A Handbook of the English Language

by R. G. Latham

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE STRONG TENSES.

[§ 299]. The strong præterites are formed from the present by changing the vowel, as sing, sang; speak, spoke.

In Anglo-Saxon, several præterites change, in their plural, the vowel of their singular; as

Ic sang, I sang.	We sungon, we sung.
þu sunge, thou sungest.	Ge sungon, ye sung.
He sang, he sang.	Hi sungon, they sung.

The bearing of this fact upon the præterites has already been indicated. In a great number of words we have a double form, as ran and run, sang and sung, drank and drunk, &c. One of these forms is derived from the singular, and the other from the plural.

In cases where but one form is preserved, that form is not necessarily the singular; indeed, it is often the plural;—e.g., Ic fand, I found, we fundon, we found, are the Anglo-Saxon forms. Now the present word found comes, not from the singular fand, but from the plural fundon; although in the Lowland Scotch dialect and in the old writers, the singular form occurs;

Donald Caird finds orra things,

Where Allan Gregor fand the tings.—Scott.