I shall have laid. I shall have lain. I shall have set. I shall have sat. Note.-Lay, set, and raise, being transitive, require each of them an object; as, "He laid the book down;" "He laid himself down;" "He set the child on the floor;" "He raised the child up;" "He raised himself up." Set is intransitive in such expressions as "The sun sets. EXERCISES. Correct the errors in the following: The tree was shook by the wind. He raised up from the bed. He set down on the sofa. While yet young he became gray, in consequence of the misfortune that had befell him. He begun well, but did not continue as he had began. The wind blowed down the tree. The apples had fell off. The branches were badly broke. A speaker was chose by the meeting. John come down stairs in great haste. After the letter had came I found it was so badly wrote that it could not be read. The ball was throwed over the fence. He had mistook the meaning of the phrase. The water is froze. I seen the horse run. I done it myself. The boat was ladened with sugar. He drunk too much water. The water was all drank up. This cloth is well wove. He had went away before I come. John done well. The bottle is broke. He seen it fall. The horses were drove to pasture. You have mistook him. A race was ran. Yesterday I run all the way to school. My shoes are almost wore out. The leaves of the book are tore. Somebody has took my pen. The sick man has arose from the bed. He has awoke already. They had became very ill. They had eat the peaches. The book has fell down. The bird has flew from the tree. He had rose before I seen him. The speech was well spoke. Some one has stole the ring. You have strove hard. He has swore not to do so. James laid down on the grass. He is now laying on the bed. He set up for some time. Mary is setting on a stool. She has set there a long time. Having set up for some time, the sick man is now laying down. He had scarcely raised up before he fainted. Raise up from the floor and set on a chair. Why are you laying there? Where is the hen setting? She has laid down. I will lay down. You ought to have laid down before. Are you able to raise up? The hen has forsook her nest. The colt drunk from the stream. DEFECTIVE VERBS. DEFECTIVE VERBS are such as are remarkable for wanting some of their parts. The following is a list of them: Remarks-1. The original meaning of can is to know; as, "I can but smal grammere."-Chaucer. So in the past tense: "A few terms coude he, two or three, Which he had learned out of some decree."-Chaucer. "She It was not confined to the present and past tenses. Thus Chaucer says, should not con ne mowe attaine;" that is, she should not know how nor be able to attain. With respect to some things, to know how is to be able to do them. Thus, "I know how to read," and "I am able to read," convey the same idea. Hence can came to denote ability, while its signification of knowledge has gradually disappeared. MAY. 2. May had originally the signification that can now has. Thus, "I may all thyngis in him that comforteth me."-Wiclif. It was sometimes written mowe,* and was not confined to the present and past tenses. Thus Wiclif says, "Many seeken to entre, and they schulen not mowe;" that is, shall not may, or be able. "Which thou shalt mowe suffre."- Chaucer. "Despoiled of mowing to do yvel."-Chaucer. This word now generally denotes power as granted by some one, that is, liberty or permission; as, "You may go;" that is, you have permission to go. It sometimes denotes a wish; as, "May you prosper." With the perfect infinitive, and sometimes with the imperfect, it denotes possibility; as, "He may have written;" that is, it is possible that he wrote. "He may write perhaps." Here may denotes possibility. COULD AND MIGHT. 3. Could and might have, in general, the same relation to can and may that should and would have to shall and will. MUST. 4. Must denotes necessity. When it is used to denote a past necessity a change is made in the verb with which it is connected; as, "I determined to tell him, for he must have learned it some time or other;" that is, he was necessitated to learn it. It was formerly the past tense of mote. *A fact which shows that words now in use among the common people only are not always corruptions is that the old form mought is still used in some places for might. This word occurs frequently in old writers; thus, "Winter and summer they mought well fare."-Spenser. What are defective verbs? But this is not the usual signification of must with the perfect infinitive. "He must have written this letter" means it is necessary to believe that he wrote it; not he was compelled or necessitated to write it. OUGHT. 5. Ought was originally the past tense of owe; as, "He said this other day you ought him a thousand pound."