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APPENDIX A.

Anglo-Saxon Forms of some Important Words.

1. The demonstrative and relative pronoun was thus declined:

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As a demonstrative, this pronoun answered to the Latin is, ea, id.

2. There was another demonstrative word, answering to the Latin hic, haec, hoc, which was declined as follows:

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3. The following are the forms of the personal pronouns :

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It is worthy of notice that in Anglo-Saxon there was a dual number in the pronouns of the first and second persons, and that the Dative and Accusative forms are not always the same. The genitive plural ure has probably lost the letter n; ouren (for of us) is found in Wiclif. Chaucer uses they for the nominative plural, but her and hem for their and them.

4. The interrogative pronoun hwa was thus declined :

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(Nouns ending in a Consonant, and Masculines in -e.)

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The Third Declension presents no additional forms of special importance.

6. Declension of Adjectives.

Adjectives preceded by a demonstrative word had their three genders declined like the masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns of the first declension.

When not preceded by a definitive word, adjectives were declined as follows:

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7. Conjugation of Verbs.

A. VERBS OF THE WEAK CONJUGATION.
First Class.-Nerjan (to preserve).

Inf.-nerjan. Imp. Part.-nerjende. Perf. Part.-(ge)nered.

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Second Class.-Lufjan (to love).

Inf.-lufjan. Imp. Part.-lufjende (lufigende).
Perf. Part.-(ge)lufod.

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Inf.-hŷran. Imp. Part.—hŷrende. Perf. Part.-(ge)hŷred.

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Inf-niman. Imp. Part.-nimende. Perf. Part.-(ge)numen.

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Inf.-beón, wesan.

The Verb 'to be' (See § 251).

Imp. Part.-wesende. Perf. Part.—(ge)wesen.

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The foregoing are the leading inflections of the Anglo-Saxon, or First Period of English. (See Preliminary Notice, p. 5.)

In the Second Period we find a weakening of the broad vowels (a, o, and u) in suffixes to e, and a tendency to drop some suffixes altogether. The use of -es as a plural suffix increases. Es also begins to be used as a genitive suffix in feminine nouns. Some suffixes properly belonging only to particular declensions begin to be used indiscriminately in all. adjectives of the strong declension suffixes do not always appear in their full form. In the weak declension they are often replaced by -e, a change which in the Northern dialect applied to the strong declension as well.

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The inflections of the demonstrative or relative pronoun se, seo, þæt (now be, beo, bat) are sometimes dropped, so that we get an uninflected form the, which, as a demonstrative, is the modern definite article. The neuter relative thet or that was used with antecedents of any gender.

In verbs the gerundial infinitive often ended in -en or -e, instead of -enne or -anne, in place of which -inde is also found. Shall and will began to come into use as ordinary auxiliaries. The old prefix ge of perfect participles was weakened to i, and frequently dropped, as was also the -n of the suffix.

The simplification of the grammar is especially observable in the Northern dialect.

The Third Period exhibits a continued weakening of the old forms, spoken sounds and their written representatives being both in an unsettled state. The influence of two opposed systems of accentuation is traceable (§ 27); grammatical and natural gender begin to coincide, and differences of declension connected with differences of gender cease.

In nouns the inflections have dwindled down to the plural suffix -s, -es, -is, or -ys, used without regard to gender or ancient modes of declension (-en being however still used in a large number, and a few plurals being formed by the suffixes er, re, or e, or by a change of vowel); the ordinary genitive suffix -s, -es, or is (curiously dropped in the case of the family names father, mother, brother and sister, and of several feminine nouns,

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