CHAPTER VI.

Great care is necessary in the use of verbs, in consequence of the extensive variety of phrases which require them to be in different moods and tenses. The following very general rule may be given.

RULE VI.

That Mood and Tense of a verb must be used, which the sense requires.

To illustrate and apply this rule, it will be necessary to make a subdivision of the errors, which may be committed under it.

First.-Errors are often committed in the omission, or in the improper use of the sign (to) of the Infinitive Mood. The Infinitive Mood frequently depends upon verbs, participles, nouns, and adjectives; as, “Learn to write." Endeavouring to overcome." "A desire to improve." "Anxious to please." But the sign (to)

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is not used after the verbs, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear, feel, let, perceive, behold, observe, and know. Every verb, when used passively, requires the sign (to) to the following verb dependent upon it, except the verb let.

Correct the following errors.

Ask Rebecca play a tune.

I bade you to go.

He dares not to do it.

John come and read.*

You need not to solicit him to do a kind action.

We heard the thunder to roll, They could not oblige him do it.

and the hail to rattle.

Tell him bring me a pen.

I hope he will be able and do it.

I wished him say it again.
We hope to see him to execute
his project.

This sentence is correct. When verbs depend not on each other, it is proper to make use of the conjunction and; as, to give a glaring instance, we should not say "She fell down stairs to break her arm, but "She fell down stairs and broke her arm." In some instances it is proper to use the latter verb, either in the Infinitive or in some other mood; as, either "John come and read," or "John come to read," is correct.

Behold the man to dance on the He was heard say, that he would

rope.

Make him to run.
They need not to ask.
Hoping being there myself, I
did not send any one else.
To him that knoweth doing good,
and doeth it not, to him it is
sin.

disclose the whole.

Christians ought forgive injuries.
Did you perceive him to run
away?

Let me to do that.
Permit me go.

Tell him write to me next
week.

She felt the malignity of her You will have stay till todisease to increase.

She intends re-opening her school.

morrow.

Observe him to do it again.

He intends asking him for it.

Second.-Errors in Mood and Tense, and in not preserving similar forms of the verb in similar constructions.*

It is time he took the medicine. If you will call on me, I should feel obliged.

Professing regard, and to act differently, discover a base mind.

I would not go, unless you will If he conduct himself properly

accompany me.

Did he not tell thee his fault, and
entreated thee to forgive him?
Anger glances into the breast
of a wise man, but will rest
only in the bosom of a fool.
I did not know, that I have
before seen this picture.
If you had have called for me,
I would have gone.
It was time he come.

and is active in his business,
he will succeed.

He reads and is writing well.
The Parliament addressed the

King, and has been pro-
rogued the same day.

It is time that we began to write. He sees the horse ran down the lane.

Had he have written, I should have answered him.

Third.-Errors in the improper use of the Tenses of the

Infinitive Mood.+

I intended to have sent before.
I hoped to have seen him.
He desired to have made an
effort to please.

You say you thought to have written last week.

As they might have gone in that conveyance, they ought to go.

Conjunctions generally connect the same moods and tenses of verbs, but they do not always do so; for, it would be proper to use similar language to the following. " I could scarcely have believed the difference, if I had not seen it." The same mood and tense is required only when the verbs refer to like times and circumstances, as, "He went early, and waited for me."

+ All verbs expressive of hope, desire, intention, or command, must invariably be followed by the Present tense of the Infinitive, if the Infinitive Mood is used.

I thought to have done better.
He ought to do it long ago.
To defer his repentance longer,
would have disqualified him
for repenting at all.

I wished to have relieved him
in his troubles.

From the little conversation I had with him, he appeared to have been a man of letters. You tried to have taken more. To perform the kind office before he was solicited, must be a source of pleasure to him.

The Infinitive Mood of the verb often admits of being changed into another form, either of which form is correct; as, in the following examples, both forms are correct. I thought to see you earlier. I thought that I should see you earlier.

I expected to lose it, before I got home.

I expected that I should lose it before I got home.

It would have given me great

pleasure, had I been the bearer of such a present. They will then see that the faithful performance of their duty, would have been their greatest consolation.

It would have given me great pleasure to have been the bearer of such a present. They will then see, that to have faithfully performed their duty, would have been their greatest consolation. Sometimes one mode of expression is preferable to the other, as it would be more perspicuous to say, “I wish that I had risen earlier," than to say, "I wish to have risen earlier." Close reflection, and attention to the rule, are the only guides which can be given in many instances, in which the Infinitive Mood is used.

The following are promiscuous errors, in which a relation subsists between phrases, which relation, demands that the verbs should bear an expression correspondent in mood and tense to such relation.

The next new year's day I shall

be at school three years. I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days.

We often overlook the blessings

we possess, and are searching after those which are out of our reach.

I expected to have seen him.

The Perfect Past Tense must be used after the verb ought, when the past time is meant, but the verb ought is the same in form in the Past as it is in the Present Tense; there is no other way of expressing the past time with that verb than with the forms of the present, viz., Present ought, Imperfect Past ought.

He that was dead, sat up, and began to speak.

Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.

The doctor, in his lecture, said that fever always produced thirst.

To be moderate in our views,

and proceeding temperately in the pursuit of them, is the best way to ensure success. If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

I wish you had not have nomi- If James had not have sent, I nated him. should not have known it. I wish I had have sent sooner. He expected to have heard.

CHAPTER VII.

Verbs which have merely an assertive nature, and which do not bear a relation to an object, either with or without the aid of a preposition, have the same case after them as that which next precedes them.

RULE VII.

The verb to be, has the same case after it as the case which next precedes it.

The verb to be, in all its variations (am, art, is, are, was, wast, were, wert, being, been), may have the Nominative or the Objective Case after it, according to that case which next precedes it; as, "Be not afraid, it is I." Here it and I are in the Nominative case. "I knew it to be him." Here, it and him are in the Objective case.

Correct the following errors.

This woman is her, who was here yesterday.

He so much resembled his bro-
ther, that at first sight, I
took it to be he.

Be not surprised, it is me.
Emma expected it was her.
I expected it to be he.
It was not me who sent.

Is John him that you meant ?

Are you him that rode to
London with us?

He said it was her.

Were they them that you sat
with, at the Town Hall ?
They were them, that we sat
with.

Who do you think it to be?
I would act the same part, if I
were him.

The verb to become has frequently the same case after it, as it has before it; as, "He became a great man," but when it is used transitively, the Objective case follows it; as, "It did not become him to repeat such language."

The verbs to appear, and to seem, have frequently the same case after them as that which next precedes them; the verb to be being understood: as, "He appears a proper person." He seems a benevolent man."

Correct the following errors.

It seems him who came early bespoke the book.

It seems them who lived there are gone.

They appear them, who were You appear as her that I saw before so anxious.

before.

CHAPTER VIII.

As Participles are derived from verbs, and as they have a subject and sometimes an object belonging to them, the preceding rules relative to verbs apply also to participles. See Chapter xxxix in Etymology.

RULE VIII.

Participles have the same government as the verbs have, from which they are derived.