Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu/100

96 subjunctive, when contingency or doubt is implied: as, "If I were to say that the moon is made of green cheese."If I were a wiseacre.""If I were a Wiltshire-man.""A lady, unless she be toasted'', is never drunk."

And when she is toasted, those who are drunk are generally the gentlemen.

Those conjunctions which have a positive and absolute signification, require the indicative mood: as, "He who fasts may be compared to a horse: for as the animal eats not a bit, so neither does the man partake of a morsel.""The rustic is deluded by false hopes, for his daily food is gammon."

Every philosopher has his weak points, and in the Sylva Sylvarum may be found some gammon of Bacon.

When a comparison is made between two or more things, the latter noun or pronoun is not governed by