English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 28

_Pish_ and _pshaw_ are the Anglo-Saxon _paec, paeca_; and are equivalent to _trumpery_! i.e. _tromperie_, from _tromper_.

_Fy_ or _fie_ is the imperative, _foe_, the past tense, and _foh_ or _faugh_, the past part. of the Saxon verb _fian_, to hate.

_Lo_ is the imperative of _look. Halt_ is the imperative of _healden_, to hold. _Farewell--fare-well_, is a compound of _faran_, to go, and the adverb _well_. It means, to _go well.

Welcome--well-come_, signifies, it is _well_ that you are _come.

Adieu_ comes from the French _a Dieu_, to G.o.d; meaning, I commend you _to G.o.d_.

LECTURE XI.

OF THE MOODS AND TENSES OF VERBS.

You have now acquired a general, and, I may say, an extensive, knowledge of nine parts of speech; but you know but little, as yet, respecting the most important one of all; I mean the VERB. I will, therefore, commence this lecture by giving you an explanation of the Moods and Tenses of verbs. Have the goodness, however, first to turn back and read over Lecture II., and reflect well upon what is there said respecting the verb; after which I will conduct you so smoothly through the moods and tenses, and the conjugation of verbs, that, instead of finding yourself involved in obscurities and deep intricacies, you will scarcely find an obstruction to impede your progress.

I. OF THE MOODS.

The MOOD or MODE of a verb means the _manner_ in which its action, pa.s.sion, or being, is represented.

When I wish to a.s.sert a thing, positively, I use the _declarative_ or _indicative_ mode; as, The man _walks_; but sometimes the action or occurrence of which I wish to speak, is doubtful, and then I must not declare it positively, but I must adopt another _mode_ of expression; thus, _If_ the man _walk_, he will refresh himself with the bland breezes. This second mode or manner of representing the action, is called the _subjunctive_ or _conditional_ mode.

Again, we sometimes employ a verb when we do not wish to _declare_ a thing, nor to represent the action in a _doubtful_ or _conditional_ manner; but we wish to _command_ some one to act. We then use the _imperative_ or _commanding_ mode, and say, _Walk_, sir. And when we do not wish to command a man to act, we sometimes allude to his _power_ or _ability_ to act. This fourth mode of representing action, is called the _potential_ mode; as, He _can walk_; He _could walk_. The fifth and last mode, called the _infinitive_ or _unlimited_ mode, we employ in expressing action in an unlimited manner; that is, without confining it, in respect to number and person, to any particular agent; as, _To walk, to ride_. Thus you perceive, that the mood, mode, or manner of representing the action, pa.s.sion, or being of a verb, must vary according to the different intentions of the mind.

Were we to a.s.sign a particular name to _every_ change in the mode or manner of representing action or being, the number of moods in our language would amount to many hundreds. But this principle of division and arrangement, if followed out in detail, would lead to great perplexity, without producing any beneficial result. The division of Mr.

Harris, in his Hermes, is much more curious than instructive. He has fourteen moods; his _interrogative, optative, hortative, promissive, precautive, requisitive, enunciative_, &c. But as far as philosophical accuracy and the convenience and advantage of the learner are concerned, it is believed that no arrangement is preferable to the following. I am not unaware that plausible objections may be raised against it; but what arrangement cannot be objected to?

There are five moods of verbs, the Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Imperative, the Potential, and the Infinitive.

The INDICATIVE MOOD simply indicates or declares a thing; as, "He _writes_;" or it asks a question; as, "_Does_ he _write_? Who _wrote_ that?"

The term _indicative_, comes from the Latin _indico_, to _declare_.

Hence, the legitimate province of the indicative mood, is to _declare_ things, whether positively or negatively; thus, _positively_, He _came_ with me; _negatively_, He _came not_ with me. But in order to avoid a multiplication of moods, we extend its meaning, and use the indicative mood in asking a question; as, Who _came_ with you?

The subjunctive mood being more a.n.a.logous to the indicative in conjugation, than any other, it ought to be presented next in order.

This mood, however, differs materially from the indicative in sense; therefore you ought to make yourself well acquainted with the nature of the indicative, before you commence with the subjunctive.

The SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD expresses action, pa.s.sion, or being, in a doubtful or conditional manner or,

When a verb is preceded by a word that expresses a condition, doubt, motive, wish, or supposition, it is in the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD; as, "_If_ he _study_, he will improve; I will respect him, _though_ he _chide_ me; He will not be pardoned, _unless_ he _repent; _Had_ he _been_ there, he would have conquered;" (that is, _if_ he _had been_ there.)

The conjunctions _if, though, unless_, in the preceding examples, express condition, doubt, &c.; therefore, the verbs _study, chide, repent_, and _had been_, are in the subjunctive mood.

NOTE 1. A verb in this mood is generally attended by another verb in some other mood. You observe, that each of the first three of the preceding examples, contains a verb in the indicative mood, and the fourth, a verb in the potential.

2. Whenever the conjunctions _if, though, unless, except, whether, lest_, or any others, denote contingency or doubt, the verbs that follow them are in the subjunctive mood; as, "_If_ he _ride_ out every day, his health will probably improve;" that is, if he _shall_ or _should_ ride out hereafter. But when these conjunctions do not imply doubt, &c. the verbs that follow them are in the indicative, or some other mood; as, "_Though_ he _rides_ out daily, his health is no better." The conjunctive and indicative forms of this mood, are explained in the conjugation of the verb to _love_. See page.

