VerbsAccidence: VerbsPreterites. In the conjugation of verbs in the dialects many old forms have been preserved which have been lost in the literary language. Very often where, in thelit.language, the old plural form of the preterite or the past participle has been carried through the whole preterite, in the dialects the old singular form has been levelled out. Or again, an old strong verb has inlit. Eng.become weak, whilst in the dialects the strong forms have remained. On the whole, it is the northern dialects which have preserved these old strong preterite forms. It may be said to be characteristic of the southern dialects to form new weak preterites to originally strong verbs. Examples of verbs which have preserved old strong preterites are: bind,ban(d(O.E.band),Sc.n.Cy.Shr.; break,brak(O.E.bræc),Sc.n.Cy.; climb,klam,klom(O.E.clamb,clomb),Sc.n.Cy.n.Midl.Hrf.Hmp.Dor.; find,fan(d(O.E.fand),Sc.Cum.Yks.; grind,gran(d(O.E.grand),Sc.Dur.Yks.Shr.; knead,nad,nēd(M.E.knad, lateplur.knāden),Yks.Shr.; speak,spak,spēk(M.E.spak, lateplur.spāken),Sc.Dwn.n.Cy.Ess.Dev.; swing,swaŋ(O.E.swang),Sc.Lakel.Yks.; tread,trad,trēd(M.E.trad, lateplur.trāden),Sc.Yks.; win,wan(O.E.wan(n),Sc.Cum.Yks.Examples of old strong verbs which have acquired new weak preterites are: bear,beared,Bch.Abd.Yks.s.Chs.s. and sw.Cy.; begin,beginned,w.Som.Dev.; burst,bursted,Sc.Midl.sw.Cy.; come,comed,Yks.Lan.n.Midl.e.An.sw.Cy.; draw,drawed,Midl.Hmp.sw.Cy.; grow,growed,n.Midl.I.W.Dor.w.Som.; know,knowed,n.Ir.n.Cy.Midl.Ess.Ken.Sur.I.W.sw.Cy.; see,seed,Sc.n.Cy.Yks.Lan.s.Chs.Midl.e.An.s. and sw.Cy.; steal,stealed,Sc.n.Lin.Brks.e.An.Dev.; throw,throwed,thrawed,Nhb.w.Yks.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.; weave,weaved,n. and e.Yks.w.Som.;&c.,&c.These verbs have likewise a weak past participle, as:beared,corned,drawed,&c.A few old weak verbs have become strong inlit. Eng.but retain their original weak forms in certain dialects, such are: dig,digged,w.Som.,cp.‘He made a pit and digged it,’A.V.Ps.vii. 15, ‘Wells digged,’Neh.ix. 25; strive,strived(M.E.strivedebesidestrōf),Peb.ne.Nrf.w.Som.Cor.; wear,weared(M.E.wered(e),Sc.n.Yks.Nhp.Wor.sw.Cy.Old forms of a weak preterite survive in reach,raught(M.E.raughte),Sc.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.,cp.pp.‘The hand of death hath raught him,’Ant. & Cleop.IV.ix. 30; work,wrought(M.E.wroughte),Sc.Irel.n.Cy.Lan.Der.Stf.This is the ordinary preterite form used in the Authorized Version of the Bible, but in modernlit. Eng.only the past participle remains as an adjective, as inwrought iron. On the model of this kind of preterite we have inlit. Eng.catch,caught, but the regular formcatched(M.E.cacchedbesidecaughte) is common in nearly all the dialects ofSc.Irel.and England.Many verbs which in the literary language have lost the finalnof the strong past participle, retain it in certain dialects. These old past participles are found inSc.n.Cy.andn.Midl.dialects, but very rarely further south than Shropshire. Examples are: bake,baken,Sc.; bereave,beriven,m.Yks.; bind,bunden,binden,Yks.Nhb.; climb,clomben,Nhb.Shr.; come,cumen,comen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; creep,cropen,crupen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; fight,foughten,Sc.n.Cy.Lei.Shr.; fling,flungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.Der.; grind,grounden,Nhb.n. and e.Yks.Shr.; help,holpen,s.Chs.Rut.Shr.; knead,nedn,m.Yks.,noden,n.Cy.w.Yks.Nhp.; shoot,shotten,shutten,Sc.n.Irel.Lakel.n.Cy.Lei.Wor.Shr.Ken.; sit,sitten,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.nw.Der.Shr.; slit,slitten,Sc.Nhb.Yks.nw.Lin.; spring,sprungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.; wash,washen,Sc.,weshen,w.Yks.; writhe,writhen,Sc.m.Yks.s.Chs.In some dialects the verbal endings differ considerablyfrom those of the standard language, and the use of these endings is governed by exact grammatical rules. To begin with the present tense: InSc.Irel.n.Cy.and most of then.Midl.dialects, all persons, singular and plural, takes,z, orəzwhen not immediately preceded or followed by their proper pronoun; that is when the subject is a noun, an interrogative or relative pronoun, or when the verb and subject are separated by a clause. When the verb is immediately preceded or followed by its proper pronoun, the first person sing. and the whole of the plural generally have no special endings in the above dialects, except occasionally in parts ofYks.Lan.andLin.It follows from this that grammatically ‘Scots wha hae’ is incorrect; strictly the line should run: ‘Scots at haes wi’ Wallace bled.’ In the other parts of England the first person sing. has no special ending except in some of the southern and south-western dialects, which have the endings,z, orəz. Most of thes.Midl.e. s. andsw.dialects haves,z, orəzfor all persons of the plural. The plural generally ends inn,əninse. em. and s.Lan.Chs.Flt.Dnb.Stf., nearly allDer.,Shr., and also often inNhp.War.Wor.Hrf.; this is especially the case withhave. InSom.andDev.the plural often ends inðamong the older generation of dialect speakers. Ine. and s.Hrt.Ken.Sur.Hmp.I.W.w. and s.Som.Dev.Cor.’m,am, is generally used forareafter the pronounswe,ye,they, as:wəm, we are. InNhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.n.Lin.isis often used foram. The periphrastic formI do love,&c., forI love,&c., is in general use in thesw.dialects.The preterite plural sometimes ends inn,ənin somen.Midl.dialects, but beyond this the preterite endings generally agree with those of the literary language.In the dialects of England the present participle ends ininexcept in parts ofn.Nhb.andn.Cum.where the ending isən. Thisənprobably goes back to the NorthernM.E.endingand. In the dialects of s.Sc.and also in a few otherSc.dialects the present participle ends inən, from olderand, and the verbal noun ends ininfrom oldering. In the imperfectand perfect continuous tenses, as:I am striking,I have been striking, the present participle takes the prefixə(ɒ) in the Midland,e.Cy.andsw.Cy.dialects, as:I am a-goin. This is an interesting point when we realize that it proves the origin of our present participle endinging, which cannot be developed from theO.E.ende. The form with the prefixərepresents the verbal noun (O.E.-ung,-ing) preceded by the prepositionon. The preposition dwindled through lack of stress into a mere prefix, and was ultimately lost inlit. Eng.These dialects thus preserve the intermediate stage.In thes.Midl.andsw.Cy.dialects the past participle has the prefixə(ɒ) from theO.E.prefixge-.The infinitive generally has no special ending just as in the literary language. But in thesw.Cy.dialects, especially inDor.Som.Dev., intransitive verbs generally have the endingi, writteny, from theO.E.ending-ianof weak verbs such aslufian, to love;lōcian, to look.The future is formed the same way as inlit. Eng.except that inSc.Irel.andWal.willis used for the first person singular and plural.The perfect is generally formed the same way as inlit. Eng., but in those dialects of England which have preserved the old strong past participles, the auxiliaryhaveis generally omitted in affirmative sentences when the subject is a personal pronoun immediately followed by the verb, as: we done it, I seen him, they been and taken it. In theMidl.e.ands.dialects, this construction is sometimes used to express the preterite.The negative inO.E.was expressed by the particleneprefixed to the verb, and to all the other words in the sentence that admitted of contracted negative forms. If no such words were present, thennāornahtwas used to strengthen thene. This usage was kept up inM.E., as:he never hadde noþing, but beside itnat,not, the weak form ofO.E.nāwiht, began to take the place of thene. In Modern English thenedisappeared entirely, and the influence of Latin grammar ledto the adoption of the rule ‘two negatives contradict each other and make an affirmative’. In the dialects the old pleonastic negatives remain, as: He nivver said nowt neeaways ti neean on em; Neeabody’s neea bisniss ti thraw nowt inti neeabody’s gardin; I deean’t want nobbut yan.
