsolete verbowe; to possess; to be the right owner of a thing.

All Nouns whatever in Grammatical Construction are of the Third Person: except when an address is made to a Person; then the Noun, answering to the Vocative Case in Latin, is of the Second Person.

An Adjective is a word joined to a Substantive to express its Quality[15].

In English the Adjective is not varied on account of Gender, Number, or Case. The only variation it admits of is that of the Degrees of Comparison.

Qualities admit ofmoreandless, or of different degrees: and the words that express Qualities have accordingly proper forms to express different degrees. When a Quality is simply expressed, without any relation to the same in a different degree, it is called the Positive; as,wise,great. When it is expressed with augmentation, or with reference to a less degree of the same, it is called the Comparative;as,wiser,greater. When it is expressed as being in the highest degree of all, it is called the Superlative; as,wisest,greatest.

So that the simple word, or Positive, becomes Comparative by addingrorer; and Superlative by addingst, orest, to the end of it. And the Adverbsmoreandmostplaced before the Adjective have the same effect; as,wise,more wise,most wise[16].

Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared byerandest; and Dissyllables bymoreandmost: as,mild,milder,mildest;frugal,more frugal,most frugal. Dissyllables ending inyeasily admit oferandest; ashappy,lovely. Words of more than two syllables hardly ever admit oferandest.

In some few words the Superlative is formed by adding the Adverbmostto the end of them: as,nethermost,uttermost, orutmost,undermost,uppermost,foremost.

In English, as in most languages, there are some words of very common use that are irregular in this respect: as,good,better,best;bad,worse,worst;little,less[17],least;much,or many,more,most; and a few others.

AVerbis a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer.

There are three kinds of Verbs; Active, Passive, and Neuter Verbs.

A Verb Active expresses an Action, and necessarily implies an agent, and an object acted upon: as,to love; “I love Thomas.”

A Verb Passive expresses a Passion, or a Suffering, or the receiving of an Action; and necessarily implies an Object acted upon, and an Agent by which it is acted upon: as,to be loved; “Thomas is loved by me.”

So when the Agent takes the lead in the Sentence, the Verb is Active, and the Object follows: when the Object takes the lead, the Verb is Passive, and the Agent follows.

A Verb Neuter expresses Being, or a state or condition of being; when the Agent and the Object acted upon coincide, and the event is properly neither Action nor Passion, but rather something between both: as,I am;I walk;I sleep.

The Verb Active is called also Transitive, because the Actionpasseth overto the Object, or hath an effect upon some other thing: and the Verb Neuter is called Intransitive, because the effect is confined within the Agent, and dothnot pass overto any object.

In English many Verbs are used both in an Active and a Neuter signification, the construction only determining of which kind they are.

In a Verb are to be considered the Person, the Number, the Time, and the Mode.

The Verb varies its endings toexpress, or agree with, the different Persons: as, “Ilove, Thoulovest, Heloveth, orloves.”

So also to express the different Numbers of the same Person: as, “Thoulovest, yelove; Heloveth, theylove[18].”

So likewise to express different Times: as, “Ilove, Iloved; Ibear, Ibore, I haveborn.”

The Mode is theMannerof representing the Action or Passion. When it is simplydeclared, or a question is asked concerning it, it is called the Indicative Mode; when it isbidden, it is called the Imperative; when it issubjoinedas theend or design, or mentioned under a condition, a supposition, or the like, for the most part depending on some other Verb, and having a Conjunction before it, it is called the Subjunctive; when it is barely expressedwithout any limitationof person or number, it is called the Infinitive; and when it is expressed in a form in which it may be joined to a Noun as its quality or accident,partakingthereby of the nature of an Adjective, it is called the Participle.

But to express the Time of the Verb the English uses also the assistance of other Verbs, called therefore Auxiliaries, or Helpers;do,be,have,shall,will: as, “Idolove, Ididlove; Iamloved, Iwasloved; Ihaveloved, Ihave beenloved; Ishall, orwill, love, orbeloved.”

The two principal auxiliaries,tohave, andto be, are thus varied according to Person, Number, Time, and Mode.

Time is Present, Past, or Future.

Or,

And,

I could, should, would; Thou couldst, &c. love; and have loved.

Present, To love: Past, To have loved.

Present, Loving: Perfect, Loved: Past, Having loved.

But in discourse we have often occasion to speak of Time not onlyas Present, Past, and Future, at large and indeterminately, but also as such with some particular distinction and limitation; that is, as passing, or finished; as imperfect, or perfect. This will best be seen in an example of a Verb laid out and distributed according to these distinctions of Time.

To express the Present and Past Imperfect of the Active and Neuter Verb the Auxiliarydois sometimes used: Ido(now) love; Idid(then) love.

Thus with very little variation of the Principal Verb the several circumstances of Mode and Time are clearly expressed by the help of the Auxiliaries,be,have,do,let,may,can,shall,will.

The peculiar force of the several Auxiliaries is to be observed.Doanddidmark the Action itself, or the Time of it[23], withgreater force and distinction. They are also of frequent and almost necessary use in Interrogative and Negative Sentences.Letdoes not only express permission; but praying, exhorting, commanding.Mayandmightexpress the possibility or liberty of doing a thing;canandcould, the power.Mustis sometimes called in for a helper, and denotes necessity.Wouldexpresses the intention of the doer;shouldsimply the event.Willin the first Person singular and plural promises or threatens; in the second and third Persons only foretells:shallon thecontrary, in the first Person simply foretells; in the second and third Persons commands or threatens[24].

