The Grammar of English Grammars Part 63

OBS. 2.--The moods and tenses, in English, are formed partly by inflections, or changes made in the verb itself, and partly by the combination of the verb or its participle, with a few short verbs, called _auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. This view of the subject, though disputed by some, is sustained by such a preponderance both of authority and of reason, that I shall not trouble the reader with any refutation of those who object to it. Murray the schoolmaster observes, "In the English language, the times and modes of verbs are expressed in a perfect, easy, and beautiful manner, by the aid of a few little words called _auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. The possibility of a thing is expressed by _can_ or _could_; the liberty to do a thing, by _may_ or _might_; the inclination of the will, by _will_ or _would_; the necessity of a thing, by _must_ or _ought, shall_ or _should_. The preposition _to_ is never expressed after the helping verbs, except after _ought_."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 112. See nearly the same words in _Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 36; and in _the British Gram._, p. 125.

OBS. 3.--These authors are wrong in calling _ought_ a helping verb, and so is Oliver B. Peirce, in calling "_ought to_," and "_ought to have_"

auxiliaries; for no auxiliary ever admits the preposition _to_ after it or into it: and Murray of Holdgate is no less in fault, for calling _let_ an auxiliary; because no mere auxiliary ever governs the objective case. The sentences, "He _ought_ to _help_ you," and, "_Let_ him _help_ you,"

severally involve two different moods: they are equivalent to, "It _is his duty_ to _help_ you;"--"_Permit_ him _to help_ you." Hence _ought_ and _let_ are not auxiliaries, but princ.i.p.al verbs.

OBS. 4.--Though most of the auxiliaries are defective, when compared with other verbs; yet these three, _do, be_, and _have_, being also princ.i.p.al verbs, are complete: but the participles of _do_ and _have_ are not used as auxiliaries; unless _having_, which helps to form the third or "compound perfect" participle, (as _having loved_,) may be considered such. The other auxiliaries have no participles.

OBS. 5.--English verbs are princ.i.p.ally conjugated by means of auxiliaries; the only tenses which can be formed by the simple verb, being the present and the imperfect; as, I _love_, I _loved_. And even here an auxiliary is usually preferred in questions and negations; as, "_Do_ you love?"--"You _do_ not _love_." "_Did_ he _love_?"--"He _did_ not _love_." "_Do_ I not yet _grieve_?"--"_Did_ she not _die_?" All the other tenses, even in their simplest form, are compounds.

OBS. 6.--Dr. Johnson says, "_Do_ is sometimes used superfluously, as _I_ do _love, I_ did _love_; simply for _I love_, or _I loved_; but this is considered as a _vitious_ mode of speech."--_Gram., in 4to Dict._, p. 8. He also somewhere tells us, that these auxiliaries "are not proper before _be_ and _have_;" as, "_I do be_," for _I am_; "_I did have_," for _I had_. The latter remark is generally true, and it ought to be remembered;[257] but, in the _imperative mood, be_ and _have_ will perhaps admit the emphatic word _do_ before them, in a colloquial style: as, "Now _do be_ careful;"--"_Do have_ a little discretion." Sanborn repeatedly puts _do_ before _be_, in this mood: as, "_Do_ you _be. Do_ you _be_ guarded. _Do_ thou _be. Do_ thou _be_ guarded."--_a.n.a.lytical Gram._, p. 150. "_Do_ thou _be_ watchful."--_Ib._, p. 155. In these instances, he must have forgotten that he had elsewhere said positively, that, "_Do_, as an auxiliary, _is never used_ with the verb _be_ or _am_."--_Ib._, p. 112. In the other moods, it is seldom, if ever, proper before _be_; but it is sometimes used before _have_, especially with a negative: as, "Those modes of charity which _do not have_ in view the cultivation of moral excellence, are essentially defective."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 428. "Surely, the law of G.o.d, whether natural or revealed, _does not have_ respect merely to the external conduct of men."--_Stuart's Commentary on Romans_, p. 158.

"And each day of our lives _do we have_ occasion to see and lament it."--_Dr. Bartlett's Lecture on Health_, p. 5. "Verbs, in themselves considered, _do not have_ person and number."--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 21. [This notion of Smith's is absurd. Kirkham taught the same as regards "person."] In the following example, _does he_ is used for _is_,--the auxiliary _is_,--and perhaps allowably: "It is certain from scripture, that the same person _does_ in the course of life many times offend and _be_ forgiven."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 182.

OBS. 7.--In the compound tenses, there is never any variation of ending for the different persons and numbers, except in the _first auxiliary_: as, "Thou _wilt have finished_ it;" not, "Thou _wilt hast finishedst_ it;" for this is nonsense. And even for the former, it is better to say, in the familiar style, "Thou _will have finished_ it;" for it is characteristic of many of the auxiliaries, that, unlike other verbs, they are not varied by _s_ or _eth_, in the third person singular, and never by _st_ or _est_, in the second person singular, except in the solemn style. Thus all the auxiliaries of the potential mood, as well as _shall_ and _will_ of the indicative, are without inflection in the third person singular, though _will_, as a princ.i.p.al verb, makes _wills_ or _willeth_, as well as _willest_, in the indicative present. Hence there appears a tendency in the language, to confine the inflection of its verbs to _this tense only_; and to the auxiliary _have, hast, has_, which is essentially present, though used with a participle to form the perfect. _Do, dost, does_, and _am, art, is_, whether used as auxiliaries or as princ.i.p.al verbs, are always of the indicative present.