VerbsAccidence: VerbsPreterites. In the conjugation of verbs in the dialects many old forms have been preserved which have been lost in the literary language. Very often where, in thelit.language, the old plural form of the preterite or the past participle has been carried through the whole preterite, in the dialects the old singular form has been levelled out. Or again, an old strong verb has inlit. Eng.become weak, whilst in the dialects the strong forms have remained. On the whole, it is the northern dialects which have preserved these old strong preterite forms. It may be said to be characteristic of the southern dialects to form new weak preterites to originally strong verbs. Examples of verbs which have preserved old strong preterites are: bind,ban(d(O.E.band),Sc.n.Cy.Shr.; break,brak(O.E.bræc),Sc.n.Cy.; climb,klam,klom(O.E.clamb,clomb),Sc.n.Cy.n.Midl.Hrf.Hmp.Dor.; find,fan(d(O.E.fand),Sc.Cum.Yks.; grind,gran(d(O.E.grand),Sc.Dur.Yks.Shr.; knead,nad,nēd(M.E.knad, lateplur.knāden),Yks.Shr.; speak,spak,spēk(M.E.spak, lateplur.spāken),Sc.Dwn.n.Cy.Ess.Dev.; swing,swaŋ(O.E.swang),Sc.Lakel.Yks.; tread,trad,trēd(M.E.trad, lateplur.trāden),Sc.Yks.; win,wan(O.E.wan(n),Sc.Cum.Yks.Examples of old strong verbs which have acquired new weak preterites are: bear,beared,Bch.Abd.Yks.s.Chs.s. and sw.Cy.; begin,beginned,w.Som.Dev.; burst,bursted,Sc.Midl.sw.Cy.; come,comed,Yks.Lan.n.Midl.e.An.sw.Cy.; draw,drawed,Midl.Hmp.sw.Cy.; grow,growed,n.Midl.I.W.Dor.w.Som.; know,knowed,n.Ir.n.Cy.Midl.Ess.Ken.Sur.I.W.sw.Cy.; see,seed,Sc.n.Cy.Yks.Lan.s.Chs.Midl.e.An.s. and sw.Cy.; steal,stealed,Sc.n.Lin.Brks.e.An.Dev.; throw,throwed,thrawed,Nhb.w.Yks.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.; weave,weaved,n. and e.Yks.w.Som.;&c.,&c.These verbs have likewise a weak past participle, as:beared,corned,drawed,&c.A few old weak verbs have become strong inlit. Eng.but retain their original weak forms in certain dialects, such are: dig,digged,w.Som.,cp.‘He made a pit and digged it,’A.V.Ps.vii. 15, ‘Wells digged,’Neh.ix. 25; strive,strived(M.E.strivedebesidestrōf),Peb.ne.Nrf.w.Som.Cor.; wear,weared(M.E.wered(e),Sc.n.Yks.Nhp.Wor.sw.Cy.Old forms of a weak preterite survive in reach,raught(M.E.raughte),Sc.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.,cp.pp.‘The hand of death hath raught him,’Ant. & Cleop.IV.ix. 30; work,wrought(M.E.wroughte),Sc.Irel.n.Cy.Lan.Der.Stf.This is the ordinary preterite form used in the Authorized Version of the Bible, but in modernlit. Eng.only the past participle remains as an adjective, as inwrought iron. On the model of this kind of preterite we have inlit. Eng.catch,caught, but the regular formcatched(M.E.cacchedbesidecaughte) is common in nearly all the dialects ofSc.Irel.and England.Many verbs which in the literary language have lost the finalnof the strong past participle, retain it in certain dialects. These old past participles are found inSc.n.Cy.andn.Midl.dialects, but very rarely further south than Shropshire. Examples are: bake,baken,Sc.; bereave,beriven,m.Yks.; bind,bunden,binden,Yks.Nhb.; climb,clomben,Nhb.Shr.; come,cumen,comen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; creep,cropen,crupen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; fight,foughten,Sc.n.Cy.Lei.Shr.; fling,flungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.Der.; grind,grounden,Nhb.n. and e.Yks.Shr.; help,holpen,s.Chs.Rut.Shr.; knead,nedn,m.Yks.,noden,n.Cy.w.Yks.Nhp.; shoot,shotten,shutten,Sc.n.Irel.Lakel.n.Cy.Lei.Wor.Shr.Ken.; sit,sitten,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.nw.Der.Shr.; slit,slitten,Sc.Nhb.Yks.nw.Lin.; spring,sprungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.; wash,washen,Sc.,weshen,w.Yks.; writhe,writhen,Sc.m.Yks.s.Chs.In some dialects the verbal endings differ considerablyfrom those of the standard language, and the use of these endings is governed by exact grammatical rules. To begin with the present tense: InSc.Irel.n.Cy.and most of then.Midl.dialects, all persons, singular and plural, takes,z, orəzwhen not immediately preceded or followed by their proper pronoun; that is when the subject is a noun, an interrogative or relative pronoun, or when the verb and subject are separated by a clause. When the verb is immediately preceded or followed by its proper pronoun, the first person sing. and the whole of the plural generally have no special endings in the above dialects, except occasionally in parts ofYks.Lan.andLin.It follows from this that grammatically ‘Scots wha hae’ is incorrect; strictly the line should run: ‘Scots at haes wi’ Wallace bled.’ In the other parts of England the first person sing. has no special ending except in some of the southern and south-western dialects, which have the endings,z, orəz. Most of thes.Midl.e. s. andsw.dialects haves,z, orəzfor all persons of the plural. The plural generally ends inn,əninse. em. and s.Lan.Chs.Flt.Dnb.Stf., nearly allDer.,Shr., and also often inNhp.War.Wor.Hrf.; this is especially the case withhave. InSom.andDev.the plural often ends inðamong the older generation of dialect speakers. Ine. and s.Hrt.Ken.Sur.Hmp.I.W.w. and s.Som.Dev.Cor.’m,am, is generally used forareafter the pronounswe,ye,they, as:wəm, we are. InNhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.n.Lin.isis often used foram. The periphrastic formI do love,&c., forI love,&c., is in general use in thesw.dialects.The preterite plural sometimes ends inn,ənin somen.Midl.dialects, but beyond this the preterite endings generally agree with those of the literary language.In the dialects of England the present participle ends ininexcept in parts ofn.Nhb.andn.Cum.where the ending isən. Thisənprobably goes back to the NorthernM.E.endingand. In the dialects of s.Sc.and also in a few otherSc.dialects the present participle ends inən, from olderand, and the verbal noun ends ininfrom oldering. In the imperfectand perfect continuous tenses, as:I am striking,I have been striking, the present participle takes the prefixə(ɒ) in the Midland,e.Cy.andsw.Cy.dialects, as:I am a-goin. This is an interesting point when we realize that it proves the origin of our present participle endinging, which cannot be developed from theO.E.ende. The form with the prefixərepresents the verbal noun (O.E.-ung,-ing) preceded by the prepositionon. The preposition dwindled through lack of stress into a mere prefix, and was ultimately lost inlit. Eng.These dialects thus preserve the intermediate stage.In thes.Midl.andsw.Cy.dialects the past participle has the prefixə(ɒ) from theO.E.prefixge-.The infinitive generally has no special ending just as in the literary language. But in thesw.Cy.dialects, especially inDor.Som.Dev., intransitive verbs generally have the endingi, writteny, from theO.E.ending-ianof weak verbs such aslufian, to love;lōcian, to look.The future is formed the same way as inlit. Eng.except that inSc.Irel.andWal.willis used for the first person singular and plural.The perfect is generally formed the same way as inlit. Eng., but in those dialects of England which have preserved the old strong past participles, the auxiliaryhaveis generally omitted in affirmative sentences when the subject is a personal pronoun immediately followed by the verb, as: we done it, I seen him, they been and taken it. In theMidl.e.ands.dialects, this construction is sometimes used to express the preterite.The negative inO.E.was expressed by the particleneprefixed to the verb, and to all the other words in the sentence that admitted of contracted negative forms. If no such words were present, thennāornahtwas used to strengthen thene. This usage was kept up inM.E., as:he never hadde noþing, but beside itnat,not, the weak form ofO.E.nāwiht, began to take the place of thene. In Modern English thenedisappeared entirely, and the influence of Latin grammar ledto the adoption of the rule ‘two negatives contradict each other and make an affirmative’. In the dialects the old pleonastic negatives remain, as: He nivver said nowt neeaways ti neean on em; Neeabody’s neea bisniss ti thraw nowt inti neeabody’s gardin; I deean’t want nobbut yan.