-Shakespeare. When ought, now used as a present tense, refers to past time a change is made in the infinitive with which it is connected, as in the case of must. Thus, "He ought to go" means that he is under obligation to go, while "He ought to have gone" means that he was under obligation to go. QUOTH. 6. Quoth is used only in the first and third persons of the past tense; as, "Quoth I," "Quoth he." DIFFERENT FORMS. 7. Must is not varied. The others are varied in the second person singular only. Can has canst and couldst or couldest; may has mayst or mayest and mightest or mightst; ought has oughtest. Will as a principal verb is regular; as, "He willed it to be so." 8. The word beware was originally two words, the verb be and the adjective ware; as, "Be ye war of the sour dough of the Farisees and Saducees."- Wiclif. It is accordingly used in those tenses only in which be occurs in the verb to be; as, "Beware of him;" "I will beware of him." 9. In methinks, which is now obsolescent, thinks is used in the sense of seems, and me is an Anglo-Saxon dative to me. "Methinks I hear his voice." Here the proposition "I hear his voice" is the subject of thinks--"That I hear his voice seems to me." Methought also is sometimes used; as, "Methought I saw my late espoused saint."-Milton. AUXILIARY VERBS. AUXILIARY VERBS are those which help to form the different parts of other verbs. They are do, be, have, shall, and will. Remarks.-1. Do, be, and have are also principal verbs. 2. Do is used for emphasis, also in negative and interrogative sentences without emphasis. Formerly it was sometimes used in simple affirmative sentences; as, "The young lions do lack."—English Bible. "False witnesses did rise up."Psalm xxxv, 11. It is sometimes used instead of a repetition of some verb which has preceded; as, "He studies better than you do;" that is, than you study. The verb in the infinitive mood may be regarded as understood after do used in this way: as, "He studies better than you do study." 3. The verb to be when used as an auxiliary connects the subject and the participle expressing the action or state. 4. 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 What are auxiliary verbs? What verbs are auxiliary verbs? that, instead of being passive, it is now active in sense, and instead of belonging to the noun, like an adjective, it now governs the noun in the objective case when it is transitive. It has become so entirely changed that intransitive verbs have this participle, though they can not have a passive participle. 5. Shall is from the Anglo-Saxon scealan, and the original meaning 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 thousand pounds. Chaucer uses the word in this sense; as, "By the faith I shall to God;" that is, owe. The original meaning may still be traced in the present use of this word; as, "Thou shalt not kill," Thou owest, art under obligation, not to kill; "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," owest, art destined, to die. So in the past tense, "Judas Iscariot which should betray him," was destined to betray him. Should is not used in this sense by modern writers. This signification of shall renders it appropriate in prophecies in which the object is to represent the event, not merely as future, but as destined, foreordained. Thus, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." This word is used to express obligation or necessity imposed upon one by the determination of another; as, “You shall write." Here the person addressed is represented as placed by the determination of the speaker under the necessity of performing the act. Will expresses will, inclination, determination; as, "He will write in spite of opposition;" that is, is determined. 6. What one owes, is obliged, is destined to do must be future; what one wills to do must also be future. In certain cases the idea of futurity has prevailed over the original signification of the words, and shall and will denote events simply as future. 7. The mode of expressing simple futurity in English implies, according to the original meaning of the words, that the speaker is impelled by obligation or destiny, while others are influenced by their own will; and if any other than the speaker is represented as foretelling, he also is regarded as impelled by obligation or destiny. I shall be elected. Here the speaker employs shall in expressing what is to happen to himself and will in expressing what is to happen to others. Here the person addressed is represented as foretelling, and shall is employed in expressing what is to happen to him as well as what is to happen to the speaker, while will is used in expressing what is to happen to another. Shall I be elected? Will he be elected? Here we inquire concerning the belief or expectation of the person addressed, "Shall I be elected?" being equivalent to "Do you predict that I shall be elected ?" Accordingly shall and will are employed as in the preceding forms. |