In Modern English syncopation is extremely common, e.g. Now knówest thou áll Sur. 27; That mákest but gáme Wyatt, 30, &c.; but the full syllabic pronunciation (in accordance with the modern prose usage) is also frequent, both in the poetry of the sixteenth century, e.g. What frámëst thóu Sur. 158; And lóokëst tó commánd Shak. H. VI. I. i. 38; and in that of recent times, e.g.:
Súch as thou stándëst, pále in thé drear líght.
Mrs. Browning, i. 4.
Wan Scúlptor, wéepëst thóu to táke the cást?
Tennyson, Early Sonn. 9
§ 101. The ending -eth, in the North -es, -is (3rd pers. sing. pres., plur. pres., and 3rd pers. sing. imperative), is in most cases syllabic in Middle English, especially before the fifteenth century; e.g. It túrrneþþ hémm till sínne Orm. 150; þat spékeþþ óff þe déofell ib. 11944; þat ǽfre annd ǽfre stándeþþ ínn ib. 2617; þánne hi cumeþ éft Moral Ode, 236; Hi wálkeþ éure ib. 239; So príkeþ hem natúre Chauc. Prol. 11; Cómeþ álle nów to mé Alexius, ii. 337; Ánd a-fóngeþ ȝóure méde ib. 375.
But already in the earlier portion of this epoch of the language slurring or syncopation is often to be met with, and it became gradually more and more frequent. Boc séȝȝþ þe bírrþ wel ȝémenn þé Orm. 11373, 11981; Annd áȝȝ afftérr þe góddspell stánnt ib. 33; And thínkeþ, here cómeþ my mórtel énemý Chauc. Kn. T. 785; Comeþ nér, quoth hé id. Prol. 839; þat háveþ traváille Alexius, i. 350; Thai háldis this lánd agáyne resóune Barbour’s Bruce, i. 488.
In Modern English the endings -eth and -es (’s) were at first used promiscuously; later -eth is employed, if a full syllable is required, -es (’s) if syncopation is intended; but this rule is not strictly observed.
The dropping of e on the whole is the more usual: e.g. begins Sur. 1; seems ib. 2; learns Wyatt, 1; also if written -eth: On hím that lóveth not mé Wyatt, 57; that séeth the héavens Sur. 2. Treatment as a full syllable is less usual: But áll too láte Love léarnëth mé Sur. 5; Lóve that lívëth and réignëth ín my thóught Sur. 12. Shakespeare and his contemporaries still use it somewhat frequently (cf. Hertzberg in Shakspeare-Jahrb. xiii, pp. 255–7), and occasional instances are found even in later poets, as for instance in Keats, who rhymes: death: ouershádowéth, p. 336; Chr. Rossetti, déath: fashionéth p. 28, ii. ll. 5–6