In OE there were two non-finite forms of the verb: the Infini­tive and the Participle. In many respects they were closer to the nouns and adjectives than to the finite verb;

The Infinitive is a verbal noun, so it declined like a normal noun.

The OE inf had only 2 case-forms:

1) the Nom. Form, which ends in –an

a. is used after preterite-present verbs

b. after verbs of knowing, semce perception and commanding with an Acc. Object

2) the inflected form of the Dative which ends in –anne (The Infinitive lost its inflected form in Early ME. The preposition to, which was placed to show direction or purpose, lost its prepositional force and changed into a formal sign of the Infinitive.)

a. after the preposition tõ mainly to indicate purpose after all verbs exept preterite-present verbs

b. after the preposition tõ with the verb bēon to express obligation, necessity

c. after the preposition tõ following the adjective

2 participles: present participle

past participle

Participle 1 was formed from the Present tense stem with the help of the suffix -ende

Past participle depended on the morphological type of the verb, but it often had the prefix З e-. The participles were originally verbal adjectives so they have almost the same grammatical features as the adjective.

The participle agrees in case, number and gender with the noun it modifies and is declined either strong or weak depending on the syntactical position. In ME it lost its nominal and adjectival features together with the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable. (growth of adverbial reatures)

The distinctions be­tween the two participles were preserved in ME and NE: Par­ticiple I had an active mean­ing and expressed a process or quality simultaneous with the events described by the predicate of the sentence. Par­ticiple II had an active or passive meaning depending on the transitivity of the verb, and expressed a preceding ac­tion or its results in the sub­sequent situation

Development of the Gerund

The Late ME (14-15c) period witnessed the growth of a new verbal known in modern grammars as the Gerund. The gerund could be formed:

- on the basis of verbal noun, but the article and the prepositions were lost and it gained some verbal features

The nominal features, retained from the verbal noun, were its syntactic functions and the abil­ity to be modified by a possessive pronoun or a noun in the Gen. case

In the course of time the sphere of the usage of the Gerund grew: it replaced the Infinitive and the Participle in many adverbial functions; its great advantage was that it could be used with various prepositions.

13. Transformation of English from a synthetic into an analytic language

Form-building means

1)endings(weak verbs, strong verbs, preterite-present verbs, anomalous verbs)

2)suffixation (weak verbs, preterite-present verbs, anomalous verbs)

3)vowel gradation: (weak verbs, strong verbs, preterite-present verbs)

4)suppletion:(anomalous verbs)

Causes of changes in the morphol-l system in ME &NE

The simplification of the nominal paradigms and the replacement of synthetic means by analytical means of word connection — took place mainly in the Early ME period.

The OE division into classes of weak and strong verbs was completely rearranged and broken. Most verbs have adopted the way of form-building employed by the weak verbs: the dental suffix. The strict classification of the strong verbs with their regular system of form-building degenerated. – led to increased regularity and uniformity and to development of a more consistent and simple system of building .

Strong verb:

In ME the final syllables of the stems were weakened, in early NE most of them were lost. The OE endings –an, -on, -en were reduced to ME –en. The root-vowels underwent the regular changes of stressed vowels. The most imp. Change in the system of strong verbs was the reduction in the number of stems from 4 to 3.