3. The ne Adjective

In the age of Chaucer the paradigm of the adjective consisted of four forms distinguished by a single vocalic ending –e

Declension (Late ME)

Singular Plural

strong blind blinde

weak blinde blinde

The loss of the final –e in the transition to the NE period made the adjective an uninflected part of speech.

Degrees of comparison

In Early NE the alteration of root-vowels survived in some adjectives:

old – elder – eldest

farther - farthest

f ar

further – furthest

4. The ne Verb

The verb has lost the ending of the infinitive and all the inflexions of the present tense but not the third person singular. This flexion has acquired the form –(e)s (from the northern dialects) instead of the southern –(e)th. The form of the 2-nd person singular (e.g. speakest) has been lost or become archaic.

The four basic forms of the strong verbs have been reduced to three as most of the verbs were losing the distinction between the past tense singular and plural. Of the 2-nd past tense forms some verbs preserved the singular and some of the plural. E.g. most of the former strong verbs of class I preserved the singular form: wrote, drove, rode (from OE wrat, draf, rad). But the past tense “bit” (< bite) is from OE plural biton, not bat (OE bitan).

Continuous and Perfect Continuous forms developed from former syntactical combinations of the verb “to be” and Participle I.

The infinitive, gerund and participle developed analytical “perfect” and “passive” forms. The infinitive developed “continuous” forms.

Strong verbs

In Early NE many strong verbs continued their transition into weak. Many strong verbs began to form their Past and Participle II with the help of the dental suffixes instead of vowel gradation. So the number of strong verbs decreased (OE 300 – some dropped out of use; OE 195 strong verbs left; only 67 have retained their root-vowel interchange; 128 acquired weak forms).

During the 14-17^th centuries many parallel forms were used in free variation. E.g. Chaucer used 2 parallel forms of the Past of slepen /sle:pqn/ - slepte, sleep /sle:p/.

Weak verbs

There was a tendency to greater regularity and order. The development of the inflexion –(e)de in Early NE shows the origins of the modern variants of the forms of the Past Tense and Participle II in standard verbs:

ME NE

lookede /lokqdq/ looked /lHkqd/

wantede /'wantqdq/ wanted /wOntId/

5. The changes in Syntax

1. The order Subject – Predicate – Indirect Object – Direct Object was established. Thus, the position of a noun in the structure of a sentence but not its case inflexion as in OE showed whether this noun is the subject or the object.

2. In most questions inversion became the rule (the verbs placed before the subject).

3. One of the characteristic features of the NE period was the development of structural substitutes (e.g. there, it, one, do). E.g. It is pleasant to dance.

4. The development and the extensive use of infinitive, gerund and participle complexes.

5. In the 16-17^th centuries the structure of the sentence became more complicated. In the 15-18^th centuries the number of coordinating connectives was almost doubled (and + in consequence, in fact, to conclude …, neither … nor).