Indicative and Potential, with some conditional conjunction prefixed. The Present and Past Tenses have double forms. Present Tense, If I am taking, if I be taking.

Past Tense, If I was taking, if I were taking.

POTENTIAL MODE.

Present Tense, I may, can, or must be taking.
Past Tense, I might, could, would, or should be taking.
Present Perfect, I may, can, or must have been taking.
Past Perfect, I might, could, would, or should have bees taking.

IMPERATIVE MODE.

Present Tense, Be thou taking

INFINITIVE MODE.

Present Tense, To be taking.

Present Perfect, To have been taking.

EMPHATIC FORMS.

The EMPHATIC FORM represents an act or state asserted with emphasis. It is confined to the Indicative and Im perative Modes in the Active Voice.

Present Tense, Take I? Do I take? Am I taking?

Past Tense, Took I? Did I take?
Future Tense, Shall I or will I take?
Present Perfect Tense, Have I taken?

Was I taking?

Shall I or will I be taking?
Have I been taking?

Past Perfect Tense, Had I taken? Had I been taking?

Future Perfect, Shall I or will I have taken? Shall I or will I have been taking?

POTENTIAL MODE.

Present Tense, May I, can I, or must I take?

Past Tense, Might I, could I, should I, or I take?

Present Perfect Tense, May I, have I, or must I have taken?
Past Perfect, Might I, could I, would I, or should I have taken?

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE WEAK OR MODERN CONJUGATION."

$299. VERBS of the WEAK CONJUGATION form their Past Tense or Preterite from the Present by the addition of the sound of -d, -t, or -ed. Hence they are called weak; they require aid from without, instead of being changed from within, as the strong verbs are. The Past Participle and the Preterite have generally the same Form.

Verbs of the Weak Conjugation are divided into three classes.

§ 300. FIRST DIVISION.-In the Past Tenses of this class there is the simple addition of the sound of -d, -t, or -ed, the Present Form; as, Serve, served; Cry, cried; Betray, betrayed; Instruct, instructed; Dip, dipped (dipt); Toss, tossed (tost). To this class belong the greater part of weak verbs, and all verbs of foreign origin.

§ 301. SECOND DIVISION.-In this class, besides the addition of -t, -d, or -ed, the Vowel is shortened; as, Leave, left. It also contains those words which end in -d or -t, and at the same time have a short vowel in the Preterite. Such, among others, are cut, cost, &c., where the two Tenses are alike; and also bend, rend, where the Preterite is formed from the Present by changing -d into t; as, Bent, rent.

Now it is evident that, whenever the Present ends in -t or -d, there must be a difficulty in forming the Preterite. Two consonants, one being Sonant and the other Surd, can not come together in the same syllable, nor can two identical letters be sounded in the same syllable.

This difficulty is met,

I. By inserting a vowel between the -t or -d of the Present and the -t and -d which is the sign of Preterite; as, Instruct, instructed, not instruct,t; End, ended, not end,d.

II. By denoting the difference between the Present and Preterite of verbs ending in -d or -t, by shortening the vowel of the latter tense; as, Meet, light, shoot, in the Preterite,

become met, lit, shot; and feed, speed, lead, read become fed, sped, led, read (red).

III. By changing the sound of -d into that of -t where the vowel of the present tense is short already; as, Bend, wend, gird, gild become, in the Preterite, bent, went, girt, gilt.

IV. By allowing the Preterite to be of the same form as the Present; as, Cut, cut; cost, cost; set, set. ready end in -t, and already have short vowels. vowels long, they would be changed.

They alWere the

THIRD DIVISION.-In the third division of weak verbs, the Past Tense is formed from the Present by adding -d, -t, or -ed, and by changing the vowel of the present; as, Tell, told; sell, sold; will, would; shall, should.

To this Class belong the remarkable Preterites of the verbs Seek, Anglo-Saxon sece; beseech, catch, teach, Anglo-Saxon tæce; bring, Anglo-Saxon bringe; think, Anglo-Saxon pince; and work, Anglo-Saxon wyrce; viz., Sough-t, AngloSaxon soh-te; besough-t, caugh-t, taugh-t, Anglo-Saxon tahte; brough-t, though-t. In all these the final consonant is either -g or -k, or else a sound allied to them. When the tendency of these sounds to become -h and -y, as well as to undergo further changes, is remembered, the forms in point cease to be anomalous. In wrough-t, from work, Anglo-Saxon worh-te, there is also a transposition of r. Buy, present; brought, preterite. The g is found in Anglo-Saxon bycge, bóh-te. § 302. Made, had. In these words there is nothing remarkable but the ejection of a consonant. The Anglo-Saxon forms are Macode and hafde respectively.

OWE, Present; ought, Preterite. The forms in AngloSaxon áh, áhte. As late as the time of Elizabeth owe was used for own. The Present form own seems to have arisen from the Plural agen, ought of the Anglo-Saxon áh, owed of the English owe debeo, owned of the English own=possideo. The word own, in the expression to own a thing, has a totally different origin. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon an (plural unnon) I give or grant.

DURST.

word dare.

In durst the -s and -t are no parts of the origina.

The form durst has not yet been satisfactorily explained. The same is true of must.

WIST is, in its present form, a regular Preterite from wis know. Besides these there are wit and wot-know Wit appears to be the root; wot a strong Preterite.

Do. In the phrase this will do this will answer the purpose, the word do is wholly different from the word do meaning to act. In the first case, it is equivalent to the Latin valere; in the second, to the Latin facere. Of the first, the Anglo-Saxon Inflection is deák, dugon, dohte; of the second, it is dó, dóðh, dyde.—See LATHAM, p. 332.

Yode, the obsolete Preterite of go, now replaced by went, the preterite of wend. The initial g has become y.

§303. CONJUGATION OF THE WEAK VERB "TO LOVE." (Commonly called Regular.)

2. Thou shalt love or you shall love. 2. Ye or you shall love.

3. He shall love.

3. They shall love.

T

1. I have loved.

Singular.

Present Perfect Tense.

Plural

1. We have loved.

2. Thou hast loved, you have loved. 2. Ye or you have loved.

2. Thou shalt have loved, you 2. Ye or you will have loved.

will be loved.

3. He shall have loved.

Singular.

1. If I love.

2. If thou or you love.

3. If he love.

Singular.

}

3. They will have loved.

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE.

1. If I shall or will love.
2. If thou shalt or wilt love.
If
you shall or will love.
3. If he shall or will love.

Singular.

1. If we shall or will love.
2. If ye shall or will love.

If you shall or will love.
3. If they shall or will love.

Future Perfect Tense.

1. If I shall or will have loved.
2. If thou shalt or wilt have loved.
If you shall or will have loved.
3. If he shall or will have loved.

Plural

1. If we shall or will have loved. 2. If ye shall or will have loved.

If you shall or will have loved. 3. If they shall or will have loved.