Lecture 4-11.1 Early Modern English Continued Verbs: Strong Verb Classes 1. Of the original seven classes of strong verbs – the number is greatly reduced, but some of the classes remain remarkably stable; class I and III stand out as survivors. 2. The double past tense forms of strong verbs are leveled to one: Thus old I sang and we sungen become I,we sang (have sung) I rood, we riden become I,we rode (have riden) 2. The …showed first 75 words of 271 total…

…showed last 75 words of 271 total…thou wast and thou wert) and in the odd use of "be" for plural present. "Rub a dub dub / Three men in a tub / And who do you think they be?" "The powers that be." 2. The modals cause trouble: would and should are past tense version of will (variants of will are wull and woll) and shall. Could was developed by adding an l on analogy with would and should; otherwise, it should be "coud."