Middle English and Early New English minor groups of verbs.

The verbs included in the minor groups underwent multiple changes in ME and Early NE: phonetic and analogical changes, which affected their forms, and semantic changes which affected their functions. Several preterite-present verbs died out. The surviving verbs lost some of their old forms and grammatical distinctions but retained many specific peculiarities. They lost the forms of the verbals which had sprung up in OE and the distinctions between the forms of number and mood in the Present tense. In NE their paradigms have been reduced to two forms or even to one.

ME can was used not only in the sg but also in the pl by the side of cunnen, the descendant of OE pl cunnon; the latter, as well as the Subj. forms cunnen, cunne died out by the end of the ME period. The Past tense Ind. and Subj. appears in ME in two variants: couth(e) and coud(e). Couth became obsolete in NE, but coud was preserved. In ME the verb can, and especially its Past Participle is still used in the original meaning 'know'.

ME may was used as the main form of the Present tense, alongside mowen/mowe, and as the only form of the Present in Early NE. Its Infinitive and Participle I went out of use; its Past tense might was retained as the Past form, Indicative and Subjunctive. As compared with OE, may has narrowed its meaning, for some of its functions, namely indication of physical and mental ability, have passed to the verb can.

ME shall has lost many of its old forms: the pl forms, the forms of Pres. Subj., the Inf., and has retained only two forms shall and should.

A similar shift of time-reference is observed in the history of must and ought. Moste, mostest, mosten were Past forms of the OE preterite-present mot 'can'. The Pres. tense forms have been lost while must has acquired the meaning of obligation and is now treated as a Pres. tense form. The OE verb willan, though not a preterite-present by origin, has acquired many features typical of the group, probably due to semantic and functional affinities . In ME it was commonly used as a modal verb expressing volition. In the course of time it formed a system with shall, as both verbs, shall and will. ME ben (NE be) inherited its suppletive forms from the OE and more remote periods of history. The Past tense forms were fairly homogeneous in all the dialects. The forms of the Pres. tense were derived from different roots and displayed considerable dialectal differences.

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