1. sg. _drīf-e_
2. _drīf-es(t)_
3. _drīf-eð_ (Nth. _-es_)
pl. _drīf-að_ (Nth. _-as_)
ME.
South S. Midl. N. Midl. North
1. sg. _-e_ _-e_ _-(e)_ _-(e)_ or _-(e)s_
2. _-est_ _-est_ _-es(t)_ _-es_
3. _-eþ_ _-eþ_ _-eþ_ or _-es_ _-es_
pl. _-eþ_ _-e(n)_ _-e(n)_ or _-es_ _-es_ or _-(e)_
(iv) #The Imperative Plural# might be expected to agree with the pres.
ind. pl. In fact it has the ending _-eþ_ not merely in the South, but in
most of the Midlands, e.g. I, VIII, Gower and Chaucer. Northern and NW.
Midland (V, VI, XIV _b_, XVI) have commonly _-es_. But Chaucer, Gower,
and most late ME. texts have, beside the full inflexion, an uninflected
form, e.g. _vndo_ XVI 182.
(v) #Past Tense.#
(_a_) Strong: The historical distinctions of stem-vowel were often
obscured in ME. by the rise of new analogical forms, the variety of
which can best be judged from the detailed evidence presented in the
_New English Dictionary_ under each verb. But, for the common verbs or
classes, the South and S. Midlands preserved fairly well the OE. vowel
distinction of past tense singular and plural; while North and N.
Midlands usually preferred the form proper to the singular for both
singular and plural, e.g. _þey bygan_ I 72; _þey ne blan_ I 73; _thai
slang_ X 53, where OE. has sg. _gan_: _gunnon_; _blan_: _blunnon_; ON.
_slǫng_: _slungu_.
(_b_) Weak: In the South and Midlands the weak pa. t. 2nd sg. usually
ends in _-est_ (N. Midland also _-es_): _hadest_ II 573; _cursedest_ I
130; _kyssedes_, _raȝteȝ_ V 283. In the North, and sometimes in N.
Midland, it ends in _-(e)_: _þou hadde_ XVI 219. The full ending of the
pa. t. pl. is fairly common in the South, S. Midlands, and NW. Midlands:
_wenten_ II 185, _hedden_ III 42, _maden_ XII _b_ 196, _sayden_ VI 174.
(vi) #Past Participle (Strong)#: OE. _(ge)drĭfen_.
In the North and N. Midlands the ending _-en_ is usually preserved, but
the prefix _y-_ is dropped. In the South the type is _y-driue_, with
prefix and without final _n_. S. Midland fluctuates—for example, Gower
rarely, Chaucer commonly, uses the prefix _y-_.
(vii) #Weak Verbs with -i- suffix#: In OE. weak verbs of Class II formed
the infinitive in _-ian_, e.g. _acsian_, _lufian_, and the _i_ appeared
also in the pres. ind. and imper. pl. _acsiað_ and pres. p. _acsiende_.
In ME. a certain number of French verbs with an _-i-_ suffix reinforced
this class. In the South and W. Midlands the _-i-_ of the suffix is
often preserved, e.g. _aski_ II 467, _louy_ V 27, and is sometimes
extended to forms in which it has no historical justification, e.g. pp.
_spuryed_ V 25. In the North and the E. Midlands the forms without _i_
are generalized.
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