Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/79

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The Norsemen, breathing fire and slaughter, have for ever branded, as we see, their mark upon England's tongue. Northern English had become very corrupt since the year 800; as I before said, the intermingling of two kindred tribes, like the Angles and Norsemen, must tend to shear away the endings of substantives and verbs. The third Persons, both Singular and Plural, of the Pre&shy;sent tense now often end in s instead of th, as he onsœces; we follow the North in daily life, but we listen to the Southern form when we go to Church. The ð of the Imperative also becomes s, as wyrcas instead of wyrcað;