Page:Collier's Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information.djvu/25

Rh to have paised blamed; I saw him weep, he was seen to weep; erring, forgiven; "having nothing, and yet possessing all things." 17. The three tenses of verbs, or the times in which an action or event be said to take place, are the present, the past, and the future; and in each of them, it may be considered as indefinitely, or imperfectly, or perfectly accomplished. Ex. (Indef. pres.) I read, (imperf. pres.) I am reading, (pert. pres.) I have read; (indef. past) I read, (imperf. past) I was reading, (perf. past) I had read; (indef. fut.) I shall read, (imperf. fut.) I shall be reading, (perf. fut.) I shall have read. In the subjunctive mood, the tense forms express the probability or improbability of the event or action spoken of. Ex. (Prob.) "What matter where, if I be still the same?" "Though thou detain me, I will not eat." (Improb. ) "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own." "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice." The imperative mood admits of no distinctions of time, but only of the completeness or incompleteness of the action commanded. Ex. (Imperf.) Read thou, (perf.) Have done! In the infinitive mood the only tense is the present. Ex. (Indef. pres.) to read, (imperf. pres.) to be reading, (perf. pres.) to have read. And the participles admit only of the distinctions of completeness and incompleteness of the action spoken of. Ex. (Imperf.) reading, (perf.) read. 18. By means of a class of verbs, called Auxiliary verbs, the capability of expressing the several relations of mood, tense, etc., is greatly extended and refined. Those tenses which are formed without the assistance of auxiliaries are called simple tenses, and the others, compound. Ex. We hope, you fear, they fled; I am hoping, thou hast feared, he has fled, we shall learn. The auxiliary verbs of mood are such as may and can, which express possibility; must, ought, and shall, which express obligation; shall and will, expressing determination of will; might, could, and would, expressing desire; let and may, implying permission; do, which adds emphasis to assertion, and is employed in negatives and questions, etc., etc. Ex. it may be so, he can do it, you must see that you should obey, "these things ought not so to be," we shall see to that, I will be heard, might it but be so! could we but know it, would he were here! let him do what he will, you may do as you please, we do like simplicity, it does not signify, do you see the meaning?

The auxiliary verbs of tense are such as be, be about, be going, begin, do, have, keep, shall, will, etc. Ex. You are chosen, they were laughing, we are about to depart, we are going to learn French, I did once think, he has seen too much, they kept expecting what was impossible, he would dance and sing the whole day long. All the moods, tenses, etc., of the passive forms of verbs are made by the help of the verb de, Ex. I am praised, we were loved, they shall be beaten, to be afflicted, having been disappointed. 19. The only distinctive personal forms are those of the second and third persons singular of the present indefinite tense, and the second person singular of the past indefinite; all the other persons in each of the simple tenses are alike. Ex. ''I lead, thou leadest, he leads (leadeth), we lead, you lead, they lead. I led, thou leddest, he led, we led, you led, they led.'' Impersonal Verbs, of which there are but two in our language (strictly so to be called), are found only in the third person singular. Ex. "Meseems I hear her singing loud," meseemed; "methinks he breaks it," "methought I saw my late espoused wife," But other verbs are often used impersonally. Ex. It rained last night, it liked him well, it behoved him to do the same.

20. By far the greater number of English verbs, including all that have been recently introduced, and almost all derivatives, are of the class called. weak verbs, that is, they form their past indefinite tenses, and their perfect participles, by the addition of d (or t) to the present, or ed when the present ends in d or t Ex. Hope, hoped; light, lighted. But it must be observed, there is a great difference between our spoken and our written language in this particular; the forms of the latter having departed widely from the sounds of the former. Ex. Walk, walked (pron. walkd); step, stepped (pron. stept); stab, stabbed (pron. stabd); bar, barred (pron. bard). The remainder form their past indefinite tenses and perfect participles either by modifying the verbal sound, and adding n or (en) for the participle (being of the class called strong verbs); by modifying the vowel, and adding t for the participle; by changing the terminal d into t; or by retaining the present form for both the tense and the participle