though it has so little of the inflectional character that in defining the term it is not easy to find clear illustrations that can show the real character of mood in English verbs. A comparison of the sentences "He was here,” and “If he were here he would do it," gives an idea of difference between the indicative and subjunctive moods. Again, the sentences "Thou goest," and "Go thou," illustrate a difference between the indicative and imperative moods.

The subjunctive and imperative are not really distinct inflectional forms. They are, howver, modifica-. tions of the assertive form that require explanation.

The verb be has more of mood than any other verb:* yet even in this, the most important and irregular of all verbs, the modal inflection is slight.

The right classification of moods is by no means universally agreed upon. Some ancient grammarians reckoned as many as ten different moods. A few years ago five moods were usually named in English grammars,—the indicative, potential, subjunctive, imperative, and infinitive moods. Some grammarians added a sixth mood, would and should being separated from other potential auxiliaries as the distinguishing marks of a 66 conditional mood." The optative mood, or "mood of wishing" has sometimes been recognized, "May you be happy." A few grammarians have carried the classification of moods further still; and elective, determinative, compulsive, obligatory, reguisitive and vocative are all names which have been applied to moods of verbs.

The infinitive no longer has any standing as a modal form of the verb. Instead of showing the "manner of the assertion" it makes no assertion and is a verbal

noun.

The potential mood is also omitted from most modern grammars. The forms are not made by inflection and they have varied uses. The potential auxiliaries, however, need careful study in regard to their peculiarities of meaning and use. This is a difficult task for foreign students of English and it affords a large field for study even with the native-born among Englishspeaking peoples. The potential forms may be dealt with simply as a class of phrases similarly formed rather than as a true mood of the English verb.

The subjunctive mood fills less space in the grammars than formerly, since subjunctive forms are less used and the indicative form with a conjunction of doubt prefixed is no longer called subjunctive. Modern grammars clearly recognize that the essence of the subjunctive mood lies in the verb itself rather than in the accompanying conjunction. The few facts of the subjunctive that are left in English grammar are of much interest and importance, however, and must be carefully treated by grammarians.

The imperative mood is said to be the form of the verb used in a command. But if we compare the sen

tences

Present arms.

Pass me the bread, please.

Give us this day our daily bread.

we see that from a superior to an inferior the imperative expresses a command; between equals it denotes a simple request; and when used from an inferior to a superior, or in man's address to God, it becomes the language of supplication and prayer. We also see that the imperative mood is characterized rather by the absence of inflection than by any positive inflectional element. It is simply the common form of the verb used as a sentence word as, "Come," "Try." By implication the second person is its subject but the verb seems independent of any sentence agreements.

The dividing line between the imperative and some of the other modal forms is hard to draw. Verb phrases with let as "Let me go," are sometimes classed with imperatives, sometimes with potential forms. The subjunctive of desire as "Long live the king" has an affinity with the imperative. Shall as a modal auxiliary has an imperative meaning. The question whether the Ten Commandments are in the imperative mood has been argued. But most grammarians limit the imperative mood to the formal imperative sentence, as "Bring me the book."

The classification of moods in English, as has been seen, is in a degree arbitrary. Some modern grammarians have proposed to reduce all moods to two, the Objective (corresponding to the indicative) which deals with events as outside the speaker's own personality; and the Subjective (including the potential, subjunctive and imperative) which shows the relation of the speaker's own mind to the thought expressed.

It seems to be true that most of the facts of modal inflection are covered in English when a clear distinction is drawn between the "fact forms" and the "thought forms" of the verb.

The potential and subjunctive forms are of great interest to students of English and will be discussed further. (See Chapters 36 and 38.)

XXIII

TENSE

The grammatical tenses correspond very incompletely with the logical distinctions.-STRONG, LOGEMAN, AND WHEELER.

Some grammarians put in their conjugations what they call the compound tenses, as "I have worked," "shall have worked," and so on. But this can only serve to fill up a book, for all these consist merely in the introduction of the use of the verb to have in its various parts.-COBBETT'S GRAMMAR, 1818.

Certain cheap and facile novelists write habitually in the present tense and have won for this the name of hysterical present.-ARLO BATES.

Any reader acquainted with a foreign language knows how much care is requisite in translating the various English tenses in their different applications.-STRONG, LOGEMAN, AND WHEELER.

Tense may be loosely defined as the verbal form that shows time, and sometimes also the completeness or incompleteness of an event. Yet the only true tense inflection of the verb is the change from the present to the past tense. Future time is expressed by a phrase, and not by an inflection. There are other verb phrases which by means of the auxiliary have give the idea of finished action, and these are sometimes called the perfect or compound tenses. The six tenses commonly named are,