Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (popular books to read TXT) 📕

used. The subjunctive is frequently used in indirect questions, in expressing a wish for that which it is impossible to attain at once or at all, and instead of the potential mode in independent clauses.

+Examples+.— 1. If (= since) it rains, why do you go? 2. If it rains (now), I cannot go out. 3. If it rain, the work will be delayed. 4. Though it rain to-morrow, we must march. 5. If there be mountains, there must be valleys between. 6. Though honey be sweet, one can’t make a meal of it. 7. If my friend were here, he would enjoy this. 8. Though immortality were improbable, we should still believe in it. 9. One may doubt whether the best men be known. 10. I wish the lad were taller. 11. Oh! that I were a Samson in strength. 12. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck.

+Explanation+.—In (1) the raining is assumed as a fact. In (2) the speaker is uncertain of the fact. In the conditional clause of (3) and in the concessive clause of (4) the raining is thought of as a mere contingency. The speaker is certain of the truth of what is hypothetically expressed in the conditional clause of (5) and in the concessive clause of (6), and is certain of the untruth of what is hypothetically expressed in the conditional clause of (7) and in the concessive clause of (8). There is an indirect question in (9), a wish in (10) for something not at once attainable and in (11) for something forever unattainable, and in (12) the subjunctive mode is used in place of the potential.

+Remarks+.—When there is doubt as to whether the indicative or the subjunctive mode is required, use the indicative.

The present subjunctive forms may be treated as infinitives used to complete omitted auxiliaries; as, If it (should) rain, the work will be delayed; Till one greater man (shall) restore us, etc. This will often serve as a guide in distinguishing the indicative from the subjunctive mode.

If, though, lest, unless, etc. are usually spoken of as signs of the subjunctive mode, but these words are now more frequently followed by the indicative than by the subjunctive.

+Direction+.—_Justify the mode of the italicized verbs in the following sentences_:—

1. If this were so, the difficulty would vanish. 2. If he was there, I did not see him. 3. If to-morrow be fine, I will walk with you. 4. Though this seems improbable, it is true. 5. If my friend is in town, he will call this evening. 6. If he ever comes, we shall know it.

+Explanation+.—In (6) and (7) the coming is referred to as a fact to be decided in future time.

7. If he comes by noon, let me know. 8. The ship leaps, as it were, from billow to billow. 9. Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob. 10. If a pendulum is drawn to one side, it will swing to the other.

+Explanation+.—Be is often employed in making scientific statements like the preceding, and may therefore be allowed, If a pendulum is drawn = Whenever a pendulum is drawn.

11. I wish that I were a musician. 12. Were I so disposed, I could not gratify you. 13. This sword shall end thee unless thou yield. 14. Govern well thy appetite, lest sin surprise thee. 15. I know not whether it is so or not. 16. Would he were fatter! 17. If there were no light, there would be no colors. 18. Oh, that he were a son of mine! 19. Though it be cloudy to-night, it will be cold. 20. Though the whole exceed a part, we sometimes prefer a part to the whole. 21. Whether he go or not, I must be there. 22. Though an angel from heaven command it, we should not steal. 23. If there be an eye, it was made to see. 24. It were well it were done quickly.

+Direction+.—_Supply in each of the following sentences a verb in the indicative or the subjunctive mode, and give a reason for your choice_:—

1. I wish it –- in my power to help you. 2. I tremble lest he –-. 3. If he –- guilty, the evidence does not show it. 4. He deserves our pity, unless his tale –- a false one. 5. Though he –- there, I did not see him. 6. If he –- but discreet, he will succeed. 7. If I –- he, I would do differently. 8. If ye –- men, fight.

 

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LESSON 141.

CONSTRUCTION OF MODE AND TENSE FORMS—CONTINUED.

+Caution+.—Be careful to employ the tense forms of the different modes in accordance with their meaning, and in such a way as to preserve the proper order of time.

+Direction+.—_Correct the following errors, and give your reasons_:—

1. That custom has been formerly quite popular. 2. Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. 3. He that was dead sat up and began to speak. 4. A man bought a horse for one hundred dollars; and, after keeping it three months, at an expense of ten dollars a month, he sells it for two hundred dollars. What per cent does he gain? 5. I should say that it was an hour’s ride. 6. If I had have seen him, I should have known him. 7. I wish I was in Dixie. 8. We should be obliged if you will favor us with a song. 9. I intended to have called.