Accidence: Verbs
Preterites. In the conjugation of verbs in the dialects many old forms have been preserved which have been lost in the literary language. Very often where, in thelit.language, the old plural form of the preterite or the past participle has been carried through the whole preterite, in the dialects the old singular form has been levelled out. Or again, an old strong verb has inlit. Eng.become weak, whilst in the dialects the strong forms have remained. On the whole, it is the northern dialects which have preserved these old strong preterite forms. It may be said to be characteristic of the southern dialects to form new weak preterites to originally strong verbs. Examples of verbs which have preserved old strong preterites are: bind,ban(d(O.E.band),Sc.n.Cy.Shr.; break,brak(O.E.bræc),Sc.n.Cy.; climb,klam,klom(O.E.clamb,clomb),Sc.n.Cy.n.Midl.Hrf.Hmp.Dor.; find,fan(d(O.E.fand),Sc.Cum.Yks.; grind,gran(d(O.E.grand),Sc.Dur.Yks.Shr.; knead,nad,nēd(M.E.knad, lateplur.knāden),Yks.Shr.; speak,spak,spēk(M.E.spak, lateplur.spāken),Sc.Dwn.n.Cy.Ess.Dev.; swing,swaŋ(O.E.swang),Sc.Lakel.Yks.; tread,trad,trēd(M.E.trad, lateplur.trāden),Sc.Yks.; win,wan(O.E.wan(n),Sc.Cum.Yks.
Examples of old strong verbs which have acquired new weak preterites are: bear,beared,Bch.Abd.Yks.s.Chs.s. and sw.Cy.; begin,beginned,w.Som.Dev.; burst,bursted,Sc.Midl.sw.Cy.; come,comed,Yks.Lan.n.Midl.e.An.sw.Cy.; draw,drawed,Midl.Hmp.sw.Cy.; grow,growed,n.Midl.I.W.Dor.w.Som.; know,knowed,n.Ir.n.Cy.Midl.Ess.Ken.Sur.I.W.sw.Cy.; see,seed,Sc.n.Cy.Yks.Lan.s.Chs.Midl.e.An.s. and sw.Cy.; steal,stealed,Sc.n.Lin.Brks.e.An.Dev.; throw,throwed,thrawed,Nhb.w.Yks.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.; weave,weaved,n. and e.Yks.w.Som.;&c.,&c.These verbs have likewise a weak past participle, as:beared,corned,drawed,&c.
A few old weak verbs have become strong inlit. Eng.but retain their original weak forms in certain dialects, such are: dig,digged,w.Som.,cp.‘He made a pit and digged it,’A.V.Ps.vii. 15, ‘Wells digged,’Neh.ix. 25; strive,strived(M.E.strivedebesidestrōf),Peb.ne.Nrf.w.Som.Cor.; wear,weared(M.E.wered(e),Sc.n.Yks.Nhp.Wor.sw.Cy.Old forms of a weak preterite survive in reach,raught(M.E.raughte),Sc.Midl.s. and sw.Cy.,cp.pp.‘The hand of death hath raught him,’Ant. & Cleop.IV.ix. 30; work,wrought(M.E.wroughte),Sc.Irel.n.Cy.Lan.Der.Stf.This is the ordinary preterite form used in the Authorized Version of the Bible, but in modernlit. Eng.only the past participle remains as an adjective, as inwrought iron. On the model of this kind of preterite we have inlit. Eng.catch,caught, but the regular formcatched(M.E.cacchedbesidecaughte) is common in nearly all the dialects ofSc.Irel.and England.
Many verbs which in the literary language have lost the finalnof the strong past participle, retain it in certain dialects. These old past participles are found inSc.n.Cy.andn.Midl.dialects, but very rarely further south than Shropshire. Examples are: bake,baken,Sc.; bereave,beriven,m.Yks.; bind,bunden,binden,Yks.Nhb.; climb,clomben,Nhb.Shr.; come,cumen,comen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; creep,cropen,crupen,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.Shr.; fight,foughten,Sc.n.Cy.Lei.Shr.; fling,flungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.Der.; grind,grounden,Nhb.n. and e.Yks.Shr.; help,holpen,s.Chs.Rut.Shr.; knead,nedn,m.Yks.,noden,n.Cy.w.Yks.Nhp.; shoot,shotten,shutten,Sc.n.Irel.Lakel.n.Cy.Lei.Wor.Shr.Ken.; sit,sitten,Sc.n.Cy.Chs.nw.Der.Shr.; slit,slitten,Sc.Nhb.Yks.nw.Lin.; spring,sprungen,e.Yks.s.Chs.; wash,washen,Sc.,weshen,w.Yks.; writhe,writhen,Sc.m.Yks.s.Chs.
