DEFECTIVE STRONG VERBS.

247. There are several verbs which are lacking in one or more principal parts. They are as follows:—

PRESENT.	PAST.	PRESENT.	PAST.
may	might	[ought]	ought
can	could	shall	should
[must]	must	will	would

248. May is used as either indicative or subjunctive, as it has two meanings. It is indicative when it expresses permission, or, as it sometimes does, ability, like the word can: it is subjunctive when it expresses doubt as to the reality of an action, or when it expresses wish, purpose, etc.

Indicative Use: Permission. Ability.

If I may lightly employ the Miltonic figure, "far off his coming shines."—Winier.

A stripling arm might sway
A mass no host could raise.
—Scott.

His superiority none might question.—Channing.

Subjunctive use.

In whatever manner the separate parts of a constitution may be arranged, there is one general principle, etc.—Paine.

(See also Sec. 223.)

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring!
—Shakespeare.

249. Can is used in the indicative only. The l in could did not belong there originally, but came through analogy with should and would. Could may be subjunctive, as in Sec. 220.

250. Must is historically a past-tense form, from the obsolete verb motan, which survives in the sentence, "So mote it be." Must is present or past tense, according to the infinitive used.

All must concede to him a sublime power of action.—Channing

This, of course, must have been an ocular deception.—Hawthorne.

251. The same remarks apply to ought, which is historically the past tense of the verb owe. Like must, it is used only in the indicative mood; as,

The just imputations on our own faith ought first to be removed.... Have we valuable territories and important posts...which ought long since to have been surrendered?—A. Hamilton.

It will be noticed that all the other defective verbs take the pure infinitive without to, while ought always has to.

Shall and Will.

252. The principal trouble in the use of shall and will is the disposition, especially in the United States, to use will and would, to the neglect of shall and should, with pronouns of the first person; as, "I think I will go."

Uses of shall and should.

The following distinctions must be observed:—

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, shall and should are used,—

Futurity and questions—first person.

(a) In making simple statements or predictions about future time; as,—

The time will come full soon, I shall be gone.—L. C. Moulton.

(b) In questions asking for orders, or implying obligation or authority resting upon the subject; as,—

With respect to novels, what shall I say?—N. Webster.

How shall I describe the luster which at that moment burst upon my vision?—C. Brockden Brown.

Second and third persons.

(2) With the SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, shall and should are used,—

(a) To express authority, in the form of command, promise, or confident prediction. The following are examples:—

Never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee.—Irving.

They shall have venison to eat, and corn to hoe.—Cooper.

The sea shall crush thee; yea, the ponderous wave up the loose beach shall grind and scoop thy grave.—Thaxter.

She should not walk, he said, through the dust and heat of
the noonday;
Nay, she should ride like a queen, not plod along like a
peasant.
—Longfellow.

(b) In indirect quotations, to express the same idea that the original speaker put forth (i.e., future action); for example,—

He declares that he shall win the purse from you.—Bulwer.

She rejects his suit with scorn, but assures him that she shall make great use of her power over him.—Macaulay.

Fielding came up more and more bland and smiling, with the conviction that he should win in the end.—A. Larned.

Those who had too presumptuously concluded that they should pass without combat were something disconcerted.—Scott.

"Should you like to go to school at Canterbury?"—Dickens.

First, second and third persons.

(3) With ALL THREE PERSONS,—

(a) Should is used with the meaning of obligation, and is equivalent to ought.

I never was what I should be.—H. James, Jr.

Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour.—Wordsworth.

He should not flatter himself with the delusion that he can make or unmake the reputation of other men.—Winter.

(b) Shall and should are both used in dependent clauses of condition, time, purpose, etc.; for example,—

When thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all stately forms.
—Wordsworth.

Suppose this back-door gossip should be utterly blundering and untrue, would any one wonder?—Thackeray.

Jealous lest the sky should have a listener.—Byron.

If thou should'st ever come by chance or choice to Modena.—Rogers.

If I should be where I no more can hear thy voice.—Wordsworth.

That accents and looks so winning should disarm me of my resolution, was to be expected.—C. B. Brown.

253. Will and would are used as follows:—

Authority as to future action—first person.

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, will and would are used to express determination as to the future, or a promise; as, for example,—

I will go myself now, and will not return until all is finished.—Cable.

And promised...that I would do him justice, as the sole inventor.—Swift.

Disguising a command.

(2) With the SECOND PERSON, will is used to express command. This puts the order more mildly, as if it were merely expected action; as,—

Thou wilt take the skiff, Roland, and two of my people,... and fetch off certain plate and belongings.—Scott.

You will proceed to Manassas at as early a moment as practicable, and mark on the grounds the works, etc.—War Records.

Mere futurity.

(3) With both SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, will and would are used to express simple futurity, action merely expected to occur; for example,—

All this will sound wild and chimerical.—Burke.

She would tell you that punishment is the reward of the wicked.—Landor.

When I am in town, you'll always have somebody to sit with you. To be sure, so you will.—Dickens.

(4) With FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD PERSONS, would is used to express a wish,—the original meaning of the word will; for example,—

Subject I omitted: often so.

Would that a momentary emanation from thy glory would visit me!—C. B. Brown.

Thine was a dangerous gift, when thou wast born, The gift of Beauty. Would thou hadst it not.—Rogers

It shall be gold if thou wilt, but thou shalt answer to me for the use of it.—Scott.

What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain?—Coleridge.

(5) With the THIRD PERSON, will and would often denote an action as customary, without regard to future time; as,

They will go to Sunday schools, through storms their brothers are afraid of.... They will stand behind a table at a fair all day.—Holmes

On a slight suspicion, they would cut off the hands of numbers of the natives, for punishment or intimidation.—Bancroft.

