ABSTRACT
§ 126. The history of the verb in M.E. is not so straightforward as that of the noun, for while the simplification of form, resulting from the weakening of unaccented vowels went on, the distinction of classes and persons remained and frequent analogical formation introduced further complications. Thus while we have seen that the many earlier declensions of the noun were in M.E. for all practical purposes merged into one, or in the south to two, with lists of exceptions, in the verb we still have strong and weak conjugations to distinguish and, since verbs are classified by their stem or accented syllables, the different classes of strong verbs are still clear. But new complications have arisen, from the borrowing of weak preterite endings by many verbs originally strong, and of forms between the different classes.
