Inf. Past, sg. Past, pl. Part.II

OE ME

Participle I

wrīt ande (North)

wrīt ende wrīt ende (Midlands) - inge (descended from the verbal substantive)

wrīt inde (South)

ME verbs, like OE ones, were divided into strong, weak, irregular.

1) Strong verbs. The chief changes in the forms of strong verbs took place in passing from OE to ME. They were caused by the general tendency towards the gradual loss of inflexions, and partly by the process of analogy. Thus, for example, the inflexions of the OE infinitive –an and of the Past Plural –on were reduced to –en.

a) the prefix – z e was first reduced to –i, and then lost.

b) the consonant interchange in the root was also lost (ceo s an – co r en).

c) the monophthongization of the OE diphthongs caused phonetic changes in the gradation of the 2^nd, 3^rd, and partly of the 7^th classes.

d) the 4 principal forms of strong verbs began to be reduced to 3. This process probably started in the 6^th and the 7^th classes where the Past Singular and Past Plural forms had identical stem-vowels already in OE. Besides, in ME the Past Plural begins to be leveled according to the Past Singular (in the 4^th and 5^th classes). Also, the graded vowel of the Participle II passes over to the Past Plural (in the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes).

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