In this stately chair would he sit, and this magnificent pipe would he smoke, shaking his right knee with a constant motion.—Irving.

Conjugation of Shall and Will as Auxiliaries (with Choose).

254. To express simply expected action:—

ACTIVE VOICE.	PASSIVE VOICE.
Singular.	Singular.
1. I shall choose.	I shall be chosen.
2. You will choose.	You will be chosen.
3. [He] will choose.	[He] will be chosen.
Plural.	Plural.
1. We shall choose.	We shall be chosen.
2. You will choose.	You will be chosen.
3. [They] will choose.	[They] will be chosen.

To express determination, promise, etc.:—

ACTIVE VOICE.	PASSIVE VOICE.
Singular.	Singular.
1. I will choose.	I will be chosen.
2. You shall choose.	You shall be chosen.
3. [He] shall choose.	[He] shall be chosen.
Plural.	Plural.
1. We will choose.	1. We will be chosen.
2. You shall choose.	2. You shall be chosen.
3. [They] shall choose.	3. [They] shall be chosen.

Exercises on Shall and Will.

(a) From Secs. 252 and 253, write out a summary or outline of the various uses of shall and will.

(b) Examine the following sentences, and justify the use of shall and will, or correct them if wrongly used:—

1. Thou art what I would be, yet only seem.

2. We would be greatly mistaken if we thought so.

3. Thou shalt have a suit, and that of the newest cut; the wardrobe keeper shall have orders to supply you.

4. "I shall not run," answered Herbert stubbornly.

5. He informed us, that in the course of another day's march we would reach the prairies on the banks of the Grand Canadian.

6. What shall we do with him? This is the sphinx-like riddle which we must solve if we would not be eaten.

7. Will not our national character be greatly injured? Will we not be classed with the robbers and destroyers of mankind?

8. Lucy stood still, very anxious, and wondering whether she should see anything alive.

9. I would be overpowered by the feeling of my disgrace.

10. No, my son; whatever cash I send you is yours: you will spend it as you please, and I have nothing to say.

11. But I will doubtless find some English person of whom to make inquiries.

12. Without having attended to this, we will be at a loss to understand several passages in the classics.

13. "I am a wayfarer," the stranger said, "and would like permission to remain with you a little while."

14. The beast made a sluggish movement, then, as if he would have more of the enchantment, stirred her slightly with his muzzle.

WEAK VERBS.

255. Those weak verbs which add -d or -ed to form the past tense and past participle, and have no change of vowel, are so easily recognized as to need no special treatment. Some of them are already given as secondary forms of the strong verbs.

But the rest, which may be called irregular weak verbs, need some attention and explanation.

256. The irregular weak verbs are divided into two classes,—

The two classes of irregular weak verbs.

(1) Those which retain the -d or -t in the past tense, with some change of form for the past tense and past participle.

(2) Those which end in -d or -t, and have lost the ending which formerly was added to this.

The old ending to verbs of Class II. was -de or -te; as,—

This worthi man ful wel his wit bisette [used].—Chaucer.

Of smale houndes hadde she, that sche fedde With rosted flessh, or mylk and wastel breed.—Id.

This ending has now dropped off, leaving some weak verbs with the same form throughout: as set, set, set; put, put, put.

257. Irregular Weak Verbs.—Class I.

Present Tense.	Past Tense.	Past Participle.
bereave	bereft, bereave	bereft, bereaved
beseech	besought	besought
burn	burned, burnt	burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
creep	crept	crept
deal	dealt	dealt
dream	dreamt, dreamed	dreamt, dreamed
dwell	dwelt	dwelt
feel	felt	felt
flee	fled	fled
have	had	had (once haved)
hide	hid	hidden, hid
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
lay	laid	laid
lean	leaned, leant	leaned, leant
leap	leaped, leapt	leaped, leapt
leave	left	left
lose	lost	lost
make	made (once maked)	made
mean	meant	meant
pay	paid	paid
pen [inclose]	penned, pen	penned, pent
say	said	said
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
shoe	shod	shod
sleep	slept	slept
spell	spelled, spelt	spelt
spill	spilt	spilt
stay	staid, stayed	staid, stayed
sweep	swept	swept
teach	taught	taught
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
weep	wept	wept
work	worked, wrought	worked, wrought

258. Irregular Weak Verbs.—Class II.

Present Tense.	Past Tense.	Past Participle.
bend	bent, bended	bent, bended
bleed	bled	bled
breed	bred	bred
build	built	built
cast	cast	cast
cost	cost	cost
feed	fed	fed
gild	gilded, gilt	gilded, gilt
gird	girt, girded	girt, girded
hit	hit	hit
hurt	hurt	hurt
knit	knit, knitted	knit, knitted
lead	led	led
let	let	let
light	lighted, lit	lighted, lit
meet	met	met
put	put	put
quit	quit, quitted	quit, quitted
read	read	read
rend	rent	rent
rid	rid	rid
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shed	shed	shed
shred	shred	shred
shut	shut	shut
slit	slit	slit
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spit	spit [obs. spat]	spit [obs. spat]
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
sweat	sweat	sweat
thrust	thrust	thrust
wed	wed, wedded	wed, wedded
wet	wet, wetted	wet, wetted

Tendency to phonetic spelling.

250. There seems to be in Modern English a growing tendency toward phonetic spelling in the past tense and past participle of weak verbs. For example, -ed, after the verb bless, has the sound of t: hence the word is often written blest. So with dipt, whipt, dropt, tost, crost, drest, prest, etc. This is often seen in poetry, and is increasing in prose.