VIII. MOODS OF VERBS. RULE I. 300. One verb governs another in the infinitive mood; asI desire to improve. When the infinitive relates to some purpose in view, the phrase in order to, is expressed or understood. For before to is now a vulgarism, though it was quite correct two centuries ago; as-What went ye out for to see? EXAMPLES. (300.) Barnaby's enjoyments were to walk, and run, and leap.— DICKENS. Hammers began to rattle on the walls.-DICKENS. Judges, v. 16. Deut. i. 27. Paradise Lost, i. 750; ii. 419. As soldiers watch the signal of command, They learn to bow, to kneel, to sit, to stand.-COWPER. To interpret the present thoroughly, we must understand and unfold all the past.-CHANNING. RULE II. 301. The infinitive is also governed by nouns and adjectives; as-A desire to visit France. Anxious to return. 302. Sometimes the infinitive seems to depend chiefly on the adverb which precedes an adjective; as- -Too proud to be vain. EXAMPLES. (301.) With speed that entering speaks his haste to go.-CRABBE The desire to possess the objects or the knowledge.-WHEWELL. There was nothing in his advances to startle or alarm.-W. IRVING, Twere long to tell and sad to trace.-BYRON. (302.) Too notorious to require an application.-JUNIUS. Too fond of the right to pursue the expedient.-GOLDSMITH. Mr Haredale and the worthy vintner were too amazed and too much hurried to ask any further questions.-DICKENS. RULE III. 303. To, the sign of the infinitive, is suppressed after the verbs bid, dare, need, make, see, hear, feel, let, and occasionally some others. The infinitive of the verb to be is an exception, as it generally retains the sign even after these verbs-I see it to be so. The verb must not be suppressed and the sign used; thus-Are you going? I don't intend to. 304. The sign of the third person singular (s) is often dropped in the verb to need, and also to dare, when it means to venture, and is followed by an infinitive-He dare not do it. But not when it means to challenge, and governs a noun-A front that dares the skies. EXAMPLES. (303, 304.) Pride guides his steps, and bids him shun the great.POPE. Then Mary could feel her heart's blood curdle cold.-SOUTHEY. Let truth and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter ?-MILTON. Let us not disparage that nature that is common to all men, for no thought can measure its grandeur.-CHANNING. Believe? Expect? I know it to be true.-MONTGOMERY. RULE IV. 305. The infinitive is sometimes absolute; the truth, I do not like him. as-To tell you By absolute, is here meant, not governed by any preceding word, but forming with the noun it governs a phrase or independent clause in the sentence. EXAMPLES. (305.) To speak truly, the young people, &c.-ADDISON. To be concise, our great men are those, &c.-W. IRVING. RULE V. 306. The subjunctive mood should be used— 1. After if, and other conjunctions, when contingency and futurity are implied. II. After if or though, expressed or understood, denoting a mere supposition. III. After an imperative with lest or that. IV. After that expressing a wish. 307. The indicative, on the other hand, is always preferable, unless contingency is distinctly implied, or a mere wish or supposition of something not actually existing is conveyed. There is a tendency in some writers always to use the subjunctive after if, and especially the expression, if it be, to convey present doubt, instead of confining it to future contingency. On the other hand, many good authors use the indicative in cases where strict grammatical rule requires the subjunctive. EXAMPLES. (306.) If each system in gradation roll.-POPE. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be president, if such number [shall] be a majority of the whole.-American Constitution. My life, if thou preserve my life, thy sacrifice shall be.-ADDISON. If the king were not a traitor, the Convention must be rebels.-SIR J. MACKINTOSH. Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?-POPE. Steal not, though thy state be mean. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full, and deny thee; or lest I be poor, and steal. Take heed that thou forget not. O that he were come! (307.) If he is dwelling with delight upon a stratagem of successful fraud, let him summon off his imagination as from an unlawful pursuit. -JOHNSON. If I am entering into my one-and-twentieth year.— ADDISON. If we are thus exclaiming upon every occasion, we deprive ourselves of the power of flattery when there may be a real necessity. -GOLDSMITH. If youths, who might have pressed forward to the most honourable distinction, are roaming daily through the capital, &c.— KIRWAN. If he finds his collection too small for a volume, he may yet have enough to furnish out an essay.-JOHNSON. If his paper is refused, the presses of England are open.-JOHNSON. If once the monarch acts the monk.-POPE. Ye powers that rule the tongue, if such there are.-COWPER. 'Tis hard if all is false that I advance.COWPER. If any of us are condemned to the cruel punishment of surviving our country.-SIR J. MACKINTOSH. If a principle becomes the instrument, &c.-HORSLEY. If no danger is to be apprehended, &c.— KIRWAN. If this is a man of pleasure, what is a man of pain?— YOUNG. If I am a vain man, my gratification lies within a narrow circle.-JUNIUS. If Junius lives, you shall often be reminded of it.— JUNIUS. If such there breathes, go mark him well.-SCOTT. If wisdom is our lesson, &c.-YOUNG. If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. -SHAKS. If the audience does not concur with him, he smites a second time.-ADDISON. If England does not share the same fate, it is because we have, &c.-JUNIUS. If the restless candidate for praise takes no pleasure, &c.-HAZLITT. If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not quit it to go to the beginning.-JOHNSON. If we are marked to die, we are enow.-SHAKS. If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.-SHAKS. If I am asked whether there is any danger, I say yes.-SHERIDAN. If I am right, thy grace impart Exercise I. Underline the infinitives, doubly underline the words that govern them, and refer to the rules : Serious and thoughtful, Napoleon beheld the vast array defile before him.-ALISON. I wished, by compliance, to express my sympathy with this large portion of my race.-CHANNING. I shall endeavour to illustrate a few of these advantages. STEWART. It is pleasing to dwell on the contemplation.-ALISON. It is needless to dwell upon, and idle to cavil at, the physiological theories to which Malebranche has had recourse.-] -HALLAM. Literature is apt to form a dangerous occupation.-CARLYLE. The attempt to give clear, precise utterance to thought, is one of the most effectual processes of mental discipline. -CHANNING. What a shame to pay so little attention.-R. CHAMBERS. Bending from their elevated seats, to witness this conflict.-HALL. It is for you to decide whether this freedom shall yet survive.-HALL It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth.LORD CHATHAM. Who is the man that has dared to authorise this ?LORD CHATHAM. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.-SHAKS. Fear to do base unworthy things is valour; If they be done to us, to suffer them Is valour too.-BEN JONSON. Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to write, converse, and live with ease.-POPE. Born to lament, to labour, and to die.-PRIOR. First, Fear, his hand its skill to try Amid the chords bewildered laid.-COLLINS. Exercise II. I Underline the subjunctives, and doubly underline the indicatives:If any member absents himself, he shall forfeit a penny.-ADDISON. I am mistaken if he ventures to go to bed by himself this twelvemonth. -ADDISON. I am asked by both sides, if it is possible for me to be an unconcerned spectator.-ADDISON. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out.-MATT. v. 29. If those virtues are accompanied, &c.-GIBBON. If he builds or demolishes, pens or encloses, deluges or drains, it is not his care what may be the opinion of those who are skilled in perspective or architecture.-JOHNSON. If I were personally your enemy, might pity and forgive you.-JUNIUS. Though the earth and the heavens were to disappear, there are other worlds which roll afar.CHALMERS. If a man appears ridiculous by any of these circumstances, he becomes much more so by being out of countenance for them.ADDISON. It is necessary that friends partake each other's pleasures as well as cares, and be led to the same diversions.-Rambler. What is it you are to expect, if night cannot hide you or your lurking associates; if the very walls of your own houses resound with the secret, and proclaim it to the world; if the sun shines, and the winds blow upon it? If there were no cowardice, there would be little insolence. Though he praises her, it is only for her beauty. Unless he put a bridle on his tongue, he will soon shut himself out from all society. Would he were fatter!-SHAKS. Were I but once from bondage free, G IX. TENSES OF VERBS. RULE I. 308. Verbs connected by and, expressed or understood, should generally be in the same tense, otherwise the nominative should be repeated-He came and went. 309. Other conjunctions do not seem to demand this agreement-I neither have done it nor will do it. EXAMPLES. (308.) And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.-MILTON. He watched and wept, he prayed and felt, for all.-GOLDSMITH. Thus much I will indulge thee for thy ease, And mingle something of your times to please.-DRYDEN. Lock up thy senses, let no passion stir; Wake all thy reason, let her reign alone.-YOUNG. (309.) No man ever beheld her without admiration, or will read her history without sorrow.-BRANTOME. RULE II. 310. Verbs which have the same nominatives and tenses must have the same form; as-He liveth and reigneth; or, He lives and reigns. It must not be he liveth and reigns, or, he lives and reigneth. 311. Likewise when an auxiliary is used it must be continued; but it is generally expressed with the first verb and understood to the rest-Did he not tell thee his fault, and entreat thee to forgive him? Not entreated. The following is wrong in this respect:-And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? RULE III. 312. Verbs that depend on each other must be put in corresponding tenses; thus I say that I will go, I said that I would go, I said that I would have gone, if I be able, or if I can. if I were able, or if I could. if I had been able, or if I could have done so. |