The perfect participle often loses its verbal character and becomes an adjective; as, A drunken man; a concealed plot. In this character it admits of comparison; as, A more admired artist; a most respected magistrate. A few of these verbal adjectives receive the termination of -ly and become adverbs; as, Pointedly; more conceitedly; most dejectedly.

In older writers, and in works written, like Thomson's Castle of Indolence, in imitation of them, we find prefixed to the past participle the letter y; as, Yclept-called; yclad clothed.

=

It has grown out of the fuller forms of ge: Anglo-Saxon ge, Old Saxon gi, Meso-Gothic ga. It has also the power of expressing the possession of a quality.

Anglo-Saxon. English.

Feax, hair.

Heorte, heart.

Latin.

Anglo-Saxon.

ge-feax, comatus.
ge-heart, cordatus.

Hence it is probable that the ga, ki, or gi, Gothic, is the con- of the Latin language.

CONJUGATION.

$340. CONJUGATION is the distribution of the several inflections or variations of a verb in their different voices, modes, tenses, numbers, and persons. The conjugation of a verb in the active form is called the Active voice, and that in the passive form the Passive voice. As English verbs have but few inflections, their conjugation consists chiefly of variation accomplished by means of auxiliary verbs.

§ 341. AUXILIARY VERBS, or Helping Verbs, perform the same office in the conjugation of principal verbs which inflection does in the classical languages, though even in those languages the substantive verb is sometimes used as a helping verb; as, Amatus eram, Bebovλevμévoç v. They are followed by the other verbs without the prefix to in the infinitive; as, "He may go." They were originally principal verbs, and some of them retain that character as well as that of auxiliaries.

CLASSIFICATION OF AUXILIARY

VERBS.

§ 342. I. The verbs that are always auxiliary to others are, May, can, shall, must; II. Those that are sometimes auxiliary

and sometimes principal verbs are, Will, have, do, be, and let. Let and must have no variation. The power of the verb as an auxiliary is a modification of the original power which it had as a non-auxiliary.

DERIVATION OF AUXILIARY VERBS.

§ 343. I. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of possession: HAVE, Anglo-Saxon habban, to have. It is used both as a principal and as an auxiliary verb. See § 345.

II. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of existence: BE, AM, WAS. A corresponding word is used as an auxiliary in both the Latin and the Greek languages. See § 346.

III. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of future destination, dependent on circumstances external to the agent: SHALL, AngloSaxon sceal necesse est; debeo. In the first person it simply foretells; as, "I shall go to New York to-morrow." In this phrase the word seems to have no reference to obligation; but in its primitive sense it denotes to be obliged, coinciding nearly with ought. When shall is used in the second and third persons, it assumes its primitive sense, or one allied to it, implying obligation; as, when a superior commands with authority, You shall go. Hence shall, in the first person, foretells; in the second and third, promises, commands, or expresses determination. See § 345.

Should (preterit of shall) expresses duty, supposition; as, “You should pay the money;" "If it should rain to-morrow, I shall not be able to keep my promise." Should is also used to express an opinion doubtfully or modestly; as, "I should think so."

IV. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of future destination, dependent on the volition of the agent: WILL, Anglo-Saxon willan. Will, in the first person, not only foretells, but promises; in the second and third, it only foretells. See § 345.

Would (preterit of will) properly implies volition, but, like should, is frequently used as a simple future, dependent on a verb of past time; as, "He said it would rain to-day;" "He promised me that he should go to-morrow." See § 345.

1. There is the same difference between would and should that there is between will and shall, when used with the past tenses. Would promises or threatens in the first person, and simply foretells in the others. Should simply foretells in the first person, and promises or threatens in the other persons.

2. When the second and third persons are represented as the subjects of their own expressions, shall foretells, as in the first person:

as, "He says that he shall be a loser by this bargain;" "Do you suppose you shall go?" Will, in such instances, promises, as in the first person: "You say that you will be present;" "He says he will attend to the business."

3. In interrogative sentences, shall and will have, in general, a meaning nearly opposite to what they have in affirmative sentences. Shall, used interrogatively, in the first, second, and third persons, refers to another's will; thus, "Shall I go?" signifies, Will you permit me to go? Will, used interrogatively, in the second and third persons, denotes volition or determination in the subject; as, "Will you go?"

4. When the verb is in the subjunctive mode, the meaning of shall and will undergoes some alteration; thus, "He shall proceed" expresses a command, but "If he shall proceed" expresses a mere future contingency.

V. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of power, dependent upon circumstances external to the agent: MAY, Anglo-Saxon magan. "He may purchase the field if he pleases;" "He might (pretcrit) purchase the field if he pleased." May, when it stands before its subject, expresses a wish: May he come; might it but turn out well. See 345.

VI. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of power, dependent on circumstances internal to the agent: CAN, Anglo-Saxon cunnan=io know how to do. May is simply permissive, can is potential. "May et can cum eorum preteritis might et could potentiam innuunt; cuni hoc discrimine: May et might vel de jure vel saltem de rei possibilitate dicuntur, at can et could de viribus agentis."-WALLIS, p. 107. VII. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of necessity: MUST, Anglo-Saxon mót=ought, or necesse est.

"For as the fisse, if it be dry,

Mote, in defaute of water, die."-GOWER.

MUST, and likewise MAY and CAN (as well as CAN NOT), are each used in two senses, which are often confounded together. They relate sometimes to power and sometimes to contingency.

When we say of one who has obtained a certain sum of money, "Now he may purchase the field he was wishing for," we mean that it is in his power; it is plain that he may, in the same sense, hoard up money, or spend it on something else, though, perhaps, we are not quite sure, from our knowledge of his character and situa tion, that he will not. When, again, we say, "It may rain to-morrow," or, "The vessel may have arrived in port," the expression does not at all relate to power, but only to contingency; i. e., we mean

that though we are not sure such an event will happen or has happened, we are not sure of the reverse.

When, again, we say, "This man, of so grateful a disposition, must have eagerly embraced such an opportunity of requiting his benefactor;" or of one who approves of the slave trade, "He must be very hard-hearted," we only mean to imply the absence of all doubt on these points. The very notions of gratitude and of hardheartedness exclude the idea of compulsion. But when we say that "all men must die," or that "a man must go to prison who is dragged by force," we mean "whether they will or not;" that there is no power to resist.

VIII. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of sufferance: Let, Anglo-Saxon lætan suffer, permit. Besides permission, it may express wishes, requests, commands, and exhortations. It is used only in the imperative mode.

IX. Auxiliary verb, derived from the idea of action: Do, AngloSaxon don. Do and did, used as auxiliaries, mark the emphatic form of the verb; as, "I do teach ;" "I did teach." They are generally used in negative and interrogative sentences; as, "I do not fear;" "Did he hear?" It sometimes supplies the place of a verb previously used; as, "You attend not to your studies as he does," that is, as he attends.

CLASSIFICATION OF AUXILIARY VERBS, IN RESPECT то THEIR MODE OF CONSTRUCTION.

§ 344. Auxiliary verbs combine with others in three ways: 1. With participles: (a) with the present or active participle, I am speaking; (b) with the past or passive participle, I am beaten; I have beaten. 2. With infinitives: (a) with an objective infinitive, I can speak; (b) with the gerundial infinitive, I have to speak. 3. With both infinitives and participles, I shall have done; I mean tɔ have done.