[4.] Thus when Alfred writes that an event took place before the founding of Rome, he uses the subjunctive: ǣr ðǣm ðe Rōmeburh getimbrod wǣre = before Rome were founded; but, æfter ðǣm ðe Rōmeburh getimbrod wæs = after Rome was founded.
[5.] “By the time of Ælfric, however, the levelling influence of the indicative [after verbs of saying] has made considerable progress.”—Gorrell, Indirect Discourse in Anglo-Saxon (Dissertation, 1895), p. 101.
[6.] Hotz, On the Use of the Subjunctive Mood in Anglo-Saxon (Zürich, 1882).
[7.] Not, He commanded the bier to be set down. The Mn.E. passive in such sentences is a loss both in force and directness.
[8.] Callaway, The Absolute Participle in Anglo-Saxon (Dissertation, 1889), p. 19.
[9.] This is not the place to discuss the Gerund in Mn.E., the so-called “infinitive in -ing.” The whole subject has been befogged for the lack of an accepted nomenclature, one that shall do violence neither to grammar nor to history.
[ CHAPTER XIX.]
Strong Verbs: Classes II and III.
[109.]
Class II: The “Choose” Conjugation.