In some dialects the verbal endings differ considerablyfrom those of the standard language, and the use of these endings is governed by exact grammatical rules. To begin with the present tense: InSc.Irel.n.Cy.and most of then.Midl.dialects, all persons, singular and plural, takes,z, orəzwhen not immediately preceded or followed by their proper pronoun; that is when the subject is a noun, an interrogative or relative pronoun, or when the verb and subject are separated by a clause. When the verb is immediately preceded or followed by its proper pronoun, the first person sing. and the whole of the plural generally have no special endings in the above dialects, except occasionally in parts ofYks.Lan.andLin.It follows from this that grammatically ‘Scots wha hae’ is incorrect; strictly the line should run: ‘Scots at haes wi’ Wallace bled.’ In the other parts of England the first person sing. has no special ending except in some of the southern and south-western dialects, which have the endings,z, orəz. Most of thes.Midl.e. s. andsw.dialects haves,z, orəzfor all persons of the plural. The plural generally ends inn,əninse. em. and s.Lan.Chs.Flt.Dnb.Stf., nearly allDer.,Shr., and also often inNhp.War.Wor.Hrf.; this is especially the case withhave. InSom.andDev.the plural often ends inðamong the older generation of dialect speakers. Ine. and s.Hrt.Ken.Sur.Hmp.I.W.w. and s.Som.Dev.Cor.’m,am, is generally used forareafter the pronounswe,ye,they, as:wəm, we are. InNhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.n.Lin.isis often used foram. The periphrastic formI do love,&c., forI love,&c., is in general use in thesw.dialects.
The preterite plural sometimes ends inn,ənin somen.Midl.dialects, but beyond this the preterite endings generally agree with those of the literary language.
In the dialects of England the present participle ends ininexcept in parts ofn.Nhb.andn.Cum.where the ending isən. Thisənprobably goes back to the NorthernM.E.endingand. In the dialects of s.Sc.and also in a few otherSc.dialects the present participle ends inən, from olderand, and the verbal noun ends ininfrom oldering. In the imperfectand perfect continuous tenses, as:I am striking,I have been striking, the present participle takes the prefixə(ɒ) in the Midland,e.Cy.andsw.Cy.dialects, as:I am a-goin. This is an interesting point when we realize that it proves the origin of our present participle endinging, which cannot be developed from theO.E.ende. The form with the prefixərepresents the verbal noun (O.E.-ung,-ing) preceded by the prepositionon. The preposition dwindled through lack of stress into a mere prefix, and was ultimately lost inlit. Eng.These dialects thus preserve the intermediate stage.
In thes.Midl.andsw.Cy.dialects the past participle has the prefixə(ɒ) from theO.E.prefixge-.
The infinitive generally has no special ending just as in the literary language. But in thesw.Cy.dialects, especially inDor.Som.Dev., intransitive verbs generally have the endingi, writteny, from theO.E.ending-ianof weak verbs such aslufian, to love;lōcian, to look.
The future is formed the same way as inlit. Eng.except that inSc.Irel.andWal.willis used for the first person singular and plural.
The perfect is generally formed the same way as inlit. Eng., but in those dialects of England which have preserved the old strong past participles, the auxiliaryhaveis generally omitted in affirmative sentences when the subject is a personal pronoun immediately followed by the verb, as: we done it, I seen him, they been and taken it. In theMidl.e.ands.dialects, this construction is sometimes used to express the preterite.
The negative inO.E.was expressed by the particleneprefixed to the verb, and to all the other words in the sentence that admitted of contracted negative forms. If no such words were present, thennāornahtwas used to strengthen thene. This usage was kept up inM.E., as:he never hadde noþing, but beside itnat,not, the weak form ofO.E.nāwiht, began to take the place of thene. In Modern English thenedisappeared entirely, and the influence of Latin grammar ledto the adoption of the rule ‘two negatives contradict each other and make an affirmative’. In the dialects the old pleonastic negatives remain, as: He nivver said nowt neeaways ti neean on em; Neeabody’s neea bisniss ti thraw nowt inti neeabody’s gardin; I deean’t want nobbut yan.