Re: "There can be"

From: Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

> On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Douglas Koller <laokou@...> wrote:
> > Kinda sorta makes sense, though what *we* learned as "modal auxiliaries" plus
> "wissen" change their vowel in the present as you move from sing. to pl.,
> whereas strong verbs in the preterite do not.
>
> True. Though apparently more accurate wording is "...whereas strong
> verbs in the preterite no longer do"; at least, if I understand this
> bit from the WP article correctly: "In the older stages of the
> Germanic languages (Old English, Middle High German) the past tense of
> strong verbs also showed different ablaut grades in singular and
> plural."
Who knew? We like learning sump'n' new every day (checked out the link proffered).
One wonders if "sollen," which I forgot to mention as the modal *not* changing
across the sing./pl. divide, operated similarly in the hoary past like the
strong verb preterites.