Remarks on Certain Verb Forms
246. Several of the perfect participles are seldom used except as
adjectives: as, "his _bounden_ duty," "the _cloven_ hoof," "a
_drunken_ wretch," "a _sunken_ snag." _Stricken_ is used mostly of
diseases; as, "_stricken_ with paralysis."
The verb bear (to bring forth) is peculiar in having one participle
(_borne_) for the active, and another (_born_) for the passive. When it means _to carry_ or to _endure_, _borne_ is also a passive.
The form clomb is not used in prose, but is much used in vulgar
English, and sometimes occurs in poetry; as,--
Thou hast _clomb_ aloft.--WORDSWORTH
Or pine grove whither woodman never _clomb_.--COLERIDGE
The forms of cleave are really a mixture of two verbs,--one meaning
_to adhere_ or _cling_; the other, _to split_. The former used to be
_cleave_, _cleaved_, _cleaved_; and the latter, _cleave_, _clave_ or
_clove_, _cloven_. But the latter took on the weak form _cleft_ in the past tense and past participle,--as (from Shakespeare), "O Hamlet! thou hast _cleft_ my heart in twain,"--while _cleave_ (to cling) sometimes has _clove_, as (from Holmes), "The old Latin tutor _clove_ to Virgilius Maro." In this confusion of usage, only one set remains certain,--_cleave_, _cleft_, _cleft_ (to split).
Crew is seldom found in present-day English.
Not a cock _crew_, nor a dog barked.--IRVING.
Our cock, which always _crew_ at eleven, now told us it was time for repose.--GOLDSMITH.
Historically, drunk is the one correct past participle of the verb
_drink_. But _drunk_ is very much used as an adjective, instead of
_drunken_ (meaning intoxicated); and, probably to avoid confusion with this, drank is a good deal used as a past participle: thus,--
We had each _drank_ three times at the well.--B. TAYLOR.
This liquor _was_ generally _drank_ by Wood and Billings.
--THACKERAY.
Sometimes in literary English, especially in that of an earlier
period, it is found that the verb eat has the past tense and past
participle _eat_ (et), instead of _ate_ and _eaten_; as, for
example,--
It ate the food it ne'er had _eat_.--COLERIDGE.
How fairy Mab the junkets _eat_.--MILTON.
The island princes overbold
Have _eat_ our substance.--TENNYSON.
This is also very much used in spoken and vulgar English.
The form gotten is little used, _got_ being the preferred form of
past participle as well as past tense. One example out of many is,--
We _had_ all _got_ safe on shore.--DE FOE.
Hung and hanged both are used as the past tense and past
participle of _hang_; but _hanged_ is the preferred form when we speak of execution by hanging; as,
The butler _was hanged_.--_Bible._
The verb sat is sometimes spelled _sate_; for example,--
Might we have _sate_ and talked where gowans blow.--WORDSWORTH.
He _sate_ him down, and seized a pen.--BYRON.
"But I _sate_ still and finished my plaiting."--KINGSLEY.
Usually shear is a weak verb. _Shorn_ and _shore_ are not commonly used: indeed, _shore_ is rare, even in poetry.
This heard Geraint, and grasping at his sword,
_Shore_ thro' the swarthy neck.--TENNYSON.
_Shorn_ is used sometimes as a participial adjective, as "a _shorn_
lamb," but not much as a participle. We usually say, "The sheep were _sheared_" instead of "The sheep were _shorn_."
Went is borrowed as the past tense of _go_ from the old verb _wend_, which is seldom used except in poetry; for example,--
If, maiden, thou would'st _wend_ with me
To leave both tower and town.--SCOTT.
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