The ordinary relatives are _which_ and _that_: _who_ is little used as a relative except in the genitive case, _whos_. The plural _whiche_ is usually pronounced as a monosyllable, as ii. 604, iv. 1496, v. 1320, and often loses _-e_ in writing, as Prol. 1016, iv. 1367, 1872, v. 4041, but also sometimes counts as a dissyllable, e.g. i. 404, vii. 1256. In combination with the definite article the singular form is ‘the which,’ not ‘the whiche,’ as Prol. 71, 975. (4) VERBS. In the Infinitive and Gerund, apart from the cases of _do_, _go_, _se_, _sle_, &c., few instances occur of the loss of final _e_. The verb _sein_ (_sain_) has _seie_ and also _say_, and beside the regular infinitive _pute_ we have also _put_ in several instances, the next word beginning with a vowel or mute _h_. The cases are as follows: ‘And thoghte put hire in an Ile,’ i. 1578, ‘To put his lif,’ &c., i. 3213, ‘put eny lette,’ ii. 93, and so also ii. 1021, iii. 1166, iv. 756, 2615, v. 273, viii. 892: but also, ‘It oghte _pute_ a man in fere,’ i. 462, ‘To _puten_ Rome in full espeir,’ ii. 1551, ‘Theucer _pute_ out of his regne,’ iii. 2648, &c. In addition to the above there are a few instances of the same in other verbs, as ‘_get_ hire a thank,’ ii. 60, ‘It schal noght wel _mow_ be forsake,’ ii. 1670, ‘_flitt_ his herte aside,’ iv. 214, ‘_let_ it passe,’ viii. 2056. (In vi. 202, ‘If that sche wolde _ȝif_ me leve,’ we ought perhaps to read _ȝive_ with S: cp. i. 1648.) The gerund ‘to done’ is common, but we do not find either ‘to sene’ or ‘to seine.’ =Present Tense.= In the 1st pers. sing, of the present, apart from such forms as _do_, _go_, &c., and _prai_ beside _preie_ _praie_, there are a few cases of apocope, as in the infinitive: ‘Than cast I,’ iv. 560, ‘let it passe,’ iv. 363, ‘I put me therof in your grace,’ i. 732, ‘I put it al,’ v. 2951, ‘I red thee leve,’ vi. 1359, ‘Nou thenk I,’ vii. 4212. In two of these instances it will be noticed that the following word begins with a consonant. In the 3rd pers. sing. the syncopated and contracted forms are very much used by Gower. He says regularly _bit_, _ett_, _get_, _put_, _schet_, _set_, _sit_ (2nd pers. _sist_), _smit_, _writ_; _arist_, _bint_, _fint_, _holt_ (_halt_), _lest_, _went_, _wext_; _berth_, _brekth_, _bringth_, _crith_, _drawth_, _drinkth_, _falth_, _farth_, _forsakth_, _leith_, _lyth_, _preith_, _spekth_, _takth_ (or _tath_), _thenkth_, _ȝifth_, and only occasionally _draweth_, _drinketh_, _fareth_, _kepeth_, _sitteth_, _waxeth_, &c. In vi. 59 the best MSS. agree in giving _sterte_ for _stert_, and in viii. 2428 most have _sitte_ for _sit_, but these are probably accidental variations. For the 3rd pers. plural Fahrenberg (p. 404) quotes several supposed instances of _th_ ending. Of these most are expressions like ‘men seith,’ where ‘men’ is used as singular indefinite. One only is valid, viz. vii. 1107, ‘Diverse sterres to him longeth’: cp. vii. 536.