| 464. When we put together all the different forms of a verb, we have what is called its Conjugation. | ||||
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465. We shall find that there are commonly but seven or eight changes made in the verb by inflection.
In the verbs wait and give, for instance, we use the simple forms — (1) Wait and give, as infinitive, as gerund, as imperative, as present tense of the indicative and subjunctive; We substitute — (2) Waits and gives in the present indicative with third singular subjects; (3) Waited and gave as past tense; (4) Waiting and giving as the gerund and as the present or active participle; (5) Waited (like the past tense) and given as the past or passive participle; Besides these we have the solemn or poetical forms, — (6) Waitest and givest, in the present indicative with the subject thou; (7) Waitedest and gavest, in the past indicative with the subject thou; and — (8) Waiteth and giveth in the present indicative, with a third singular subject; | ||||
466. Rules for Spelling.
I. The third singular form of the present indicative is made by adding -s to the root form, or -es, when needed for the sound.
If the verb ends in -y after a consonant, -y is changed to -i- and -es is added.
[See §§ 278, 279.]
As, —
II. Silent -e is dropped before the suffixes -er, -ed, -ing, etc.
III. Monosyllables, and dissyllables accented on the second syllable, if they end in a single consonant after a single vowel, double the final consonant before -er, -ed, -ing, etc. As, —
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467. The verb be not only keeps many of the old forms, but is really made up of three different verbs historically, — the infinitive, gerund, and participles be, being, been, from one root;
the present tense am, are, etc., from a second; and the past was, were, from a third.
Thus: —
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468. Most verbs have seven inflected forms, only four of which are in common use.
These verbs are conjugated like wait, as follows: —
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469. Some verbs have eight or nine inflected forms, three of which are seldom used.
These verbs are conjugated like give.
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470. Regular and Irregular Verbs. We see that the two verbs wait and give are changed in different ways.
The past tense and the past participle of wait are formed alike, that is, by adding -ed.
Thus: —
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471. Most verbs [all but about two hundred of the thousands of verbs of the language] form the past tense and the perfect participle by adding -d or -ed to the root, and are called Regular Verbs.
All other verbs are called Irregular. [These are actually of two kinds: (1) regular with an irregular spelling and (2) Germanic strong verbs, which are anciently irregular: these are in bold in the list of § 474.]
For example: —
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| 472. These three forms, the root infinitive, the past tense, and the perfect participle, are called the Principal Parts of the verb, because when they are known, the whole conjugation of the verb can be given. | ||||||||||||||||
| 473. Double Forms. Some verbs have both regular and irregular forms for the past tense, or for the perfect participle, or for both. Sometimes these forms differ in meaning, and frequently in use, but generally either may be used. | ||||||||||||||||
474. [Forms now out of use or rare are as a rule omitted.
Otherwise the list contains all verb forms of the Germanic strong conjugations printed in bold faced type, and all irregular forms of the weak conjugation printed in plain type.
Where only part of the forms are irregular, the regular forms are given too.
When the root infinitive does not exist, the present tense is instead listed in italics.]
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