+Explanation+.—This is incorrect; it should be, I intended to call. The act of calling was not completed at the time indicated by intended.

+Remark+.—Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, hoping, intending, permitting, etc. are followed by verbs denoting present or future time. [Footnote: The “Standard Dictionary” makes this restriction: “The doubling of the past tenses in connection with the use of have with a past participle is proper and necessary when the completion of the future act was intended before the occurrence of something else mentioned or thought of. Attention to this qualification, which has been overlooked in the criticism of tense-formation and connection, is especially important and imperative. If one says, ‘I meant to have visited Paris and to have returned to London before my father arrived from America,’ the past [present perfect] infinitive … is necessary for the expression of the completion of the acts purposed. ‘I meant to visit Paris and to return to London before my father arrived from America,’ may convey suggestively the thought intended, but does not express it.”]

The present infinitive expresses an action as present or future, and the present perfect expresses it as completed, at the time indicated by the principal verb. I am glad to have met you is correct, because the meeting took place before the time of being glad.

I ought to have gone is exceptional. Ought has no past tense form, and so the present perfect infinitive is used to make the expression refer to past time.

10. We hoped to have seen you often. 11. I should not have let you eaten it. 12. I should have liked to have seen it. 13. He would not have dared done that. 14. You ought to have helped me to have done it. 15. We expected that he would have arrived last night. 16. The experiment proved that air had weight.

+Remark+.—What is true or false at all times is generally expressed in the present tense, whatever tense precedes.

There seems to be danger of applying this rule too rigidly. When a speaker does not wish to vouch for the truth of the general proposition, he may use the past tense, giving it the form of an indirect quotation; as, He said that iron was the most valuable of metals. The tense of the dependent verb is sometimes attracted into that of the principal verb; as, I knew where the place was.

17. I had never known before how short life really was. 18. We then fell into a discussion whether there is any beauty independent of utility. The General maintained that there was not; Dr. Johnson maintained that there was. 19. I have already told you that I was a gentleman. 20. Our fathers held that all men were created equal.

+Caution+.—Use will and would to imply that the subject names the one whose will controls the action; use shall and should to imply that the one named by the subject is under the control of external influence.

+Remark+.—The original meaning of shall (to owe, to be obliged) and will (to determine) gives us the real key to their proper use.

The only case in which some trace of the original meaning of these auxiliaries cannot be found is the one in which the subject of will names something incapable of volition; as, The wind will blow. Even this may be a kind of personification.

+Examples+.—I shall go; You will go; He will go. These are the proper forms to express mere futurity, but even here we can trace the original meaning of shall and will. In the first person the speaker avoids egotism by referring to the act as an obligation or duty rather than as something under the control of his own will. In the second and third persons it is more courteous to refer to the will of others than to their duty.

I will go. Here the action is under the control of the speaker’s will. He either promises or determines to go.

You shall go; He shall go. Here the speaker either promises the going or determines to compel these persons to go; in either case the one who goes is under some external influence.

Shall I go? Here the speaker puts himself under the control of some external influence—the will of another.

Will I go?—_i. e_., Is it my will to go?—is not used except to repeat another’s question. It would be absurd for one to ask what his own will is.

Shall you go? Ans. I shall. Will you go? Ans. I will. Shall he go? Ans. He shall. Will he go? Ans. He will. The same auxiliary is used in the question that is used in the answer.

No difficulty shall hinder me. The difficulty that might do the hindering is not to be left to itself, but is to be kept under the control of the speaker.

He says that he shall go; He says that he will go. Change the indirect quotations introduced by that to direct quotations, and the application of the Caution will be apparent.

You will see that my horse is at the door by nine o’clock. This is only an apparent exception to the rule. A superior may courteously avoid the appearance of compulsion, and refer to his subordinate’s willingness to obey.

They knew that I should be there, and that he would be there. The same principles apply to should and would that apply to shall and will. In this example the events are future as to past time; making them future as to present time, we have, They know that I shall be there, and that he will be there.

My friend said that