IMPERFECT TENSE; BUT, AS SIGNS, AORIST, OR INDEFINITE.
1. Used with reference to duty or expediency:--
Sing. I should, thou shouldst, he should; Plur. We should, you should, they should.
2. Used with reference to volition or desire:--
Sing. I would, thou wouldst, he would; Plur. We would, you would, they would.
MAY.
PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT.
Sing. I may, thou mayst, he may; Plur. We may, you may, they may.
IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL IMPERFECT.
Sing. I might, thou mightst, he might; Plur. We might, you might, they might.
CAN.
PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT.
Sing. I can, thou canst, he can; Plur. We can, you can, they can.
IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL IMPERFECT.
Sing. I could, thou couldst, he could; Plur. We could, you could, they could.
MUST.
PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT.
Sing. I must, thou must, he must; Plur. We must, you must, they must.
If must is ever used in the sense of the Imperfect tense, or Preterit, the form is the same as that of the Present: this word is entirely invariable.
OBS. 11.--Several of the auxiliaries are occasionally used as mere expletives, being quite unnecessary to the sense: as, 1. DO and DID: "And it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth."--Psalms, civ, 20. "And ye, that on the sands with printless foot do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him when he comes back."--Shak. "And if a man did need a poison now."--Id. This needless use of do and did is now avoided by good writers. 2. SHALL, SHOULD, and COULD: "'Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, which after-hours give leisure to repent of.' I should advise you to proceed. I should think it would succeed. He, it should seem, thinks otherwise."--W. Allen's Gram., p. 65. "I could wish you to go."--Ib., p. 71. 3. WILL, &c. The following are nearly of the same character, but not exactly: "The isle is full of noises; sometimes a thousand twanging instruments will hum about mine ears."--Shak. "In their evening sports she would steal in amongst them."--Barbauld.
"His listless length at noontide would he stretch."--Gray.
OBS. 12.--As our old writers often formed the infinitive in en, so they sometimes dropped the termination of the perfect participle. