5. It is necessary that you should go at once. (Noun clause; future uncertainty.) 6. Though I should die, yet would I not put forth my hand against the King's son. (Both clauses express what is merely thought of.) EXERCISE 29. Supply the proper verb forms; give the mode and tense of each verb or verb phrase supplied, and tell why that mode and tense are used. 1. If he 2. If the ice 3. If the ice 4. If the ice determined to succeed, he will succeed. firm, we would go skating. firm, we should have gone skating. firm be to-morrow, we will go skating. 5. I wish my brother 6. It is essential that the applicant (knows) something of bookkeeping. 7. If there fort indefinitely. a good penman and know a sufficient supply of food, we could hold the both subjunctive and indicative, and note difference in meaning.) 15. If England attack (attacks) us, we must defend ourselves. I propose that a basket-ball team ill, she would let us know. ill, she has recovered. 16. only at home. Helen would do better work if she formed. more careful. rainy, I went. rainy, I would go. 22. Even though the day 23. Though the city starving, it did not surrender. 24. The game was to be postponed if the day PERSON AND NUMBER. rainy. The person and number of a verb, as we have seen, are its changes in form to agree with its subject. The same rules that govern the number of pronouns apply to verbs. (See the Section on Agreement of Pronouns.) There is little liability to error except in the use of is-are; was-were; doesn't-don't. It should be remembered that the pronoun you always takes a plural verb; it was originally used only in a plural meaning. When subjects connected by or or nor are of different numbers, the verb usually agrees with the one nearest it. 10. Everybody has (have) his (their) weak points. 11. It is one of the best books that 12. Ten years -a long time. been published this year. 13. Richard writes well, don't (doesn't) he? We have seen that shall and will are used to express the idea of futurity. These verbs are used also to express the will of the speaker, either as a promise or as a determination. For this purpose, will is used in the first person, and shall in the second and third persons. The verb phrases so formed may be called volitional verb phrases. Some grammarians call them the volitional future. In the play of Julius Caesar, the populace express their determination to hear Caesar's will in the words: "The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will." Later, they express the same determination by saying to Antony, "You shall read us the will." When Antony asks leave to descend, they cry, "You shall have leave." When he has won them over, they say, "We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him;" and they express their determination to have vengeance by saying, "We will be revenged." In the same play, Brutus cautions Antony, "You shall not in your funeral speech blame us;" and he promises the populace that "public reasons shall be rendered of Caesar's death." The uses of shall and will may be thus summarized: 1. In independent statements: (a) To express mere futurity: First Person-shall. Second and Third Persons-will. 2. (b) To express the will of the speaker (promise or determi nation): First Person-will. Second and Third Persons-shall. (c) To express the will of the person named by the subject of the sentence. All three persons-will. (Emphatic.) In questions: First Person-shall. Second and Third Persons-the verb expected in the answer. not. Will you go? asks the will of the person addressed. Ans.— Will he go? asks merely as to the fact of his going. Ans.- Shall he go? asks the will of the person addressed. Ans.— 3. In indirect discourse: The verb that would be employed in direct discourse. "We shall be in time," said Mary. Mary said that we should be in time. James said, I shall be of age to-morrow. James said that he should be of age to-morrow; or 4. In adverbial clauses: Shall and its past tense, should, are used in all the persons in adverbial clauses of condition, time, concession, and result, to express mere futurity. Will and would in such clauses imply the volition of the person named by the subject. 1. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him. 2. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away. 3. If he should fail once, he would not try again. 4. Though I should die with thee, yet would I not deny thee. 5. In general, would and should correspond in meaning to shall and will; but should is used also as an independent verb, expressing a distinct idea of its own. In the sentence, We should speak the truth, should has its original meaning of obligation, and is best regarded as the verb of the sentence, with the infinitive phrase as its object. Will and shall might properly be disposed of in the same way when they express volition; but the majority of grammarians consider them as forming, with the infinitives following them, volitional verb phrases. Whether we so regard them or not is a matter of no practical importance. Would is often used to express habitual action; as, He would sit smoking for hours at a time. MAY, CAN, MUST, OUGHT. We have seen that may and its past tense might are used to form subjunctive verb phrases in clauses that express a wish or a purpose. They are also used as independent verbs to express permission or possibility. They are then followed by infinitive objects without to; as, The clouds may break away. (Possibility.) You may go if you wish. (Permission.) The verb can, with its past tense, could, is used in a similar way: but it expresses power, not permission. Do not say, Can I go? if you are seeking permission, nor You can go if you are giving permission. Can I? means, Have I power? You can means You have the power. Must and ought resemble may and can in being used with infini tive objects. After ought, the to of the infinitive is expressed. Shall, will may, and can, have both a present and a past tense, but no participles; must and ought have each but one form, which has now the value of a present tense. Had and hadn't are sometimes incorrectly used before ought; this is a gross error. Say I ought not to go; not, I hadn't ought to go. Note.-Independent verbs are called by some grammarians notional verbs, because they express definite verbal ideas, while auxiliary verbs merely help to form the modes or tenses of other verbs. In addition to the verbs already mentioned, be, do, and have are used both as auxiliary and as notional verbs. EXERCISE 31. How do the following verbs differ in meaning? 1. Will (shall) you be at home this evening? 2. He said that he would (should) go at once. 3. The teacher told the boys that they would (should) be promoted. 4. I told you that I would (should) write the letter. 5. May (can) Margaret go with us? 6. May (can) I open this window? 8. Might (could) I go if I wished. 9. You may (can) open the window. 10. You may (can) climb the mountain. 11. Margaret may (can) go with us if she desires. 12. The storm may (can) not reach us. 13. If he should (would) be nominated, he would be elected. 14. If you should (would) sit nearer the light, you would be able to see better. You told me that you would (should) write to your brother 16. yesterday. EXERCISE 32. Supply will, shall, would, or should. you start on your European trip soon?" "I I "Indeed I "I "I want to hear from you." go in June. and I hope you you write to me while I am gone? write to me." join me in London, answer every letter that you send." "How long — you be away?"" and we "I expect you to tell me all about the interesting things that you see. "I not have time to write long letters, but I everything that I remember, when I come home. We and talk.' "I wish that I was (were) going with you. How I trip!" "Not more than I be impossible; but I follow you by means of you go to Greece and to Egypt?" spend the time mostly in Germany and Italy." "I have always thought that I and Egypt and Palestine." "Perhaps we see you." Principal Parts. Present, be (am); past, was; past participle, |