Ce['a]w.
Brew Brewed. | Bre['o]we Bre['a]w.
Lock Locked. | L[^u]ce Le['a]c.
Suck Sucked. | S[^u]ce Se['a]c.
Reek Reeked. | Re['o]ce Re['a]c.
Smoke Smoked. | Sme['o]ce Sme['a]c.
Bow Bowed. | Be['o]ge Be['a]h.
Lie Lied. | Le['o]ge Le['a]h.
Gripe Griped. | Gr['i]pe Gr['a]p.
Span Spanned. | Spanne Sp['e]n.
Eke Eked. | E['a]ce E['o]c.
Fare Fared. | Fare F[^o]r.

s. 322. Respecting the _strong_ verb, the following general statements may
be made:

1. Many strong verbs become weak; whilst no weak verb ever becomes strong.

2. All the strong verbs are of Saxon origin. None are classical.

3. The greater number of them are strong throughout the Gothic tongues.

4. No new word is ever, upon its importation, inflected according to the
strong conjugation. It is always weak. As early as A.D. 1085, the French
word _adouber_ = _to dub_, was introduced into English. Its praeterite was
_dubbade_.

5. All derived words are inflected weak. The intransitive forms _drink_ and
_lie_, are strong; the transitive forms _drench_ and _lay_, are weak.

This shows that the division of verbs into _weak_ and _strong_ is a truly
natural one.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVI.

DEFECTIVENESS AND IRREGULARITY.

s. 323. The distinction between irregularity and defectiveness has been
foreshadowed. It is now more urgently insisted on.

The words that have hitherto served as illustrations are the personal
pronouns _I_ or _me_, the adjectives _good_, _better_, and _best_.

The view of these words was as follows; viz., that none of them were
_irregular_, but that they were all _defective_. _Me_ wanted the
nominative, _I_ the oblique cases. _Good_ was without a comparative,
_better_ and _best_ had no positive degree.

Now _me_ and _better_ may be said to make good the defectiveness of _I_ and
_good_; and _I_ and _good_ may be said to replace the forms wanting in _me_
and _better_. This gives us the principle of _compensation_. To introduce a
new term, _I_ and _me_, _good_ and _better_, may be said to be
_complementary_ to each other.

What applies to nouns applies to verbs also