Doandhavemake the Present Time;did,had, the Past;shall,will, the Future:letthe Imperative Mode;may,might,could,would,should, the Subjunctive. The Prepositiontoplaced before the Verb makes the Infinitive Mode.Have, through its several Modes and Times, is placed only before the Perfect Participle; andbe, in like manner, before the Present and Passive Participles: the rest only before the Verb itself in its Primary Form[25].

The Passive Verb is only the Participle Passive, (which for the most part is the same with the Indefinite Past Time Active, and always the same with the Perfect Participle) joined to the Auxiliary Verbto bethrough all its Variations: as, Iam loved; Iwas loved; Ihave been loved; Ishall be loved: and so on through all the Persons, Numbers, Times, and Modes.

The Neuter Verb is varied likethe Active; but, having somewhat of the Nature of the Passive, admits in many instances of the Passive form, retaining still the Neutersignification; chiefly in such Verbs as signify some sort of motion, or change of place or condition: as, Iam come; Iwas gone; Iam grown; Iwas fallen[26]. The Verbamin this case precisely defines the Time of the action or event, but does not change the nature of it; the Passive form still expressing, not properly a Passion, but only a state or condition of Being.

In English both the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect, or Passive, are formed by adding to the Verbed; ordonly when the Verb ends ine: as,turn,turned;love,loved. The Verbs that vary from this rule, in either or in both cases, are esteemed Irregular.

The nature of our language, the Accent and Pronunciation of it, inclines us to contract even all our Regular Verbs: thusloved,turned, are commonly pronounced in one syllable,lov’d,turn’d; and the second Person which was originally in three syllables,lovedest,turnedest, is become a dissyllable,lovedst,turnedst: for as we generally throw the accent as far back as possible towards the first part of the word, (insome even to the fourth syllable from the end,) the stress being laid on the first syllables, the rest are pronounced in a lower tone, more rapidly and indistinctly; and so are often either wholly dropt, or blended into one another.

It sometimes happens also, that the word which arises from a regular change does not sound easily or agreeably; sometimes by the rapidity of our pronunciation the vowels are shortened or lost; and the consonants which are thrown together do not easily coalesce with one another, and are therefore changed into others of the same organ, or of a kindred species: this occasions a further deviation from the regular form: thus,loveth,turneth, are contracted intolov’th,turn’th, and these for easier pronunciation immediately becomeloves,turns.

Verbs ending inch,ck,p,x,ll,ss, in the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive admit the change ofedintot; as,snatcht,checkt,snapt,mixt, dropping also one of the double letters,dwelt,past; forsnatched,checked,snapped,mixed,dwelled,passed: those that end inl,m,n,p, after a diphthong, moreover shorten the diphthong, or change it into a single short vowel; as,dealt,dreamt,meant,felt,slept, &c: all for the same reason; from the quickness of the pronunciation, and because thedafter a short vowel will not easily coalesce with the preceding consonant. Those that end invechange alsovintof; as,bereave,bereft;leave,left; because likewisevafter a short vowel will not easily coalesce witht.

All these, of which we have hitherto given examples, are considerednot as Irregular, but as Contracted only; and in all of them the Intire as well as the Contracted form is used.

The formation of Verbs in English, both Regular and Irregular, is derived from the Saxon.

The Irregular Verbs in English are all Monosyllables, unless Compounded; and they are for the most part the same words which are Irregular Verbs in the Saxon.

As all our Regular Verbs are subject to some kind of Contraction, so the first Class of Irregulars is of those that become so from the same cause.

Some Verbs ending indorthave the Present, the Past Time, and the Participle Perfect and Passive, allalike, without any variation: as, Beat, burst[27], cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, lift[28], put, read[29], rent, rid, set, shed, shred, shut, slit, spread, thrust, wet[28].

These are Contractions frombeated,bursted,casted, &c; because of the disagreeable sound of the syllableedafterdort[30].

Others in the Past Time, and Participle Perfect and Passive, vary a little from the Present by shortening the diphthong, or changing thedintot: as, Lead, led; sweat, swet; meet, met; bleed, bled; breed, bred; feed, fed; speed, sped; bend, bent[28]; lend, lent; rend, rent; send, sent; spend, spent; build, built[28]; geld, gelt[28]; gild, gilt[28]; gird, girt[28].

Others not ending indortare formed by Contraction; have,had, forhaved; make,made, formaked; flee,fled, forflee-ed.

The following beside the Contraction change also the Vowel; Sell, sold; tell, told; clothe, clad[28].

Stand, stood; and dare, durst,(which in the Participle hath regularlydared;) are directly from the Saxon,standan,stod;dyrran,dorste.

The Irregulars of the Second Class end inght, both in the Past Time and Participle; and change the vowel or diphthong intoauorou: they are taken from the Saxon, in which the termination ishte.

Fraughtseems rather to be an Adjective than the Participle of the Verbto freight, which has regularlyfreighted.Raughtfromreachis obsolete.

The Irregulars of the Third Class form the Past Time by changing the vowel or diphthong of the Present; and the Participle Perfect and Passive by adding the terminationen, beside, for the most part, the change of the vowel or diphthong. These also derive their formation in both parts from the Saxon.

The following are Irregular only in the Participle; and that without changing the vowel.

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