c. By a knowledge of the older forms.—The Anglo-Saxon form is beáte, beot. There is no such a weak form as beáte, bætte. The præterite of sendan is sende, weak. There is in Anglo-Saxon no such form as sand, strong.
In all this we see a series of expedients for separating the præterite form from the present, when the root ends with the same sound with which the affix begins.
The addition of the vowel takes place only in verbs of the first class.
The change from a long vowel to a short one, as in feed, fed, &c., can only take place where there is a long vowel to be changed.
Where the vowels are short, and, at the same time, the word ends in -d, the -d of the present may become -t in the præterite. Such is the case with bend, bent.
When there is no long vowel to shorten, and no -d to change into -t, the two tenses, of necessity, remain alike; such is the case with cut, cost, &c.
Words like planted, heeded, &c., belong to the first class. Words like feed, lead, to the second class. Bend and cut belong also to the second class; they belong to it, however, by what may be termed an etymological fiction. The vowel would be changed if it could.
[§ 382]. Made, had.—In these words there is nothing remarkable but the ejection of a consonant. The Anglo-Saxon forms are macode and hæfde, respectively. The words, however, in regard to the amount of change, are not upon a par. The f in hæfde was probably sounded as v. Now v
is a letter excessively liable to be ejected, which k is not. K, before it is ejected, is generally changed into either g or y.
Would, should, could.—It must not be imagined that could is in the same predicament with these words. In will and shall the -l is part of the original word. This is not the case with can. For the form could, see the Chapter upon Irregularity.