2. "Let" with an infinitive: as Let us pray. Let him be heard. The latter, however, are not imperative forms of the verbs "pray' and "hear;" but infinitives used as complements of the imperative "let" [you]. VI. CONJUGATION. 140. Conjugation is the systematic arrangement of a verb according to its various grammatical forms. 141. There are two conjugations: I. THE REGULAR. II. THE IRREGULAR. These two conjugations are distinguished by the mode of forming the past tense (indicative) and the past participle. J. A regular verb is one whose past tense and past participle are formed by suffixing ed to its root:* as, (root) love; (past tense) loved; (past participle) loved. OBS.—In suffixing ed care must be taken to observe the rules for spelling derivative words. II. An irregular verb† is one whose past tense or past participle, or both, are not formed by suffixing ed to the root: as, (root) take; (past tense) took; (past participle) taken 142. The principal parts of a verb are: I. The tense form of the PRESENT INDICATIVE. II. The tense form of the PAST INDICATIVE. III. THE PAST PARTICIPLE. *It would be more accurate to consider d, rather than ed, as the inflection of the past tense, since either d alone is added to the root (as in love-d, save-d), or when ed is used the e is a mere connecting vowel of euphony. + A verb is called "irregular," not because in the formation of its past tense and its past participle it presents any arbitrary departure from a supposed regular or normal method, but because in the irregular conjugation the various methods of forming these parts are not reducible to one rule. CONJUGATION OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS. 143. The auxiliary verbs are: be, do, have, shall, will, can, may, and must. I. Be, do, will, and have, besides being used as auxiliaries, are also principal verbs, and as such have the full conjugation. The parts given below are those only that are used as auxiliaries. II. Shall, may, can, and must are auxiliary verbs only, and are defective. III. The only tenses that do not require the aid of an auxiliary in their formation are: in the active voice, the present and past of the indicative and of the subjunctive, and the imperative mood. The passive voice is formed wholly by aid of the auxiliary to be. TO BE. AUXILIARY OF THE PASSIVE VOICE AND OF THE PROGRESSIVE FORM." + The forms of the verb to be are derived from at least two sources: am, was, were, etc., are from the Anglo-Saxon wesan, to be; be, been, etc., are from Anglo-Saxon beon, to be. Wert is sometimes used indicatively for wast. Present:-Sign of the Present Emphatic and Interrogative.* Past:-Sign of the Past Emphatic and Interrogative. 1. I did, 2. Thou didst, 3. He did; 1. We did, 2. You did, 3. They did. When used as a principal verb :-PRINCIPAL PARTS: present, do; past, did; past participle, done. INFINITIVES: present, to do; perfect, to have done; (gerunds) doing; having done. PARTICIPLES: present, doing; past, done; perfect, having done.† † Do, as used in the expression, How do you do? is a totally different verb: this "do" comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb dugan, to profit or prosper. Hence, How do you do? means, How do you prosper? That will do=That will prosper or succeed. |