as-it rains; or it asks a question; as-Does he write? are they come?

The IMPERATIVE Mood commands, exhorts, entreats, or permits; as-Go to school; remember my advice; permit him to pass; let him depart.

(4) The POTENTIAL Mood denotes possibility, liberty, necessity, power, will, or obligation; and is sometimes used in asking questions; as- -The day may be fine; he may go; we must die; I can run; he would travel; she should learn; may I go? must we return?

The SUBJUNCTIVE Mood is used when condition, doubt, motive, wish, or supposition is implied; as- -If he study he will improve; were he good he would be happy ; . he will not be pardoned unless he acknowledge his fault and promise amendment; had I been there it should not

be so.

(1) The INFINITIVE Mood represents the action in a general and unlimited manner, without reference to any agent, or connexion with it; as—to speak, to learn, to think.

TENSE, OR TIME.

Verbs have two simple tenses,-the present and the past; as-honour, honoured; but with the help of the auxiliaries, these are made to consist of six tenses: namely, the present, the imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, and the first and second future tenses.

(2) The Auxiliary, or helping, Verbs, by which all other verbs are conjugated, are themselves limited to the past and present tenses. They are,—

Present.-Am, will, shall, do, have, may, can, must. Past.-Was, would, should, did, had, might, could, must.

(3) The PRESENT Tense represents the action as now going on; as-I write, or I am writing.

The PAST or IMPERFECT Tense represents the action as finished, or as unfinished at some past time; as— George studied his lesson, and James was studying his when I called him.

(4) The PERFECT Tense represents the action as just now, or very lately finished; as- -I have got my lesson; he has bought a book.

The PLUPERFECT Tense represents the action as finished, prior to some other past time specified; as— I had finished my copy before he came.

(1) The FIRST FUTURE Tense represents the action as yet to come; as-I will go to school; he shall be present.

The SECOND FUTURE Tense expresses a future action that will be fully accomplished at, or before, the time of another future action or event; as—I shall have finished my business at or before ten o'clock to-morrow. *

(2) Verbs have three Participles, + the Present, or

The present tense is used to express a habit or custom; as, She goes to walk; he drinks no wine. It is also sometimes used for the imperfect, perfect, or future tense; as, St. Paul heals a cripple, and is stoned at Lystra; Moses tells us how all things were created in six days; When he comes I will give it to him. The perfect tense denotes the accomplishment of an action in a definite space of time, part of which has yet to elapse; and hence, the same action may be expressed by using different tenses; as, The Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland had been emancipated before the accession of William IV; or, The Catholics were emancipated in 1829; or, In this century the Catholics have been emancipated. The perfect tense denotes duration or existence; as, He has been dead four days; Solomon has written parables. The imperfect tense must be applied to writings which do not now exist; as, St. Paul wrote an epistle to the Laodiceans.

+ Participles receive their name from participating in the nature of a verb, adjective, and noun. The uses of the present parti

Progressive, the Perfect, and the Compound Perfect. The first denotes action continued but not finished, and always ends in ing; as-walking, going. The second denotes action perfected, and generally ends in d, ed, or en; as- -walked, loved, written. The third denotes action completed before the time referred to, and is formed by placing having before the perfect; as having walked, having written.

(3) Verbs are Regular, Irregular, or Defective.

Verbs are called REGULAR whose imperfect tense and perfect participle terminate in d, or ed; as—

(4) Verbs, the imperfect tense and perfect participle of which are formed in any other way than by adding d, or ed, to the present tense, are called IRREGULAR; as—

(1) Verbs are DEFECTIVE when they want any of

Verbs are also divided into Generic and Specific.

The GENERIC verbs are so named on account of the vast extent of ideas they express. They are, do, be, have, shall, will, may, and can. All other verbs are SPECIFIC, being expressive of limited ideas.

ciple are, to form progressive tenses with the verb To Be; as, I am writing; to form adjectives; as, smoking chimneys; to form nouns; as, the burning of Troy; and to form adverbs; as, lovingly.

C

(2) The inflections of the Generic verbs are :— Do-do, did, dost, or doest, doth, does, didst, doing. BE-am, was, been, art, are, wașt, were, wert, being. HAVE-have, had, has, hast, hath, having.

(3) SHALL shall, shalt, should, shouldst.
WILL-will, wilt, would, wouldst.

MAY-may, mayst, might, mightst.
CAN-can, canst, could, couldst.

These words combined with others, form what are called compound verbs.

(4) TO HAVE and TO BE are the principal auxiliaries, and are thus varied according to Number, Person, Mood, and Tense:

*He, she, or it, may be used in the third person singular, and ye or you in the second person plural.