Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/396



PLUPERFECT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. I   might   have been loved,  1. We  might have been loved, 2. Thou mightst have been loved, 2. You might have been loved, 3. He  might   have been loved;  3. They might have been loved.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. If I   be loved,              1. If we be loved, 2. If thou be loved,             2. If you be loved, 3. If he  be loved;              3. If they be loved.

IMPERFECT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. If I   were loved,            1. If we were loved, 2. If thou were loved,           2. If you were loved, 3. If he  were loved;            3. If they were loved.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. 2. Be  [thou]    loved,  or Do thou be loved; Plural. 2. Be [ye or you] loved, or Do you be loved.

PARTICIPLES.

1. The Imperfect. 2. The Perfect. 3. The Preperfect. Being loved. Loved. Having been loved.

FAMILIAR FORM WITH 'THOU.' NOTE.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou art loved, Thou was loved, Thou hast been loved, Thou had been loved, Thou shall or will be loved, Thou shall or will have been loved. POT. Thou may, can, or must be loved; Thou might, could, would, or should be loved; Thou may, can, or must have been loved; Thou might, could, would, or should have been loved. SUBJ. If thou be loved, If thou were loved. IMP. Be [thou] loved, or Do thou be loved.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--A few active-intransitive verbs, that signify mere motion, change of place, or change of condition, may be put into this form, with a neuter signification; making not passive but neuter verbs, which express nothing more than the state which results from the change: as, "I am come."--"She is gone."--"He is risen."--"They are fallen." These are what Dr. Johnson and some others call "neuter passives;" a name which never was very proper, and for which we have no frequent use.

OBS. 2.--Most neuter verbs of the passive form, such as, "am grown, art become, is lain, are flown, are vanished, are departed, was sat, were arrived," may now be considered errors of conjugation, or perhaps of syntax. In the verb, to be mistaken, there is an irregularity which ought to be particularly noticed. When applied to persons, this verb is commonly taken in a neuter sense, and signifies, to be in error, to be wrong; as, "I am mistaken, thou art mistaken, he is mistake." But, when used of things, it is a proper passive verb, and signifies, to be misunderstood, or to be taken wrong; as, "The sense of the passage is mistaken; that is, not rightly understood." See Webster's Dict., w. Mistaken. "I have known a shadow across a brook to be mistaken for a footbridge."

OBS. 3.--Passive verbs may be easily distinguished from neuter verbs of the same form, by a reference to the agent or instrument, common to the former class, but not to the latter. This frequently is, and always may be, expressed after passive verbs; but never is, and never can be, expressed after neuter verbs: as, "The thief has been caught by the officer."-- "Pens are made with a knife." Here the verbs are passive; but, "I am not yet ascended," (John, xx, 17,) is not passive, because it does not convey the idea of being ascended by some one's agency.

OBS. 4.--Our ancient writers, after the manner of the French, very frequently employed this mode of conjugation in a neuter sense; but, with a very few exceptions, present usage is clearly in favour of the auxiliary have in preference to be, whenever the verb formed with the perfect participle is not passive; as, "They have arrived,"--not, "They are arrived." Hence such examples as the following, are not now good English: "All these reasons are now ceased.