booklet_3rd_12

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Test yourself:

Pronoun, Adverb, Article, Numeral

You are going to read the beginning of the statements (1–12). Finish the statements giving short answers (not more than six words) in the column “Answer” of the grade. There is an example (0) at the beginning.

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Topic 7. The Verb

The OE system of finite verb-forms included the following grammatical categories: tense (Present and Preterite / Past), number (singular, plural), mood, person (only in the singular Present Indicative Mood and in the singular Imperative Mood). In addition to that, OE verbs belonged to a strong or a weak conjugation, each of which was further subdivided into several classes.

Finite Forms of the Verb in OE

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Preterite-Present (Mixed) Verbs in OE

Preterite-present verbs were often used as modals; they were combined with other verbs (usually those other verbs are in the infinitive form) to produce constructions like "remember to go" or "dare to fight".

In OE there were the following mixed verbs: āwan (‘to possess, own, have power over’), cunnan (‘can, to know how to’), duwan (‘to achieve, to avail, be of use, be good’), durran (‘to dare’), mawan (‘to be able to’), mōtan (‘may, to be allowed to’), munan (‘to remember’), nuwan (‘to suffice’), sculan (‘must, to be obligated’), unnan = (‘to grant’), þurfan (‘to need’), witan (‘to know’).

Table 7.6

Conjugation of some Preterite-Present Verbs in OE

The Substantive Verb

There are two parallel Indicative paradigms in Present, both remained in existence until at least towards the end of the 12th century. They represented different meanings: eom paradigm was used to express a present state; bēo paradigm was used to express futurity or a timeless (generic) state. Later the first paradigm ousted the second, except in the infinitive, where beon is the only infinitive form (E. to be). The Past Indicative forms are very similar to the present-day English and the verb takes its forms from the alternative infinitive wæsan.

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Irregular Verbs: ʒān ‘to go’, dōn ‘to do’, willan ‘will’.

Present Participle – dōnde

Past Participle – wÉdōn

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Development of the Verb in the Middle English Period

New analytical forms of the verb developed:

1.Passive: bēon ‘to be’/ weorþan ‘to get, to become’ + Participle II of transitive verbs;

2.Perfect: habban ‘to have’ + Participle II of transitive verbs / bēon ‘to be’ + Participle II of intransitive verbs;

3.Analytical form to denote Future Tense came into use: scullan ‘shall’ / willan ‘will’ + Infinitive.

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Development of the Verb in the Early New English Period:

A new analytical form of the verb developed – Continuous: bēon ‘to be’+ Participle I.

A new Non-Finite form of the verb appeared – the Gerund.

The Infinitive, Gerund and Participle have developed analytical Perfect and Passive forms. The Infinitive has also developed

Continuous forms.

Test yourself:

1.Which tense forms were there in the OE period?

2.HowdidthestrongverbsformtheirPastandPast ParticipleintheOEperiod?

3.How and when did the opposition “Passive – non-Passive” appear?

4.What was so special about the mixed verbs in the OE period?

5.Asaresultofwhichprocessandwhendidtheopposition“Perfect–non-Perfect”develop?

6.How many basic forms did the weak verbs possess in OE?

7.Which non-finite form of the verb developed in the ENE period?

8.What was the difference between OE Participle I and Participle II?

9.How many classes of weak verbs were there in OE?

10.How many basic forms did the strong verbs possess in the OE period? 11.How was the Infinitive formed in the OE period?

12.What was a distinctive feature of irregular (anomalous) verbs?

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Historical Syntax

Topic 1. Old English Syntax

1. The most frequently used patterns of word order were:

Subject – Verb

1.1.‘Ōhthēre s de his hlāforde…’.

1.2.wodbletsodeðāNoeandhissuna…(‘GodthenblessedNoahandhissons…’).

1.3.‘HēwræcþonealdormonCumbran’.(‘HeavengedtheealdormanCumbra’).

Verb – Subject

This word-order is common in independent clauses introduced by the

adverbs þā 'then', þonne 'then', þ r 'there', þanon 'thence', þider 'thither', the

negative adverb ne, and the conjunctions and/ond and ac 'but'. Since Old English narrative often advances in a series of þā-clauses, this Verb-Subject word-order is quite frequent in narrative:

1.4.‘Fela spela him s don þā Beormas’. (‘The Permians told him many stories’).

1.5.‘þā ʒeascode hē þone cyninʒ’. (‘Then he discovered the king’).

1.6.þā cwæð wod tō Caine: "Hw r is Abel ðīn brōðor?"

The Verb-Subject word-order is also characteristic of questions, whether or not introduced by an interrogative word:

1.7. Him cwæð Nicodemus tō: "Hū mæʒ se ealda mann eft bēon

ācenned?” (‘Nicodemus said to him, "How can the old man be born again?’)

Framing: Subject … … … … Verb

The ‘Subject . . . Verb’ word-order is commonly found in subordinate clauses and clauses introduced by and/ond or ac 'but', though it does sometimes occur in independent clauses. The subject comes at the beginning of the clause and the finite verb is delayed until the end (though it may be followed by an adverbial element such as a prepositional phrase).

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4. Neither in questions nor in negative sentences does Old English make use of auxiliary do:

4.1.Hw ʒāþ ʒē? (‘Why do you go?’);

4.2.ic ne ʒā (‘I do not go’).

5. Negation is achieved by use of the particle ne. Negative adverb ne came before (rather than after) the verb it modified:

5.1.‘ic ne dyde’. (‘I did not (do it)’).

5.2.Fram ic ne wille. (‘Away I do not wish [to go]’).

If the ne was the first word in the sentence, the word-order V–S–O was likely:

5.3. Ne mihte hē ʒehealdan heardne mēce.(‘He could not hold the hard sword’). The ne occurred so frequently before certain words that it often coalesced

with them, producing forms like nis (ne + is) ‘is not’ and nolde (ne + wolde) ‘did not want’.

Multiple negation was common, that is, ne might occur several times in the same sentence. Such repetitions, in fact, made the negation more emphatic:

5.4. Nānne ne sparedon (literally ‘they did not spare no one’, that is ‘they did

not spare anyone’).

5.5.‘hē ne mihte nān þinʒ ʒesēon’. (‘He could see nothing’).

5.6.‘hie ne cuþon nan-þing yfeles, naþer ne on spræce ne on weorce’.

(‘They didn’t know anything bad either in words or in work’).

6. The structure of the noun phrase is quite similar to that of Modern English, the normal pattern being determiner–adjective–noun. Exceptions to this pattern are provided by the forms eall ‘all’, bēʒen ‘both’ and adjectives ending in -weard. These precede the determiner:

6.1.eal þes middanʒeard (‘this entire earth’);

6.2.bēʒen þā ʒebroþru (‘both the brothers’);