Page images
PDF
EPUB

II. AUXILIARIES OF MOOD.

377. Several verbs, all more or less defective in their own conjugation, are used as auxiliaries to express the notions of possibility, permission, obligation, or necessity. The most remarkable of these are, may, can, must, dare, let, ought. The principal verb, dependent upon them, follows in the infinitive mood; and the particle to is generally omitted before the infinitive, but not always.

[blocks in formation]

This verb expresses permission: as, 'He may go, if he likes.' It is also used to express a prayer, a wish, or a desire; in which case it precedes the subject-nominative: as, 'May he prosper,' 'May they be happy.' The beggars in Cork reverse this order: as, 'The Lord may bless you,' 'The Lord may spare you to your family.'

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

This verb denotes power, or capability, and is used to form what some grammarians call the Potential Mood. The verb can (A.-S. cunnan) originally signifies to know,' and then 'to be able;' like savoir in French, as je sais le faire, 'I know how to do it,' that is, 'I can (to) do it.' The past tense of

the Anglo-Saxon verb is cube (cudhe), whence the Old English coud. The form 'could' has arisen from false analogy, from a fancied resemblance to would and should. But in these words is part of the root; whereas in 'could' it is quite superfluous.

[blocks in formation]

This verb is used to denote necessity. It has no inflection whatever, and there is some difficulty in determining the question of tense. Dr. Latham says (English Language, § 607):— 'I can only say of this form [must] that it is common to all persons, numbers, and tenses.' But compare Adams (Elements of the English Language, § 366).

For my own part, I have always felt the want of a past tense in this auxiliary. For example, when we wish to translate from German such a phrase as er musste gehen, we cannot say 'he must go.' We are obliged to give the sentence a turn: 'he was obliged to go,' he was bound to go,' 'he had to go.' We do, indeed, sometimes hear the phrase 'he must needs go;' but the past tense of the verb must seems confined to that construction.

[blocks in formation]

Dr. Latham says (English Language, § 598):- Dare, durst. -The verb dare is both transitive and intransitive. We can say either I dare do such a thing, or I dare (challenge) such a man to do it. This, in the present tense, is unequivocally correct. In the perfect, the double power of the word dare is ambiguous; still it is, to my mind at least, allowable. We can certainly say, I dared him to accept my challenge; and we can perhaps say, I dared not venture on the expedition. In this last sentence, however, durst is preferable. Durst is intransitive only. Dare can be used only in the present tense, dared in the perfect only. Durst can be used in either.'

[blocks in formation]

This verb is derived from the A.-S. lætan, past tense let, perfect participle læten, which, according to Dr. Bosworth, bears four significations:

1. To let, suffer, permit, to let be, leave-sinere.
2. To let go, release, send, dismiss-mittere.

3. To hinder, let, trifle-impedire.

4. To admit, think, suppose, pretend-admittere, putare. Mr. Wedgewood, in his Etymological Dictionary, endeavours to account for the two senses of let, apparently the reverse of each other-(1) 'to allow, permit,' or even to take measures for the execution of a purpose,' as when we say, 'let me alone,' let me go, let me have a letter to-morrow;' and (2) 'to hinder,' as I was let hitherto.'

[ocr errors]

In his opinion the idea of slackening lies at the root of both applications of the term. When we speak of 'letting one go,' 'letting him do something,' we conceive of him as previously restrained by a band, the loosening or slackening of which will permit the execution of the act in question. Thus the Latin laxare, 'to slacken,' was used in later times in the sense of its modern derivatives, Italian lasciare, French laisser, 'to let.' So modicum laxa stare, 'let it stand a little while: ' Muratori, Diss. 24, p. 365.

At other times, Mr. Wedgewood thinks, the slackness is attributed to the agent himself, when let acquires the sense of 'be slack in action,' 'delay,' or 'omit doing.'

And down he goth, no longer would he let,
And with that word his counter door he shet.

Chaucer.

Then in a causative sense to let one from doing a thing is 'to make him let or omit to do it,' 'to hinder his doing it.'

On the other hand, Richardson thinks that in let we have two distinct verbs, the same in spelling, but different in meaning:

1. Let, 'to give leave,' 'permit,' he connects with Ger. lassen, Ital. lasciare, Fr. laisser, 'to relax,' 'loosen.' 2. Let, 'to retard, delay, hinder,' he connects with Goth. latyan, and the adjective læt, 'late.'

It is in the first of these significations that let is an auxiliary in English, commonly used in the first and third persons of the Imperative Mood.

Singular.

1. Let me go,

3. Let him go,

Plural.

1. Let us go,

3. Let them go.

In Cork, the same auxiliary is frequently used with the second person: as, 'let

383.

you

sit here,' 'let you go away.'

[blocks in formation]

Ought is properly the past tense of owe, which originally meant to own, possess: so Shakespeare,

[ocr errors]

I am not worthy of the wealth I owe.

All's Well, ii. 5.

Not poppy, nor mandragora,

Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,

Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst yesterday.

Othello, iii. 3.

In the following passage, the verb is used in two senses: 'to be bound to pay' and 'to own:'

Be pleased then

To pay that duty, which you truly owe,

To him that owes it, namely, this young prince.

King John, ii. 1.

Dr. Latham remarks, (English Language, § 605,) that we

[ocr errors]

can say, 'I owe money; but we cannot say, 'I owe to pay

some;' while, on the other hand, we cannot say, 'I ought money,' though we can say, 'I ought to pay some.' The effect of this towfold sense has been to separate the words owe, and ought, by giving to the former the modern præterite owed. It has also deprived ought of its 'present' form.

The auxiliary ought has lost its original force as a past tense, and is used as a present. Hence, when we wish to state that some duty was imperative in time past, we annex the auxiliary have to the dependent infinitive: as, 'he ought to have gone.' This must be remembered in translating into Latin: he ought to have gone' is debuit ire, literally, 'he did owe to go.'

III. AUXILIARIES OF TENSE.

384. These are have, shall, will.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »