As in «Chaucer» the 2nd person preterite of strong verbs is sometimes formed by «-est» or «-ist», «letist» 2167; but we find also regular forms, as in «slough» 1259, where, however, the O.E. «e» («slôge») is already dropped. The «-en» or «-n» of the preterite plural and of past participles is commonly dropped, «ronnen» 3007, «ronne» 2959, «took» 477, «tokene» 2621, «slough» 78, «sloughen» 401, «ido» 327: «so», &c. The «-d» in the past participles and in the preterite of weak verbs is sometimes omitted, as often happens in East-Midland works. Thus we find «comforte» 2242 and «comforted» 312, «commaunde» 57 and «commaunded» 228, «graunte» 607, «liste» 1132, «list» 1966, «discumfite» 1464, &c. On the same analogy we find «light» 1125, 1189, and «lighted» 3109, «worth» 1203, and «worthed» 1163. As regards the final «-e»’s, it may be remarked that the scribe has added many final «-e»’s, where the rules would not lead us to suspect them, and has often given a final «-e» to words which in other passages of the poem, although similarly used, have no «e»:—«note» 245, 274, «not» 255, 313; «howe» 19, «how» 275; «undere» 61, «under» 713; «bute» 247, «but» 8; «cooste» 202, «coost» 3062; «crafte» 424, «craft» 2335; «ashamede» 1295, «ashamed» 558, &c. This is due either to carelessness on the part of the scribe, or perhaps to the fact that in the speech of the copyist the final «e»’s had already become altogether silent, so that finding many words ending in «-e» and not knowing its meaning, he considered it as a mere [p-xxxix] “ornament in writing” (Ellis, «Pronunciation», i. 338), and sometimes added, sometimes omitted it. With respect to the composer of the «Sowdan» himself, there may be some doubt left whether in his speech the final «e» had become altogether silent, or was still pronounced occasionally. From the following instances it may be concluded with certainty that the poet very frequently did not sound the final «e»:—757 «boghtẹ» : «noght», 3154 «hat» : «fat», 961 «wrongẹ» : «distruccion», 556 «onlacẹ» : «was»; cf. also 1383, 1611, 2163; 2795 «spékẹ we of Ríchard», 2999 «fought», 2093, 859 «bringẹ», 9, 2547 «keptẹ», 834 «wentẹ», 142 «comẹ», 713 «wodẹ».