A history of the English Language

participle has taken its place. Thus 
cling, sting, spin,
etc., should have had a past tense 
clang, stang, span
(like 
sing
), but these forms have been replaced by 
clung, stung, spun
from the plural and the past participle. The past tense of 
slide
should have been 
slode,
but 
the plural and the past participle had 
i
and we now say 
slide—slid—slid
. Sometimes a 
verb has changed from one class to another. 
Break
belonged originally to the fifth class of 
strong verbs, and had it remained there, would have had a past participle 
breken
. But in 
Old English it was confused with verbs of the fourth class, which had 
o
in the past 
participle, whence our form 
broken
. This form has now spread to the past tense. We 
should be saying 
brack
or 
brake,
and the latter is still used in the Bible, but except in 
biblical language the current form is now 
broke
.
 Speak 
has had a similar development. 
Almost every strong verb in the language has an interesting formhistory, but our present 
purpose will be sufficiently served by these few examples of the sort of fluctuation and 
change that was going on all through the Middle English period and which has not yet 
ended.
10 
There are fifteen such verbs. 
Strive
(from French) has been inflected on the pattern of 
drive,
as 
have 
thrive
and 
rive
(both from Old Norse). In some varieties of English 
dive
has developed a past 
tense 
dove
. Since the eighteenth century 
stave
has had a strong form 
stove
. So, too, has 
reeve, 
a
 
nautical term
.
 Wear—wore—worn, 
a weak verb in Old English, has been reformed on the analogy 
of verbs like 
bear
and 
swear
.
 Spat
has been the past tense of 
spit
since the sixteenth century, and 
the strong forms of 
stick
date from the same time. An analogous formation 
dug
appears as a past 
participle at this date and since the eighteenth century has been used as the past tense. 
Fling, ring,
and 
string
are conjugated like 
cling, sting,
and 
swing
.
 Hide
and occasionally 
chide
have strong past