Usage notes

The verb beware'' has become a defective verb and now lacks forms such as the third-person singular simple present (bewares) and the simple past (bewared). It can only be used imperatively (''Beware of the dog!'') or as an infinitive (''You must beware of the dog'' or ''They told me to beware of the dog ). The inflected forms (bewares), (bewared), and (bewaring) are called obsolete in Fowler's , along with the simple indicative "I beware". The forms (bewares) and (bewared) are very rarely found in modern texts, though (bewaring) is slightly less rare. These inflections are more likely to be found in very old texts. The meanings conveyed by the obsolete inflected forms may be easily achieved by splitting "be" and "ware", conjugating "be", and possibly replacing "ware" with the more modern "wary"; thus, "bewares" > "is wary", "bewared" > "was wary", etc.