8. +Grammar of the Fourth Period, 1350-1485.+-- This may be called +Later Middle English+. An old writer of the fourteenth century points out that, in his time-- and before it-- the English language was “a-deled a thre,” divided into three; that is, that there were three main dialects, the +Northern+, the +Midland+, and the +Southern+. There were many differences in the grammar of these dialects; but the chief of these differences is found in the plural of the present indicative of the verb. This part of the verb formed its plurals in the following manner:-- NORTHERN. MIDLAND. SOUTHERN. We hopës We hopen We hopeth. You hopës You hopen You hopeth. They hopës They hopen They hopeth.[14] In time the Midland dialect conquered; and the East Midland form of it became predominant all over England. As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, this dialect had thrown off most of the old inflexions, and had become almost as flexionless as the English of the present day. Let us note a few of the more prominent changes. --The first personal pronoun +Ic+ or +Ich+ loses the guttural, and becomes +I+. --The pronouns +him+, +them+, and +whom+, which are true datives, are used either as datives or as objectives. --The imperative plural ends in +eth+. “Riseth up,” Chaucer makes one of his characters say, “and stondeth by me!” --The useful and almost ubiquitous letter +e+ comes in as a substitute for +a+, +u+, and even +an+. Thus +nama+ becomes +name+, +sunu+ (son) becomes +sune+, and +withutan+ changes into +withute+. --The dative of adjectives is used as an adverb. Thus we find +softë+, +brightë+ employed like our +softly+, +brightly+. --The +n+ in the infinitive has fallen away; but the +ë+ is sounded as a separate syllable. Thus we find +brekë+, +smitë+ for _breken_ and _smiten_. [Footnote 14: This plural we still find in the famous Winchester motto, “Manners maketh man.”]