terit, and its participle. Indeed, in the
scantiness of our conjugations, there is scarcely any other place for
irregularity.

The first irregularity is a slight deviation from the regular form, by
rapid utterance or poetical contraction: the last syllable ed is often
joined with the former by suppression of e; as lov'd for loved; after c,
ch, sh, f, k, x, and after the consonants s, th, when more strongly
pronounced, and sometimes after m, n, r, if preceded by a short vowel, t is
used in pronunciation, but very seldom in writing rather than d; as plac't,
snatch't, fish't, wak't, dwel't, smel't for plac'd, snatch'd, fish'd,
wak'd, dwel'd, smel'd; or placed, snatched, fished, waked, dwelled,
smelled.

Those words which terminate in l or ll, or p, make their preterit in t,
even in solemn language; as crept, felt, dwelt; Sometimes after x, ed is
changed into t; as vext: this is not constant.

A long vowel is often changed into a short one; thus kept, slept, wept,
crept, swept; from the verbs to keep, to sleep, to weep, to creep, to
sweep.

Where d or t go before, the additional letter d or t, in this contracted
form, coalesce into one letter with the radical d or t: if t were the
radical, they coalesce into t; but if d were the radical, then into d or t,
as the one or the other letter may be more easily pronounced; as read, led,
spread, shed, shred, bid, hid, chid, fed, bled, bred, sped, strid, slid,
rid; from the verbs to read, to lead, to spread, to shed, to shread, to
bid, to hide, to chide, to feed, to bleed, to breed, to speed, to stride,
to slide, to ride. And thus cast, hurt, cost, burst, eat, beat, sweat, sit,
quit, smit, writ, bit, hit, met, shot; from the verbs to cast, to hurt, to
cost, to burst, to eat, to beat, to sweat, to sit, to quit, to smite, to
write, to bite, to hit, to meet, to shoot. And in like manner, lent, sent,
rent, girt; from the verbs to lend, to send, to rend, to gird.

The participle preterit or passive is often formed in en instead of ed; as,
been, taken, given, slain, known, from the verbs to be, to take, to give,
to slay, to know.

Many words have two or more participles, as not only written, bitten,
eaten, beaten, hidden, chidden, shotten, chosen, broken; but likewise writ,
bit, eat, beat, hid, chid, shot, chose, broke, are promiscuously used in
the participle, from the verbs to write, to bite, to eat, to beat, to hide,
to chide, to shoot, to choose, to break, and many such