Only Southern ME. retains the OE. inflexion as -eþ (II, III, XIII). The Midland ending, whence the modern form derives, is -e(n); though in the N. Midlands -es occasionally appears. Northern has regularly -es, unless the personal pronoun immediately precedes, when the ending is -e, as in the Midlands, e.g. þei make XVI 103.

N.B. In applying this test, care must be taken to exclude inversions, which are subject to special rules; to distinguish the subjunctive (e.g. falle XIII a 52, drawe XIII b 6) from the indicative; and, generally, to choose examples that are syntactically free from doubt, because concord of number is not always logical in ME.

SUMMARY.

OE.
1. sg.drīf-e
2. drīf-es(t)
3. drīf-eð (Nth. -es)
pl. drīf-að (Nth. -as)
ME.
SouthS. Midl.N. Midl. North
1. sg.-e-e -(e) -(e) or -(e)s
2.-est-est-es(t)-es
3.-eþ-eþ-eþ or -es-es
pl. -eþ-e(n)-e(n) or -es-es or -(e)

(iv) The Imperative Plural might be expected to agree with the pres. ind. pl. In fact it has the ending -eþ not merely in the South, but in most of the Midlands, e.g. I, VIII, Gower and Chaucer. Northern and NW. Midland (V, VI, XIV b, XVI) have commonly -es. But Chaucer, Gower, and most late ME. texts have, beside the full inflexion, an uninflected form, e.g. vndo XVI 182.

(v) Past Tense.

(a) Strong: The historical distinctions of stem-vowel were often obscured in ME. by the rise of new analogical forms, the variety of which can best be judged from the detailed evidence presented in the New English Dictionary under each verb. But, for the common verbs or classes, the South and S. Midlands preserved fairly well the OE. vowel distinction of past tense singular and plural; while North and N. Midlands usually preferred the form proper to the singular for both singular and plural, e.g. þey bygan I 72; þey ne blan I 73; thai slang X 53, where OE. has sg. gan: gunnon; blan: blunnon; ON. slǫng: slungu.

(b) Weak: In the South and Midlands the weak pa. t. 2nd sg. usually ends in -est (N. Midland also -es): hadest II 573; cursedest I 130; kyssedes, raȝteȝ V 283. In the North, and sometimes in N. Midland, it ends in -(e): þou hadde XVI 219. The full ending of the pa. t. pl. is fairly common in the South, S. Midlands, and NW. Midlands: wenten II 185, hedden III 42, maden XII b 196, sayden VI 174.

(vi) Past Participle (Strong): OE. (ge)drĭfen.

In the North and N. Midlands the ending -en is usually preserved, but the prefix y- is dropped. In the South the type is y-driue, with prefix and without final n. S. Midland fluctuates—for example, Gower rarely, Chaucer commonly, uses the prefix y-.