OBS. 8.--The word _need_,--(though, as a princ.i.p.al verb and transitive, it is unquestionably both regular and complete,--having all the requisite parts, _need, needed, needing, needed_,--and being necessarily inflected in the indicative present, as, I _need_, thou _needst_ or _needest_, he _needs_ or _needeth_,--) is so frequently used without inflection, when placed before an other verb to express a necessity of the being, action, or pa.s.sion, that one may well question whether it has not become, under these circ.u.mstances, an _auxiliary_ of the potential mood; and therefore proper to be used, like all the other auxiliaries of this mood, without change of termination. I have not yet knowingly used it so myself, nor does it appear to have been cla.s.sed with the auxiliaries, by any of our grammarians, except Webster.[258] I shall therefore not presume to say now, with positiveness, that it deserves this rank; (though I incline to think it does;) but rather quote such instances as have occurred to me in reading, and leave the student to take his choice, whether to condemn as bad English the uninflected examples, or to justify them in this manner. "He that can swim, _need_ not despair to fly."--_Johnson's Ra.s.selas_, p. 29. "One therefore _needs_ not expect to do it."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 155. "In so doing I should only record some vain opinions of this age, which a future one _need_ not know."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 345. "That a boy _needs_ not be kept at school."--LISDSEY: _in Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 164.

"No man _need_ promise, unless he please."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p.

312. "What better reason _needs_ be given?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 51. "He _need_ a.s.sign no other reason for his conduct."--_Wayland, ib._, p. 214.

"Sow there is nothing that a man _needs_ be ashamed of in all this."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 45. "No notice _need_ be taken of the advantages."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, Vol. ii, p. 304. "Yet it _needs_ not be repeated."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 51. "He _need_ not be anxious."--_Greenleaf's Gram. Simplified_, p. 38. "He _needs_ not be afraid."--_Fisk's Gram. Simplified_, p. 124. "He who will not learn to spell, _needs_ not learn to write."--_Red Book_, p. 22. "The heeder _need_ be under no fear."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 38.[259] "More _need_ not be said about it."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, -- 272. "The object _needs_ not be expressed."--_Booth's Introduct. to Dict._, p. 37. "Indeed, there _need_ be no such thing."--_Fosd.i.c.k's De Sacy_, p. 71. "This _needs_ to be ill.u.s.trated."--_Ib._, p. 81. "And no part of the sentence _need_ be omitted."--_Parkhurst's Grammar for Beginners_, p. 114. "The learner _needs_ to know what sort of words are called verbs."--_Ib._, p. 6. "No one _need_ be apprehensive of suffering by faults of this kind."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 171. "The student who has bought any of the former copies _needs_ not repent."--_Dr. Johnson, Adv. to Dict._ "He _need_ not enumerate their names."--_Edward's First Lessons in Grammar_, p. 38. "A quotation consisting of a word or two only _need_ not begin with a capital."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 383. "Their s.e.x is commonly known, and _needs_ not to be marked."--_Ib._, p. 72; _Murray's Octavo Gram._, 51. "One _need_ only open Lord Clarendon's history, to find examples every where."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 108. "Their s.e.x is commonly known, and _needs_ not be marked."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 21; _Murray's Duodecimo Gram._, p. 51.

"n.o.body _need_ be afraid he shall not have scope enough."--LOCKE: _in Sanborn's Gram._, p. 168. "No part of the science of language, _needs to be ever_ uninteresting to the pursuer."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. vii. "The exact amount of knowledge is not, and _need_ not be, great."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 44. "He _needs to_ act under a motive which is all-pervading."--_Ib._, p. 375. "What _need_ be said, will not occupy a long s.p.a.ce."--_Ib._, p. 244. "The sign TO _needs_ not always be used."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 96. "Such as he _need_ not be ashamed of."--_Snelling's Gift for Scribblers_, p. 23.

"_Needst_ thou--_need_ any one on earth--despair?"--_Ib._, p. 32.

"Take timely counsel; if your dire disease Admits no cure, it _needs_ not to displease."--_Ib._, p. 14.

OBS. 9.--If _need_ is to be recognized as an auxiliary of the potential mood, it must be understood to belong to two tenses; the present and the perfect; like _may, can_, and _must_: as, "He _need_ not _go_, he _need_ not _have gone_; Thou _need_ not _go, Thou need_ not _have gone_;" or, in the solemn style, "Thou _needst_ not go, Thou _needst_ not _have gone_."

