An Introduction to Old English Edinburgh University Press

§3.3. I shall therefore principally discuss only a few issues where differ-
ences between Old English and present-day English are either clear or
significant.
In general, elements have an order which is readily apparent, so that
there is a general sequence of demonstrative + adjective + noun. If there is
a possessive present, as in present-day English, it occupies the demon-
strative slot. It should be noted that eall ‘all’ usually precedes all other
items in the noun phrase, as, of course, it does in present-day English.
And, of course, no demonstrative has quite the same function in Old
English as the definite article has in present-day English. Equally, but
more emphatically still, there is no equivalent to the indefinite article,
and a¯n ‘one’ is a numeral.
Perhaps the most unexpected feature of noun phrases is the position
of preposition associated with the noun phrase. Although prepositions
usually precede their associated noun phrase, they are quite often
found in a position detached from that noun phrase. This phenomenon,
usually called (preposition) stranding, is familiar enough in present-day
English: compare (29) and (30), where the latter, with stranding, is more
usual in informal speech:
(29) The house in which I live
(30) The house I live in
Stranding is particularly frequent in relative clauses in Old English, as in
(31), cf. (23):
(31) sumne dæ¯l 
t
æs me¯oses
t
e he¯o mid beweaxen wæs
some part of the moss which it with covered was
Note, however, that the stranded preposition does not disturb the
position of the verb.
However, and this is quite clearly different from present-day English,
there is a range of other contexts in which stranding occurs. Here is
another example with verb-final structure:
(32) ond 
t
a¯ gatu him to¯ belocen hæfdon
and the gates them to locked were [… were locked against them]
Yet the preposition can also, indeed frequently, be stranded in simple
sentences where stranding would be impossible today:
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(33) he¯ cwæ
e
him to¯
he spoke him to
Such stranding occurs only with pronouns and it is particularly frequent
when the preposition is to¯, although other prepositions can do the same,
especially if they are disyllabic. The source of the structure is not
known, but it is probably associated with weight. Note that there is a
relic of the construction in present-day English in a form such as therein;
compare the parallel Old English form 
†
æ
¯
rinne.
I shall not explore other differences in any of the above areas, for
although there are many, they are mostly of only minor significance and
they can usually be easily understood.
7.5 Negation
One of the most distinctive features of Old English in comparison
with not only present-day English but also other Germanic languages
together with other western languages such as French and Spanish on
the one hand and Welsh and Gaelic on the other is its methods of
negation. True enough, the simple negative particle ne behaves exactly
as might be expected. That is to say, when a verb is negated the negative