[4.] Sweet, A New English Grammar, Part I., § 535.
[5.] As Skeat says (§ 22, (2)), Analogy is “fitful.” It enables us to explain many linguistic phenomena, but not to anticipate them. The multiplication of books tends to check its influence by perpetuating the forms already in use. Thus Chaucer employed nine en-plurals, and his influence served for a time to check the further encroachment of the es-plurals. As soon as there is an acknowledged standard in any language, the operation of Analogy is fettered.
[ PART II.]
ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX.
The Strong or Vowel Declensions of Nouns.
The a-Declension.