If, on the contrary, we will have it to be always a princ.i.p.al verb, the distinction of time should belong to itself, and also the distinction of person and number, in the parts which require it: as, "He _needs_ not go.

He _needed_ not go; Thou _needst_ not go, Thou _needed_ not go;" or, in the solemn style, "Thou _needest_ not go, Thou _neededst_ not go." Whether it can be right to say, "He _needed_ not _have gone_," is at least questionable. From the observations of Murray, upon relative tenses, under his thirteenth rule of syntax, it seems fair to infer that he would have judged this phraseology erroneous. Again, "He _needs_ not _have gone_,"

appears to be yet more objectionable, though for the same reason. And if, "He _need_ not _have gone_," is a correct expression, _need_ is clearly proved to be an _auxiliary_, and the three words taken together must form the potential perfect. And so of the plural; for the argument is from the connexion of the tenses, and not merely from the tendency of auxiliaries to reject inflection: as, "They need not _have been_ under great concern about their public affairs."--_Hutchinson's History_, i, 194, From these examples, it may be seen that an auxiliary and a princ.i.p.al verb have some essential difference; though these who dislike the doctrine of compound tenses, pretend not to discern any. Take some further citations; a few of which are erroneous in respect to time. And observe also that the regular verb sometimes admits the preposition _to_ after it: "' There is great dignity in being waited for,' said one who had the habit of tardiness, and who _had_ not much else of which he _need_ be vain."--_Students Manual_, p.

64. "But he _needed_ not _have gone_ so far for more instances."-- _Johnson's Gram._ _Com._, p. 143. "He _need_ not _have said_, 'perhaps the virtue.'"--_Sedgwick's Economy_, p. 196. "I _needed_ not _to ask_ how she felt."--_Abbott's Young Christian_, p. 84. "It _need_ not _have been_ so."--_Ib._, p. 111. "The most unaccommodating politician _need_ not absolutely _want_ friends."--_Hunts Feast of the Poets_, p. iii. "Which therefore _needs_ not be introduced with much precaution."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 326. "When an obscurer term _needs_ to be explained by one that is clearer."--_Ib._, p. 367. "Though, if she had died younger, she _need_ not _have known it_."--_West's Letters_, p. 120. "Nothing _need_ be said, but that they were the _most perfect_ barbarisms."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

470. "He _need_ not go."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 36. "He _needed_ but use the word _body_."--LOCKE: _in Joh. Dict._ "He _need_ not be required to use them."--_Parker's Eng. Composition_, p. 50. "The last consonant of _appear_ need not be doubled."--_Dr. Webster_. "It _needs_ the less _to be inforced_."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 158. "Of these pieces of his, we _shall not need to give_ any particular account."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. vi "And therefore I _shall need say_ the less of them."--_Scougal_, p. 1101.

"This compounding of words _need_ occasion no surprise."--_Cardell's Essay on Language_, p. 87.

"Therefore stay, thou _needst_ not to be gone."--_Shakspeare_.

"Thou _need_ na _start_ awa sae hasty."--_Burns, Poems_, p. 15.

"Thou _need_ na _jouk_ behint the hallan."--_Id., ib._, p. 67.

OBS. 10.--The auxiliaries, except _must_, which is invariable, have severally two forms in respect to tense, or time; and when inflected in the second and third persons singular, are usually varied in the following manner:--

TO DO.

PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PRESENT.

_Sing_. I do, thou dost, he does; _Plur_. We do, you do, they do.

IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN of THE INDICATIVE IMPERFECT.

_Sing_. I did, thou didst, he did; _Plur_. We did, you did, they did.

TO BE.

PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PRESENT.

_Sing_. I am, thou art, he is; _Plur_. We are, you are, they are.

IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE IMPERFECT.

_Sing_. I was, thou wast, he was; _Plur_. We were, you were; they were.

TO HAVE.

PRESENT TENSE; BUT SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PERFECT.

_Sing_. I have, thou hast, he has; _Plur_. We have, you have, they have.

IMPERFECT TENSE; BUT SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PLUPERFECT.

_Sing_. I had, thou hadst, he had; _Plur_. We had, you had, they had.

SHALL AND WILL.

These auxiliaries have distinct meanings, and, as signs of the future, they are interchanged thus:

PRESENT TENSE; BUT SIGNS OF THE INDICATIVE FIRST-FUTURE.

1. Simply to express a future action or event:--

_Sing_. I shall, thou wilt, he will; _Plur_. We shall, you will, they will.

2. To express a promise, command, or threat:--

_Sing_.: I will, thou shalt, he shall; _Plur_. We will, you shall, they shall.

IMPERFECT TENSE; BUT, AS SIGNS, AORIST, OR INDEFINITE.

1. Used with reference to duty or expediency:--

_Sing._ I should, thou shouldst, he should; _Plur._ We should, you should, they should.

2. Used with reference to volition or desire:--

_Sing._ I would, thou wouldst, he would; _Plur._ We would, you would, they would.