past, present perfect, past perfect, future, and future perfect tenses.

132. The present tense expresses what some person or thing now does, as "I love him." "I learn grammar." "I am writing a grammar." "Waste produces want."

133. The present tense has assigned to it several uses, as referred to habits, customs, historical narrations, and the like, all of which, usage and common observation must have confirmed to the English reader in such a manner as to fortify him against mistake.

134. The past tense expresses an action as absolutely past, exclusive of present time, as, "I loved him." "I saw him yesterday, in London."

135. With Dr. Lowth, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Beattie, Dr. Browne, Dr. Crombie, Mr. Harris, and others, it has served as a matter of dispute, whether this past tense is definite or indefinite. If all the differences were settled, nothing salutary would be consequent upon it.

136. The present perfect tense denotes the completion of some action, but refers it to the present time, as, "I have loved." "I have seen it." I have washed

my hands." "I have been at school."

137. The present perfect tense, like the past, has been explained by some into a definite, and by others into an indefinite tense. We rarely find discussions amongst Doctors which are likely to be practically beneficial in their results. Almost every stroke they make for new distinctions is designed to mar the simplicity of the English verb.

138. Whatever we have done, which has reference to the present time, whether we limit the present to a

minute, an hour, a day, a week, a year, or a whole century, if the completion or continuation of such minute or day, has reference to the present time, it is denoted by the present perfect, as, "I have just seen one of your friends." "It has been dark this hour." "It has been hot to-day." "It has been very wet this week," This year has been very unhealthful." "This has been a century of bloodshed."

139. Bear in mind, that the present perfect is inclusive, and the past, exclusive, of present time.

140. The past perfect tense implies what was done at or before some other action or event took place, as, "I had loved." "She had learnt her lesson before the master began to exercise her."

141. The future tense implies what is yet to come, as, "I will love." "I will go." "We shall hear from them."

142. The future perfect tense differs from the future in denoting the completion of some future action, while the future merely denotes what will take place, without reference to its completion. The future is, "I shall go," and the future perfect, "I shall have gone." The latter sentence is incomplete, and, in order to complete it, it is necessary to state when it is my intention to have done the action, as, "I shall have gone to-morrow," or, "I shall have gone when his lordship arrives."

MOOD.

143. Mood, in accordance with our proposed order, is the next thing for our consideration. You must

give your best attention to this subject of mood, for all the information you can possibly derive from the following definitions, will not be a jot too much to carry you through the many particulars which must of necessity press upon us, before we can take leave of the verb. It is necessary that you, for a little while, abstract your thoughts from everything else. All these particulars of the verb will not do to be read and looked upon with indifference. I have before told you, that the verb is the most important part of speech, and, of course, its functions cannot but their selves be important. I do not mean that moods are, in point of usefulness, of vast moment, but I wish you properly to understand them, in order that you may possess all that is requisite for a full estimation of what is their real amount of importance.

144. We sometimes make a positive assertion, sometimes we give a command, and sometimes we speak conditionally, and so on. To distinguish these forms of expression, we are provided with infinitive, indicative, imperative, potential, and subjunctive, to each of which we join the word mode, which is the same as manner. We have, then, five modes, or manners, of speaking.

145. The infinitive mood is a verb in its primitive, or original, form, as, " To love." "To talk."

146. The present infinitive of the verb is as that which follows the forname I in the present tense, except the verb to be, with to preceding, expressed or understood. It is never restricted by number or person, but always appears the same, as, "Were I to pray." "Wert thou to pray."

147. The to makes a component part of the infinitive, for if we, in many of our verbs, divest this form of the to, it is immediately converted into a name. To sleep becomes sleep. To rest becomes rest. The French infinitive includes the to, and is distinguished by a difference in spelling: Punir, in French, means to punish, and je punis means I punish. The only difference is, that in French, the spelling makes the distinction, while our infinitive is distinguished by to. The same may be said in respect to the Latin, Greek, and other languages. The past infinitive is the present perfect tense, with to preceding, as, "To have loved."

148. The indicative mood simply declares a thing, "I am." "He loves virtue." "You are reading." Or it asks a question.

as,

149. The imperative mood commands, exhorts, entreats, or permits, as, "Get up-I command you to get up." "Strive to improve-I exhort you to strive to improve." "O Lord, enlighten our darkness-we beseech Thee to enlighten our darkness." "Depart in peace-I permit you to depart in peace."

150. The potential mood implies possibility, liberty, power, will, or duty, as, Possibility: "He may be rescued." Liberty: "He may rescue his self." Power: "He can rescue his self.” Will: "He would rescue his self." Duty: "He should rescue

his self."

151. The subjunctive mood implies doubt, or condition, and is preceded by if, though, or some other conditional connecting word, as, "If he strike not the

"If proper means be resorted to,

blow, he must die."

he

may

be rescued."

152. Having gone through our four first heads, person, number, time, and mode, I will give you a verb with all its varyings, to answer to these several purposes. Although you will observe, that some of the verbs in the conjugation are defective in the number of times or persons, let it be no obstacle to you, as I shall yet make all these differences clear.

153. To conjugate a verb, is to give all its varyings. The following is a conjugation of the verb

*Ye may be used in the second person plural, as, "You or ye love,"