English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 33

HAVE. _Have_ is in great demand. No verb can be conjugated through all the moods and tenses without it. _Have_, when used as a princ.i.p.al verb, is doubled in some of the past tenses, and becomes an auxiliary to itself; thus, Indic. mood, pres. tense, first pers. sing. I have; imperf. tense, I had; perf. I have had; pluperf. I had had; first fut. I shall or will have; sec. fut. I shall have had. Subjunctive, present, if I have; imperf. if I had; perf. if I have had; pluperf. if I had had; first fut. if I shall or will have; sec. fut. if I shall have had.

Imper. mood, have thou. Potential, present, I may, can, or must have; imperf. I might, could, would, or should have; perf. I may, can, or must have had; pluperf. I might, could, would, or should have had.

Infinitive, present, to have; perf. to have had. Participles, pres.

having; perf. had; compound, having had.

BE. In the next place I will present to you the conjugation of the irregular, neuter verb, _Be_, which is an auxiliary whenever it is placed before the perfect participle of another verb, but in every other situation, it is a _princ.i.p.al_ verb.

TO BE.--INDICATIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense.

_Sing_. I am, thou art, he, she, _or_ it is.

_Plur_. We are, ye _or_ you are, they are.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. I was, thou wast, he was.

_Plur_. We were, ye _or_ you were, they were.

Perf. Tense.

_Sing_. I have been, thou hast been, he hath _or_ has been.

_Plur_. We have been, ye _or_ you have been, they have been.

Plup. Tense.

_Sing_. I had been, thou hadst been, he had been.

_Plur_. We had been, ye _or_ you had been, they had been.

First Fut. T.

_Sing_, I shall _or_ will be, thou shalt _or_ wilt be, he shall _or_ will be.

_Plur_. We shall _or_ will be, you shall _or_ will be, they shall _or_ will be.

Second Fut. T.

_Sing_. I shall have been, thou wilt have been, he will have been.

_Plur_. We shall have been, you will have been, they will have been.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense.

_Sing_. If I be, if thou be, if he be.

_Plur_. If we be, if ye _or_ you be, if they be.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. If I were, if thou wert, if he were.

_Plur_. If we were, if ye _or_ you were, if they were.

The neuter verb to _be_, and all pa.s.sive verbs, have two forms in the imperfect tense of this mood, as well as in the present; therefore, the following rule may serve to direct you in the proper use of each form.

When the sentence implies doubt, supposition, &c. and the neuter verb _be_, or the pa.s.sive verb, is used with a reference to present or future time, and is either followed or preceded by another verb in the imperfect of the potential mood, the _conjunctive_ form of the imperfect tense must be employed; as, "_If_ he _were_ here, we _should_ rejoice together;" "She _might_ go, _were_ she so disposed." But when there is no reference to present or future time, and the verb is neither followed nor preceded by another in the potential imperfect, the _indicative_ form of the imperfect tense must be used; as, "_If_ he _was_ ill, he did not make it known;" "_Whether_ he _was_ absent or present, is a matter of no consequence." The general rule for using the conjunctive form of the verb, is presented on page 145. See, also, page 135.

The perfect, pluperfect, and first future tenses of the subjunctive mood, are conjugated in a manner similar to the correspondent tenses of the indicative. The second future is conjugated thus:

Second Fut. T.

_Sing_. If I shall have been, if thou shalt have been, if he shall. &c _Plur_. If we shall have been, if you shall have been, if they, &c.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense.

_Sing_. Be, _or_ be thou, _or_ do thou be.

_Plur_. Be, _or_ be ye _or_ you, or do ye _or_ you be.

POTENTIAL MOOD.

Pres. Tense _Sing_. I may, can, _or_ must be, thou mayst, canst, _or_ must be, he may, can, _or_ must be.

_Plur_. We may, can, _or_ must be, ye _or_ you may, can, _or_ must be, they may, can, _or_ must be.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. I might, could, would, _or_ should be, thou mightest, &c.

_Plur_. We might, could, would, _or_ should be, you might, &c.

Perf. Tense _Sing_. I may, can, _or_ must have been, thou mayst, canst, &c.

_Plur_. We may, can, _or_ must have been, you may, can, _or_ must be, &c.

Pluper. Tense.

_Sing_. I might, could, would, _or_ should have been, thou, &c.

_Plur_. We might, could, would, _or_ should have been, you, &c.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense. To be. Perf. Tense. To have been.

PARTICIPLES.

Pres. Being. Perf. Been. Compound, Having been.

This verb to be, though very irregular in its conjugation, is by far the most important verb in our language, for it is more frequently used than any other; many rules of syntax depend on constructions a.s.sociated with it, and, without its aid, no pa.s.sive verb can be conjugated. You ought, therefore, to make yourself perfectly familiar with all its changes, before you proceed any farther.

II. Pa.s.sIVE VERBS.

The _cases of nouns_ are a fruitful theme for investigation and discussion. In the progress of these lectures, this subject has frequently engaged our attention; and, now, in introducing to your notice the pa.s.sive verb, it will, perhaps, be found both interesting and profitable to present one more view of the nominative case.

Every sentence, you recollect, must have one _finite_ verb, or more than one, and one _nominative_, either expressed or implied, for, without them, no sentence can exist.

The _nominative_ is the _actor_ or _subject_ concerning which the verb makes an affirmation. There are three kinds of nominatives, _active, pa.s.sive_, and _neuter_.

The nominative to an _active_ verb, is _active_, because it _produces_ an action, and the nominative to a _pa.s.sive_ verb, is _pa.s.sive_, because it _receives_ or _endures_ the action expressed by the verb; for,

A Pa.s.sive Verb denotes action _received_ or _endured_ by the person or thing which is the nominative; as, "The _boy is beaten_ by his father."

You perceive, that the nominative _boy_, in this example, is not represented as the _actor_, but as the _object_ of the action expressed by the verb _is beaten_; that is, the boy _receives_ or _endures_ the action performed by his father; therefore _boy_ is a _pa.s.sive_ nominative. And you observe, too, that the verb _is beaten_, denotes the _action_ received or endured by the nominative; therefore _is beaten_ is a _pa.s.sive_ verb.

If I say, John _kicked_ the horse, John is an active nominative, because he performed or produced the action; but if I say, John _was kicked_ by the horse, John is a pa.s.sive nominative, because he received or endured the action.

The nominative to a _neuter_ verb, is _neuter_, because it does not produce an action nor receive one; as, John _sits_ in the chair. John is here connected with the neuter verb _sits_, which expresses simply the state of being of its nominative, therefore _John_ is a neuter nominative.

I will now ill.u.s.trate the active, pa.s.sive, and neuter nominatives by a few examples.

I. Of ACTIVE NOMINATIVES; as, "The _boy_ beats the dog; The _lady_ sings; The _ball_ rolls; The _man_ walks."