The Imperative mood expresses a command, entreaty, desire, request, &c., as, "follow me," "grant our request." In this mood we employ the verbal root without any inflexion. It has only one person, the second (singular and plural). In the oldest southern English the plural took the termination -th. Some languages inflect the imperative mood for all persons. We have a substitute for the first and third persons in the use of let; "let me call," "let him call." In old English let = cause. Formerly the Subjunctive had the sense of the Imperative, traces of which we have in such expressions as, 66 But fall I first Amongst my sorrows, ere my treacherous hand, BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, The Maid's "My soul turn from them, turn we to survey.' GOLDSMITH, Trav. 165. "Fall he that must beneath his rival's arms."-POPE. The Infinitive mood is an abstract noun, and has no inflexions for voice, mood, &c.; as, “to see,” “to know." See p. 164 for a fuller treatment of the Infinitive Mood. Participles are verbal adjectives, and always refer to some noun in the sentence. Many adjectives take a participial form in -ing, or -ed, or -en. § 76, p. 59. "Thou to the untamed horse Didst use the conquering bit; And here the well-shaped oar, See Still leapeth through the sea, The fair Nereids with their hundred feet." PLUMPTRE'S Edipus at Colonus. A Verbal Noun in -ing (O.E. -ung), often corresponds to a Latin gerund, as "he thanked him for saving his life." Here saving is not a participle, because "for saving" represents an older, "for the saving of." 66 'Thonkyng him for the saving of his life." CHAUCER, Astrolabe, p. 19. "Concerning the means of procuring unity, men must beware that in the procuring or muniting of religious unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity and of human society."-BACON, Essays, 3. In such expressions as a "walking stick," "the church-going bell," the words walking and going are verbal nouns. In the earlier periods these nouns in -ing were preceded by various prepositions-an, a, on, in, at, to. "He sent Ancus his sones an hontynge." "If she were going to hanging, no gallows should part us.” MASSINGER, Virgin Martyr, II. 3. "Hou hue Absolon to hongynge brouhte." Piers Plowman, C. p. 64. These verbal nouns may take an adjective or a demonstrative before them. They may also be used like an ordinary noun as the subject or object of a sentence. Tense. 181. Verbs undergo a modification to indicate time. These forms are called Tenses. In the oldest period the verb was inflected for the present and perfect tenses only. There was in O.E. no distinct form for the future, its place being supplied by the present. Cp. " he goes to town to-morrow." There were, however, traces of a past indefinite tense formed by the verb was, and the imperfect participle. The perfect and past tenses were expressed by one form. In the thirteenth century we find the modern future expressed by the auxiliaries shall and will. In the fourteenth century we find (1) the present imperfect (continuous) formed by the verb be, and the present participle; (2) the perfect expressed by the auxiliary have and the passive participle; as well as the emphatic form of the present and past tenses, with the auxiliary do. The growth of new forms render a fuller classification of the tenses necessary. The three simple tenses, Present, Past, and Future, have four varieties, (1) indefinite, (2) imperfect, (3) perfect, (4) perfect continuous. The fourth variety belongs only to the Active Voice. For I praise and I praised we sometimes use I do praise, I did praise, which are mostly emphatic. (See Do under the heading, Auxiliary Verbs.) In the modern stage of the language verbs undergo change of form only for the present and past tenses. Number. 182. Verbs are modified to express the number and person of the subject. There are two numbers, Singular and Plural; and three persons in each number, First, Second, and Third. Inflexions for number have all disappeared, except in the verb to be. The person-endings are preserved only in the singular number of the present and past tenses of the Indicative mood. For the origin of the inflexions that mark person, see Verbal Inflexions, § 200, p. 159. Conjugation. 183. Verbs are classified, according to their mode of expressing the past tense, into Strong and Weak Verbs. Strong Verbs form their past tense by change of the root vowel; nothing is added to the root, as, fall, fell, fallen. All passive participles of strong verbs once ended in -en ; but this ending has been dropped in very many passive participles of this conjugation. Weak Verbs form their past tense by adding to the root of the present the letter d, or -t. The vowel |