+69.  Conjugation.+—­The complete and orderly arrangement of the various forms of a verb is termed its conjugation.  Complete conjugations will be found in any text-book on English grammar.

The passive voice must not be confused with such a form as the progressive conjugation of the verb.  The passive consists of a form of to be and a past participle:  [I am instructed].  The progressive tenses combine some form of to be with a present participle:  [I am instructing].

It may be well to distinguish here between the passive voice and a past participle used as an attribute complement of the verb be.  Both have the same form, but there is a difference of meaning.  The passive voice always shows action received by the subject, while the participle is used only as an adjective denoting condition:  [James was tired by his day’s work (passive voice).  James was tired (attribute complement)].

+70.  Weak and Strong Conjugations.+—­Verbs are divided into two classes as regards their conjugations.  It has been the custom to call all verbs which form the preterite and past participle by adding _-d_ or _-ed_ to the present, regular verbs [love, loved, loved], and to call all others irregular.  A better classification, based on more careful study of the history of the English verb, divides verbs into those of the weak and those of the strong conjugations.

The weak verbs are those which form the preterite by adding _-ed, -d_, or _-t_ to the present:  love, loved.  There is also infrequently a change of vowel:  sell, sold; teach, taught.

All verbs which form the preterite without the addition of an ending are strong verbs.  There is usually a change of vowel.  The termination of the past participle in _-n_ or _-en_ is a sure indication that a verb is strong.  Some verbs show forms of both conjugations.

A complete list of strong verbs cannot be given here, but a few of the most common will be given, together with a few weak verbs, in the use of which mistakes occur.

PRESENT              PRETERITE            PAST PARTICIPLE
am                     was                     been
arise                  rose                    arisen
bear                   bore                    borne, born[1]
begin                  began                   begun
bid (command)          bade                    bidden
bite                   bit                     bitten
blow                   blew                    blown
break                  broke                   broken
bring                  brought                 brought
burst                  burst                   burst
catch                  caught                  caught
choose                 chose                   chosen
climb                  climbed                 climbed
come                   came                    come