286. OWE, OUGHT, Pres. indef.: sing. 1. owe, 2. owest, 3. owe; plur. owen, owé, owe.

Past indef. sing. 1. oughté, ought, 2. oughtest, 3. oughté, ought; plur. oughten, oughté, ought. 287. QUOTH. Pres. indef.: sing. 1. quoth, quod, 2., 3. quoth, quod; plur. 1., 2., 3. quoth, quod. Another form of this verb: quote ('cite'), and the derivative be-queath, are regular.

288. WORTH ('be'). Pres. indef.: worth. He worth upon his steedes gray.'

Imperative worthe, worth. Woe worth the hour,' i. e. woe be to the hour.'

Infinitive worthé, worth (Germ. werden, A.-S. weorthan).

289. LIST, LUST ('be pleasant'), is used only in the 3d person singular. The pronoun usually found before it is in the dative case, and the subject is the sentence following or preceding the verb.

Pres. indef. list or lest. Me list not pleye' (Chaucer). Wel to drinke us lest' (Id.). 'If you lest,' &c. (Id.).

Past indef. lust. 'Him lust ride soo' (Id.).
The derived verb lust-desire, is regular.

290. THINK (appear'). This must not be confounded
with the regular verb think. In A.-S. there are
two verbs, thencan, 'to think,' and thincan, 'to
appear.' The latter is the source of the present
verb. It is found only in the 3d person singular,

were a verb with its nominative, is undoubtedly one word, and that an adverb, signifying 'certainly, probably.' It ought to be written ywis or ywiss; corresponding, as it does, exactly to the modern German gewiss."—Craik's English of Shakspere, p. 225.

with a construction similar to that of list, explained

in § 289.

Pres. indef.: thinks.

Past indef.: thought.

Methought what pain it was to drown.

Shakspere.

291. DURST, possibly a strengthened form of dare, is used for all persons and both numbers of the Pres. and Past Indef.

292. Many of these verbs in O. E. are combined with the negative ne, e. g. nill=ne will (compare the Latin ne vol- or nol-). The following are of frequent

Notwithstanding their negative meaning, these

verbs have the peculiarity of being used with a second negative :

There nis no more to say.-Chaucer.

293. The present tendency of the English language is to convert strong verbs into weak. Hence many strong forms are found in old English and in the provincial dialects, which have disappeared from the current language of literature. Thus, 'he mew the grass,' 'it snew yesterday,' 'he ewe me money,' 'he shew me the beetle,' are current in Norfolk. Sometimes the

strong and weak forms co-exist, marking a period of transition. No new verb ever takes the strong form.

ADVERBS.

294. Adverbs are indeclinable words, employed to modify the meaning of adjectives, participles, verbs, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, other adverbs, and compound phrases.

(a.) Adjective. This has rendered them universally proud' (Burke).

(b.) Participle. 'A greatly honoured friend and teacher' (Trench).

(c.) Verb. The dogs howled fearfully during the night'

(Waterton).

(d.) Preposition.

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Far from the madding crowd's

ignoble strife' (Gray).

(e.) Noun. 'I shall dismiss all attempts to please, while I study only instruction' (Goldsmith).

(f.) Pronoun. Yours most affectionately, Oliver Goldsmith' (Id.).

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(g.) Adverb. Why was the philosopher more easily satisfied than the mechanic? (Macaulay).

(h.) Compound phrase. The barn-owl sometimes [carries off rats' (Waterton).

295. Any phrase or combination of words indicating the time, manner, or locality of an action is virtually an adverb.

It was written a thousand years before our Christian era.-De Quincey.

In the evening, when we went away, the old waterhen came back to the nest.-Waterton.

The legions stood to their arms in well-ordered ranks, and awful silence.—Gibbon.

This knowledge is only to be attained at the price of labour and pains.-Trench.

In a cowslip's bell I lie.-Shakspere.

296. Simple adverbs are formed from nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, numerals, and prepositions: bodily, here, sweetly, astray, wooingly, once, before.

297. Most of the English adverbs are formed from adjectives or participles by the suffix -ly, a shortened form of like (A.-S. -lice, -lic); sure-ly, loving-ly.

298. Adjectives are sometimes formed from nouns by the suffix -ly or -like, as god-like, god-ly. The adverbs derived from such adjectives do not add a second -ly. The simple adjective is used as an adverb: hourly, night-ly. In holi-ly, from hol-y, the l is part of the root.

299. Adverbs are frequently formed by the prefix a (at): a-float, a-head, a-shore, a-board; or by the suffixes -ward, -wise, -side: home-ward, other-wise, out-side.

Those derived from pronouns have been specified and explained in §§ 179, 187, 192. Those derived from numerals are explained in § 156.

300. Adverbs formed from the relative and inter

rogative pronouns serve at the same time to connect propositions, and may be called Conjunctive Adverbs :

Wherever they marched, their route was marked with blood.-Robertson.

In the deep nook where once

Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes, there she's hid.

Shakspere.

Shall I be frighted, when a madman stares ?—Id.

301. Those derived from the interrogative are frequently employed to ask a question, and may be termed Interrogative Adverbs:

Mother, oh! where is that radiant shore ?—Hemans.
When shall we three meet again?-Shakspere.

Why dimly gleams the visionary sword ?-Pope.
How could I name Love's very name,

Nor wake my harp to notes of flame ?-Scott.

302. The same word is frequently employed as an adjective and an adverb:

Sweet lord, you play me false.-Shakspere.

303. Some adverbs admit of degrees of comparison: soon, soon-er, soon-est.

Others, from their nature, are incapable of being compared now, then, to-morrow.

The rules already given for expressing the comparison of adjectives apply equally to adverbs. In AngloSaxon the suffixes for adverbs are -or, -ost; for adjectives -er, -est. In modern English this distinction is lost.

H