Imperfect.

117. An action mentioned as unfinished or incomplete is said to be Imperfect.

Present Imperfect,
Past Imperfect,
Future Imperfect,

I am writing.

I was writing.

I shall be writing.

Perfect.

118. An action mentioned as finished or complete is said to be Perfect.

Present Perfect,

I have written.

Past Perfect,
Future Perfect,

I had written.

I shall have written.

Intentional.

119. An action mentioned as intended to be performed is said to be Intentional.

Present Intentional,
Past Intentional,
Future Intentional,

I am going to write.
I was going to write.
I shall be going to write.

Although there are in reality but three Tenses, the Present, the Past, and the Future, each of the forms given above is commonly called a Tense.

121. The Infinitive, being a noun, does not indicate time, but has variations of form to show whether the action is indefinite, unfinished, finished, or intended.

1. What is meant by Tense?

2. Name the forms commonly called Tenses.

3. Write out a table of Tenses, as in § 120, of the verbs speak, ride, walk, cut, tell, run, sleep.

122. The only tense formed by inflexion, i.e. by a change in the word, is the Past Indefinite. It is formed as follows:

(1) By the suffix -ed, -d, or t: lift, lift-ed; hear, hear-d; learn, learn-t.

(2) By a change in the root: rise, rose; slay, slew; lie, lay; bend, bent.

(3) By the suffix -d or -t, and a change in the root: feel, fel-t; teach, taugh-t; seek, sough-t; sell, sol-d; will, woul-d; shall, shoul-d.

(4) A few verbs ending in t or d remain unchanged: spread, spread; shut, shut; cast, cast.

Conjugation.

123. The arrangement of verbs in classes according to the mode of forming their inflected tenses is called Conjugation. Hence English verbs are sometimes divided into two classes or Conjugations.

(1) The Strong, when the root is changed

with or without a suffix in the Past Indefinite Tense.

(2) The Weak, when the root is unchanged and a suffix is added.

Verbs like spread, that neither change the root nor add a suffix, are included in the Strong Conjugation.

To conjugate a verb also means to mention all the variations of Mood, Tense, Number, and Person.

EXERCISE 21.

Arrange the following verbs in two classes (Weak and Strong), and add the Past Indefinite of each verb: catch, choose, mend, bend, burst, make, change, do, learn, turn, shut, bite, wound, wind, lay, lie (recline), lie (be untruthful), fly, flow, flee, gather, mean, will, eat, think, drink, wink, shed, shall, hurt, extend, apply, die, read.

Number.

124. English verbs have lost the old Flural suffix, and have therefore no distinguishing mark of Number: I write, they write, we write.

The only exception is the Present Indefinite and Past Indefinite of the irregular verb be: I am, we are; I was, we were.

As the verb is always of the same number as the subject, the suffix is unnecessary.

Person.

125. When the subject of the verb is the First Personal Pronoun, the verb is said to be in the First Person: I write, we write.

When the subject is the Second Personal Pronoun, the verb is in the Second Person: thou writest, you write.

When the subject is anything except these two pronouns, the verb is in the Third Person : he writes, they write.

126. There are no suffixes to distinguish the Person in the Plural number, or in the First Person of the Singular; and those of the Second and Third Persons Singular are confined to the Indicative Mood.

127. The Second Person Singular, which is now used only in poetry or in devotional language, has the suffix -est; and this is confined to the Present Indefinite and the Past Indefinite thou send-est, thou sent-est.

:

In the following irregular verbs the suffix is -st: can-st, could-st, do-st, did-st, ha-st, had-st, should-st, would-st; and shall, will, are, and was have the suffix -t: shal-t, wil-t, ar-t, was-t.

128. The suffix of the Third Person Singular is -s, and, when the word ends in a sibilant, -es : he speak-s, he teach-es.

This suffix is confined to the Present Indefinite tense, and is omitted in can, may, shall, and will.

In poetry and old English it is -eth: he speak-eth. The auxiliary do makes do-th, and have, ha-th.

When the verb ends in y preceded by a consonant, y becomes ie: try, trie-s.

In go and do, o becomes oe: goe-s, doe-s.