Imatges de pàgina
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Defective Verbs are such as are remarkable for wanting some of their parts. The following is a list of them.

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Remarks.-1. When must and ought refer to past time, a change is made in the infinitive with which they are joined. See Remarks on the tenses in the different Moods, 17.

2. Quoth is now used only in ludicrous language, and always refers to past time.

3. Must is not varied. The rest are varied in the second person only. Will, as a principal verb, is regular.

4. The word beware seems to have been two words, be and ware; as, “Be ye war of the sour dough of the Farisees and Sadducis."-Wicklif. It is used in those tenses in which be is used in the verb to be.

5. Impersonal Verbs.-Some verbs are used only in the third person singular, having the pronoun it for their subject; as, it snows, it rains. These are sometimes called impersonal verbs. Unipersonal, that is, having one person, would be a more appropriate name.*

What are defective verbs?

Give the list of defective verbs.

What are impersonal verbs?

* "Every verb, employed in a personal mode, necessarily has a subject. But it very often happens that we are witnesses of effects whose causes are unknown to us, or that we wish to express the effects without expressing the cause otherwise than indefinitely. Then we commonly employ as Subject the pronoun of the third person, and in languages in which this Pronoun has three Genders we generally take the

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An auxiliary verb is one which is used in conjugating other verbs. They are do, have, be, shall, will, may, can, and must.

Do, be and have are also principal verbs.

DO.

Do is used for emphasis, and also in negative and interrogative sentences without emphasis. Formerly it was sometimes used in simple affirmative sentences; as, "The young lions do lack.”—Psalm xxxiv, 10. "False witnesses did rise up."-Psalm xxxv, 11. See the quotation from Horne Tooke, under the head of " Moods," Remark 6.

It is sometimes used as a kind of pro-verb, if the expression may be allowed, standing instead of a repetition of some verb which has preceded; as, "He studies better than you do," that is, than you study.

BE.

The verb to be, when used as an auxiliary, connects the subject and the participle expressing the affirmation.

HAVE.

The use of have as an auxiliary probably originated in its being used to express the possession of something represented as the object of an action denoted by the participle; as, "I have money concealed" [by myself;] "I' have concealed money;" that is, money which is concealed. By degrees the idea of possession has been dropped; and the participle has changed its mode of signification, so that, instead of being passive, it is now active in sense, and instead of belonging to the noun, like an adjective, it now governs it in the objective case, when it is transitive. It has become so entirely changed that intransitive verbs have this participle, though they cannot have a passive participle. See Matthiae's Greek Grammar, § 559.

SHALL AND WILL.

1. Shall is from the Anglo-Saxon scealan, the original meaning of which is to owe. Thus, "Agyf thaet thu me scealt," Pay what thou owest me, [shalt me.] "Se him sceolde tyn thusend punda," Who owed [should] him ten

What is an auxiliary verb?

Neuter. Thus, when we say in English, it thunders,' 'it rains,' 'it snows,' it is clear that the pronoun 'it' denotes in a vague and indefinite manner the Subject of which the Attribute is thundering, raining, snowing. It is as though we had said, the cause which produces the thunder, the rain, or the snow, thunders, rains, or snows.'"-Fosdick's Translation of De Sacy's General Grammar.

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thousand pounds. Chaucer uses the word in this sense; as, "By the faith I shall to God;" that is, owe.

2. The original meaning may still be traced in the present use of this word; as, "Thou shalt not kill;" that is, thou owest, art under obligation, not to kill. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" that is, thou owest, art destined, to die. "It shall come to pass;" that is, it owes, is obliged, is destined, to come to pass.

3. So in the past tense, "Judas Iscariot, which should betray him ;" that is, was destined to betray him. Should is not now used in this manner.

4. This word is used to denote the obligation or necessity as arising from the determination of another; as, "You shall write."

5. What one owes, is obliged, destined, to do, is, of course, future: the idea of futurity has prevailed over that of obligation in certain cases; thus, "I shall be compelled to leave my pleasant home;" "If ye shall see the Son of Man;" ""Before the child shall know;" "Every one who shall be present will hear."

