Verbs..

Sep. 25th, 2009 05:46 pm
alpharaposa: (shakespeare)
[personal profile] alpharaposa
Been thinking about verbs today.

Do preach and teach come from different language roots? (One Germanic, one Roman?) If so, that would explain why one is a strong verb and one is a weak verb. If not, then were they both strong verbs at one point? Is there an archaic praught to go alongside taught?

We don't rive things these days, but we still write about trees riven by lighting when we're getting poetic.

Similarly, I can't find any definition of wrought except as a past tense of work. But obviously the word is related to wright as in shipwright.

Dived drives me nuts. I grew up with dove. However, the dictionary informs me that dive was originally a weak verb. How weird.

I really do randomly think about these things while driving home from work. I wish English were taught more like a foreign language in schools, because then students would learn more of why things are the way they are, instead of just memorizing what they are.

Profile

alpharaposa: (Default)
alpharaposa

January 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
29 3031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 08:30 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios