8 adjectives to describe preterits
And what is one singular irregular preterit, compared with all the verbs in the language? OBS.
If we refer this indefinite preterit to the same root, will becomes redundant; will, willed or would, willing, willed.
This vulgarism is to be avoided, not by a simple omission of the terminational s, but rather by the use of the literal preterit: as, "Thought I to myself;""O, said I;""The first thing I heard."
With respect to a vast number of our most common verbs, he himself never knew, nor does the greatest grammarian now living know, in what way he ought to form the simple past tense in the second person singular, otherwise than by the mere uninflected preterit with the pronoun thou.
And what is one singular irregular preterit, compared with all the verbs in the language? OBS.
"The following verbs have both the preterit tense and the perfect participle like the present: viz., Cast, cut, cost, shut, let, bid, shed, hurt, hit, put, &c."Buchanan cor.
"If we analyze a conjunctive preterit, the rule will not appear to hold.
In "The Reves Tale" line 329, however, Chaucer uses, it in a context of past tenses, as Coleridge does here, as if it were a weak preterit; and Chaucer uses "rist up" in the same way several times (Sykes).