LESSON III.—MIXED.
"What follows, had better been wanting altogether."—Blair's Rhet., p. 201.
[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the phrase had better been, is used in the sense of the potential pluperfect. But, according to Observation 17th, on the conjugations, this substitution of one form for another is of questionable propriety. Therefore, the regular form should here be preferred; thus, "What follows, might better have been wanting altogether.">[
"This member of the sentence had much better have been omitted altogether."—Ib., p. 212. "One or [the] other of them, therefore, had better have been omitted."—Ib., p. 212. "The whole of this last member of the sentence had better have been dropped."—Ib., p. 112. "In this case, they had much better be omitted."—Ib., p. 173. "He had better have said, 'the productions'"—Ib., p. 220. "The Greeks have ascribed the origin of poetry to Orpheus, Linus, and Musæus."—Ib., p. 377. "It has been noticed long ago, that all these fictitious names have the same number of syllables."—Phil. Museum, i, 471. "When I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, I have determined to send him."—Acts, xxv, 25. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God."—Ps., lxxxiv, 10. "As for such, I wish the Lord open their eyes."—Barclay's Works, iii. 263. "It would a made our passidge over the river very difficult."— Walley, in 1692. "We should not a been able to have carried our great guns."—Id. "Others would a questioned our prudence, if wee had."—Id. See Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., i, 478. "Beware thou bee'st not BECÆSAR'D; i.e. Beware that thou dost not dwindle into a mere Cæsar."—Harris's Hermes, p. 183. "Thou raisedest thy voice to record the stratagems of needy heroes."—ARBUTHNOT: in Joh. Dict., w. Scalade. "Life hurrys off apace: thine is almost up already."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 19. "'How unfortunate has this accident made me!' crys such a one."—Ib., p. 60. "The muse that soft and sickly wooes the ear."—Pollok, i, 13. "A man were better relate himself to a statue."—Bacon. "I heard thee say but now, thou lik'dst not that."—Shak. "In my whole course of wooing, thou cried'st, Indeed!"—Id. "But our ears are grown familiar with I have wrote, I have drank, &c., which are altogether as ungrammatical."— Lowth's Gram., p. 63; Churchill's, 114. "The court was sat before Sir Roger came."—Addison, Spect., No. 122. "She need be no more with the jaundice possest."—Swift's Poems, p. 346. "Besides, you found fault with our victuals one day that you was here."—Ib., p. 333. "If spirit of other sort, So minded, have o'erleap'd these earthy bounds."—Milton, P. L., B. iv, l. 582. "It should have been more rational to have forborn this."—Barclay's Works, Vol. iii, p. 265. "A student is not master of it till he have seen all these."—Dr. Murray's Life, p. 55. "The said justice shall summons the party."—Brevard's Digest. "Now what is become of thy former wit and humour?"—Spect., No. 532. "Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?"—Burns, p. 29. "SUBJ.: Pres. If I love, If thou lovest, If he love. Imp. If I loved, If thou lovedst, If he loved."—Merchant's Gram., p. 51. "SUBJ.: If I do not love, If thou dost not love, If he does not love;" &c.—Ib., p. 56. "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."—James, v, 15. "Subjunctive Mood of the verb to call, second person singular: If Thou callest. If Thou calledst. If Thou hast called. If Thou hadst called. If Thou call. If Thou shalt or wilt have called."—Hiley's Gram., p. 41. "Subjunctive Mood of the verb to love, second person singular: If thou love. If thou do love. If thou lovedst. If thou didst love. If thou hast loved. If thou hadst loved. If thou shalt or wilt love. If thou shalt or wilt have loved."—Bullions's E. Gram., p. 46. "I was; thou wast, or you was; he, she, or it was: We, you or ye, they, were."—White, on the English Verb, p. 51. "I taught, thou taughtedst, he taught."—Coar's English Gram., p. 66. "We say, if it rains, suppose it rains, lest it should rain, unless it rains. This manner of speaking is called the SUBJUNCTIVE mode."—Weld's Gram., 2d Ed., p. 72; Abridged Ed., 59. "He is arrived at what is deemed the age of manhood."—Priestley's Gram., 163. "He had much better have let it alone."—Tooke's Diversions, i, 43. "He were better be without it."—Locke, on Education, p. 105. "Hadest not thou been by."—Beauties of Shak., p. 107. "I learned geography. Thou learnedest arithmetick. He learned grammar."—Fuller's Gram., p. 34. "Till the sound is ceased."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 126. "Present, die; Preterit, died; Perf. Participle, dead."—British Gram., p. 158; Buchanan's, 58; Priestley's, 48; Ash's, 45; Fisher's, 71; Bicknell's, 73.
"Thou bowed'st thy glorious head to none, feared'st none."
—Pollok, B. viii, l. 603.
"Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessedst it."
—N. A. Reader, p. 320.
"As once thou slept'st, while she to life was form'd"
—Milt., P. L., B. xi, l. 369.
"Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest,
But may imagine how the bird was dead?"
—SHAK.: Joh. Dict.
"Which might have well becom'd the best of men."
—Id., Ant. and Cleop.