Observe the 2nd pers. sing. of a past tense, [1589] thou cam)—slan), of a praeterito-praesens, [410] they—sey, thow may. [1543] away—aye, may. [2001] may—welaway.
The past participle of strong verbs terminates in n: [482] syne—schene, wene—clene. [675] slayne—rayne. [800] slayne—trayne. [1292] fayn)—slayn). [1562] sene—wene. [2323] alone—slone. We don’t find one certain instance for the dropping of this n, besides [1678] and [2063] be.
The past tense plural of strong verbs has the same vowel as the singular: [1452] They ffound (r. ffand)—goand. [1458] began—gentilman. [1753] tong—dong.
The 3rd pers. of the present indic. of to be = ys or es: cf. [738] blyse—ys. [2413] ys—Raynes. Once ys is found as plural: [2524] ys—iwys. The present subjunctive is be through all persons: [208] be—me, 2nd pers. [614] be—se, 3rd pers. [884] the—bee, 3rd pers. [2017] be—me, 2nd pers. plr. The infinitive be and bene: [49] the—bee. [483] be—see. [1643] be—charite. [903] the—bee. [1833] clene—bene. [2161] quene—bene. [2613] bene—kene. The past tense singular number is was or wes: [247] alas—wase. [426] glase—was. [771] pase—wase. [1873] wyldernes—was (= wes). The plural were, ware, wore, as well as was, wes: (1) [l. 402] wer)—cher. [1047] were—chere. [1845] were—ffere. [2586] squiere—were, here—clere. (2) [603] fare—were. [2494] ware—bare. [1384] beffore—there, were (= wore). (3) [384] pase—wase. [1388] passe—was. (4) [2026] wildernes—was (= wes). [2545] wildernes—was; cf. l. [2584]. The subjunctive mood of the past tense is were and ware, in sgl. and plr.: [225] were—clere. [235] here—were. [1696] chere—were. [2476] were—bere. [154] were (= ware)—fare. [1020] wer (= ware)—fare. [2074] care—ware. The past participle: [7] bedene—ben. [172] byne—seyn. [2344] ibene—kene. [1678] be—crystiaunte.
From this inquiry into the sounds and inflexions, the following conclusions can be drawn:
The development of ă is of no use in fixing the dialect. Nor is ea, which has become a, o, and e, to be deemed a characteristic either of the Midland or Northern dialect. Ags. ea occurs as o as early as 1250 in the Northumbrian Psalter, and 50 years afterwards in Sir Tristrem and Sir Perceval; even Richard Rolle in his Pricke of Conscience offers one instance of this change (cf. Sir Tristrem, p. lxix f.).
The development of the ags. â, which we find in 26 passages as a, in 22 as o, is remarkable. There are only a very few instances of this change in Sir Tristrem, p. lxxi, and in the Psalter; and this almost equal number of a- and o-rhymes proves evidently that the poem cannot belong to a Northern country. At the same time, a proportion like that would be impossible in a text of Southern origin. The same negative result is to be derived from the fact that Ags. y is always written y.
As to the inflexions, the plurals of the substantives are formed by adding -s or -n (en), or by vowel change, or they have no inflexions at all. As for the inflexion -n, it only occurs in slon and shon, and of this very word the plural in n is to be met with even in Northern writers.
The infinitives both preserve or drop the final n, as is the rule with the Midland dialect; the form of the past participle with n accords with the use of the Northern writers.
The present partic. ending in -and and the past tense plurals of strong verbs having adopted the vowel of the singular, agree with the North as well as with the northern districts of the Midland, in the same way as some forms of to be: plr. prs. ys and plr. prt. was, besides the usual forms be and are, resp. were and ware, and the contracted forms of take: [758] name—tane. [1095] gane—itane. [1825] ta—twa (cf. [231], [286], [859], [1333], [1475], [1722], [1733], [2617]).