6. Will expresses will, determination, inclination; as, "He will write in spite of my opposition;" that is, is determined.

7. What one wills, is determined, to do, must be future; and in the second and third persons the idea of determination is sometimes lost in that of futurity; as, "He will be compelled to leave his pleasant home."

8. The mode of expressing simple futurity in English has arisen from attributing the future event to the obligation or necessity, as far as the person who foretells is concerned, and to determination on the part of others.

9. The foreigner, who, when drowning in the Thames, cried out, "I will drown, nobody shall help me," should have said, "I shall drown, nobody will help me ;" that is, according to the original meaning of the words, I am in such circumstances that I am obliged to drown, nobody has the will to help.

10. Errors are sometimes committed by the most distinguished writers with respect to the use of shall and will. Thus,

"We have much to say on the subject of this Life, and will often find ourselves obliged to dissent from the opinions of the biographer."-T. B. Macaulay; Art. on Bacon.

The writer intends by will find to express simple futurity, and as the future action is to be performed by the person who foretells, shall find should be used. The writer, without intending it, has expressed his determination to find himself obliged to dissent

"If we consider the influence exerted by the point Daghesh on the syllable preceding it, we will perceive that," etc.-Nordheimer; Hebrew Grammar. This is incorrect for the same reason.

11. The assertions of Mr. Murray, Dr. Webster, and other grammarians, that shall in the first person simply foretells; in the second and third per

sons, promises, commands, or threatens; and that will in the second and third persons, only foretells, should be received with considerable modification. We will consider these words, 1. as expressing resolution; and 2. as expressing futurity.

RESOLUTION.

12. Shall expresses a resolution or promise of an individual concerning the actions, etc., of others. When the first person is represented as expressing the resolution, shall is used in reference to the actions, etc., of the second and third persons, and will in reference to those of the first. Thus:

I am resolved, I promise, etc., that

I will write.
You shall write.
He shall write.

Note. When these forms do not depend on a preceding clause, it is always the first person that expresses the resolution.

13. When a question is asked, the resolution, etc., of the second person is referred to; accordingly, shall is used in the first and third persons, and will in the second. Thus:

1. Shall I write ?

3. Shall he write?

2. Will you write?

These forms are equivalent to "Are you resolved," or "Are you willing that I shall write?" etc.

14. The principle may be further seen in the following examples:

I shall write.

You are resolved, you promise, etc., that You will write.

He is resolved, etc., that

He shall write.

I shall write.

You shall write.
He will write.

Will write is used when he refers to the person who has formed the resolution; in reference to another it would be shall write; as, "He is resolved that John shall write."

15. Will may express a resolution of the subject of the verb in all the persons. Thus,

In spite of opposition.......

I will write.
You will write.

He will write.

FUTURITY.

16. To express simple futurity, shall is applied to the future actions, etc., of the person who is represented as foretelling or supposing the future events, and will to those of others.

Shall, however, is used in the first person, even when others are represented as foretelling.

I believe, I hope, etc., that

I shall be elected.
You will be elected.
He will be elected.

Or, without any dependence on a preceding clause,

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17. Shall is used to denote simple futurity after the conjunctions if, though, etc., after the conjunctive adverbs when, until, after, before, etc., and after relative pronouns, when the relative clause is an essential modification of the antecedent. See examples under "Shall and Will," 5. In the example, "Every one who shall be present will hear," the relative clause, who shall be present, is an essential modification of the antecedent; it is not every one who will hear, but every one who shall be present. "Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment." Here, whosoever shall kill is an essential modification of the antecedent (person) understood.

SHOULD AND WOULD.

18. In general, should and would have the same reference to obligation and will, that the present tenses shall and will have. Thus:

"Thou art the Christ which should come into the world;" that is, was

* Dr. Webster says, "Shall you go? asks for information of another's intention.” It appears to me that this use of the phrase is a provincialism. Will you go? asks for information of another's intention.

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