The IMPERATIVE MOOD is used for commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting; as, _"Depart_ thou; _Remember_ my admonitions; _Tarry_ awhile longer; _Go_ in peace."

The verb _depart_ expresses a command; _remember_ exhorts; _tarry_ expresses entreaty; and _go_, permission; therefore they are all in the imperative mood.

The _imperative_, from _impero_, to command, is literally that mood of the verb used in _commanding;_ but its technical meaning in grammar is extended to the use of the verb in exhorting, entreating, and permitting.

A verb in the imperative mood, is always of the second person, though never varied in its terminations, agreeing with _thou, ye_, or _you_, either expressed or implied. You may know a verb in this mood by the sense; recollect, however, that the nominative is always _second_ person, and frequently understood; as, George, _give_ me my hat; that is, give thou, or give you. When the nominative is expressed, it is generally placed after the verb; as, Go _thou_; Depart _ye_; or between the auxiliary and the verb; as, Do _thou_ go; Do _ye_ depart. (_Do_ is the auxiliary.)

The POTENTIAL MOOD implies possibility, liberty, or necessity, power, will, or obligation; as, "It _may rain_; He _may go_ or _stay_; We _must eat_ and _drink_; I _can ride_; He _would walk_; They _should learn_."

In the first of these examples, the auxiliary _may_ implies possibility; in the second it implies liberty; that is, he is at liberty to go or to stay; in the third, _must_ denotes necessity; _can_ denotes power or ability; _would_ implies will or inclination; that is, he had a _mind_ to walk; and _should_ implies obligation. Hence you perceive, that the verbs, may rain, may go, must eat, must drink, can ride, world walk, and should learn, are in the _potential_ mood.

NOTE 1. As a verb in the indicative mood is converted into the subjunctive when it is preceded by a conjunction expressing doubt, contingency, supposition, &c., so a verb in the potential mood, may, in like manner, be turned into the subjunctive; as, "_If_ I _could deceive_ him, I should abhor it; _Though_ he _should increase_ in wealth, he would not be charitable." I _could deceive_, is in the potential; _If_ I _could deceive_, is in the subjunctive mood.

2. The potential mood, as well as the indicative, is used in asking a question; as, "May I go? Could you understand him? Must we die?"

The INFINITIVE MOOD expresses action, pa.s.sion, or being, in a general and unlimited manner, having no nominative, consequently, neither person nor number; as, _"To speak, to walk_."

_Infinitive_ means _unconfined_, or _unlimited_. This mood is called the infinitive, because its verb is not confined or limited to a nominative.

A verb in any other mood is limited; that is, it must agree in number and person with its nominative; but a verb in this mood has _no_ nominative, therefore, it never changes its termination, except to form the perfect tense. Now you understand why all verbs are called _finite_ or _limited_, excepting those in the infinitive mood.

NOTE. _To_, the sign of the infinitive mood, is often understood before the verb; as, "Let me proceed;" that is, Let me _to_ proceed.

See RULE 25. _To_ is not a preposition when joined to a verb in this mood; thus, _to_ ride, _to_ rule; but it should be pa.r.s.ed with the verb, and as a part of it.

If you study this lecture attentively, you will perceive, that when I say, I _write_, the verb is in the indicative mood; but when I say, _if_ I write, or, _unless_ I write, &c. the verb is in the subjunctive mood; _write_ thou, or _write_ ye or you, the imperative; I _may write_, I _must write_, I _could write, &c._ the potential; and _to write_, the infinitive. Any other verb (except the defective) may be employed in the same manner.

II. OF THE TENSES.

TENSE means time.

Verbs have six tenses, the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, and the First and Second Future tenses.

The PRESENT TENSE represents an action or event as taking place at the time in which it is mentioned; as, "I _smile_; I _see_; I _am seen_."

NOTE 1. The present tense is also used in speaking of actions continued, with occasional intermissions, to the present time; as, "He _rides_ out every morning."

2. This tense is sometimes applied to represent the actions of persons long since dead; as, "Seneca _reasons_ and _moralizes_ well; An honest man _is_ the n.o.blest work of G.o.d."

3. When the present tense is preceded by the words, _when, before, after, as soon as_, &c. it is sometimes used to point out the relative time of a future action; as, "_When_ he _arrives_ we shall hear the news."

The IMPERFECT TENSE denotes a past action or event, however distant; or,

The IMPERFECT TENSE represents an action or event as past and finished, but without defining the precise time of its completion; as, "I _loved_ her for her modesty and virtue; They _were_ travelling post when he _met_ them."

In these examples, the verbs _loved_ and _met_ express past and _finished_ actions, and therefore const.i.tute a _perfect_ tense as strictly as any form of the verb in our language; but, as they do not define the precise time of the completion of these actions, their tense may properly be denominated an _indefinite past_. By defining the present participle in conjunction with the verb, we have an _imperfect_ tense in the expression, _were travelling_. This course, however, would not be in accordance with the ordinary method of treating the participle. Hence it follows, that the terms _imperfect_ and _perfect_, as applied to this and the next succeeding tense, are not altogether significant of their true character; but if you learn to apply these tenses _correctly_, the propriety or impropriety of their names is not a consideration of very great moment.

The PERFECT TENSE denotes past time, and also conveys an allusion to the present; as, "I _have_ finished my letter."

The verb _have finished_, in this example, signifies that the action, though past, was perfectly finished at a point of time immediately preceding, or in the course of a period which comes to the present.