The American Language · OmniClassics

baseball player, though he has pen in hand and is on his guard, and is thus very careful to write /would not/ instead of /wouldn't/ and even /am not/ instead of /ain't/, offers a comprehensive and highly instructive panorama of popular speech habits. To him the forms of the subjunctive mood have no existence, and /will/ and /shall/ are identical, and adjectives and adverbs are indistinguishable, and the objective case is merely a variorum form of the nominative. His past tense is, more often than not, the orthodox present tense. All fine distinctions are obliterated in his speech. He uses invariably the word that is simplest, the grammatical form that is handiest. And so he moves toward the philological millennium dreamed of by George T. Lanigan, when "the singular verb shall lie down with the plural noun, and a little conjugation shall lead them." § 3 /The Verb/--A study of the materials amassed by Charters and Lardner, if it be reinforced by observation of what is heard on the streets every day, will show that the chief grammatical peculiarities of spoken American lie among the verbs and pronouns. The nouns in common use, in the overwhelming main, are quite sound in form. Very often, of course, they do not belong to the vocabulary of English, but they at least belong to the vocabulary of American: the proletariat, setting aside transient slang, calls things by their proper names, and pronounces those names more or less correctly. The adjectives, too, are treated rather politely, and the adverbs, though commonly transformed into adjectives, are not further mutilated. But the verbs and pronouns undergo changes which set off the common speech very [Pg193] sharply from both correct English and correct American. Their grammatical relationships are thoroughly overhauled and sometimes they are radically modified in form. This process is natural and inevitable, for it is among the verbs and pronouns, as we have seen, that the only remaining grammatical inflections in English, at least of any force or consequence, are to be found, and so they must bear the chief pressure of the influences that have been warring upon all inflections since the earliest days. The primitive Indo-European language, it is probable, had eight cases of the noun; the oldest known Teutonic dialect reduced them to six; in Anglo-Saxon they fell to four, with a weak and moribund instrumental hanging in the air; in Middle English the dative and accusative began to decay; in Modern English they have disappeared altogether, save as ghosts to haunt grammarians. But we still have two plainly defined conjugations of the verb, and we still inflect it for number, and, in part, at least, for person. And we yet retain an objective case of the pronoun, and inflect it for person, number and gender. Some of the more familiar conjugations of verbs in the American common speech, as recorded by Charters or Lardner or derived from my own collectanea, are here set down: /Present/ /Preterite/ /Perfect Participle/ Am was bin (or ben)[20] Attack attackted attackted (Be)[21] was bin (or ben) [20] Beat beaten beat Become[22] become became Begin begun began Bend bent bent Bet bet bet Bind bound bound Bite bitten bit Bleed bled bled Blow blowed (or blew) blowed (or blew) Break broken broke Bring brought (or brung, or brang) brung Broke (passive) broke broke Build built built Burn burnt[23] burnt Burst[24] ---- ---- Bust busted busted Buy bought (or boughten) bought (or boughten) Can could could'a Catch caught[25] caught Choose chose choose Climb clum clum Cling (to hold fast) clung clung Cling (to ring) clang clang Come come came Creep crep (or crope) crep Crow crew crew Cut cut cut Dare dared dared Deal dole dealt Dig dug dug Dive dove dived Do done done (or did) Drag drug dragged Draw drawed[26] drawed (or drew) Dream dreampt dreampt Drink drank (or drunk) drank Drive drove drove Drown drownded drownded Eat et (or eat) ate Fall fell (or fallen) fell Feed fed fed Feel felt felt Fetch fetched[27] fetch Fight fought[28] fought Find found found Fine found found Fling flang flung Flow flew flowed Fly flew flew Forget forgotten forgotten Forsake forsaken forsook Freeze frozen (or friz) frozen Get got (or gotten) gotten Give give give Glide glode[29] glode Go went went Grow growed growed Hang hung[30] hung Have had had (or hadden) Hear heerd heerd (or heern) Heat het[31] het Heave hove hove Hide hidden hid H'ist[32] h'isted h'isted Hit hit hit Hold helt held (or helt) Holler hollered hollered Hurt hurt hurt Keep kep kep Kneel knelt knelt Know knowed knew Lay laid (or lain) laid Lead led led Lean lent lent Leap lep lep Learn learnt learnt Lend loaned[33] loaned Lie (to falsify) lied lied Lie (to recline) laid (or lain) laid Light lit lit Lose lost lost Make made made May ---- might'a Mean meant meant Meet met met Mow mown mowed Pay paid paid Plead pled pled Prove proved (or proven) proven Put put put Quit quit quit Raise raised raised Read read read Rench[34] renched renched Rid rid rid Ride ridden rode Rile[35] riled riled Ring rung rang Rise riz (or rose) riz Run run ran Say sez said See seen saw Sell sold sold Send sent sent Set set[36] sat Shake shaken (or shuck) shook Shave shaved shaved Shed shed shed Shine (to polish) shined shined Shoe shoed shoed Shoot shot shot Show shown showed Sing sung sang Sink sunk sank Sit[37] ---- ---- Skin skun skun Sleep slep slep Slide slid slid Sling slang slung Slit slitted slitted Smell smelt smelt Sneak snuck snuck Speed speeded speeded Spell spelt spelt Spill spilt spilt Spin span span Spit spit spit Spoil spoilt spoilt Spring sprung sprang Steal stole stole Sting stang stang Stink stank stank Strike struck struck Swear swore swore Sweep swep swep Swell swole swollen Swim swum swam Swing swang swung Take taken took Teach taught taught Tear tore torn Tell tole tole Think thought[38] thought Thrive throve throve Throw throwed threw Tread tread tread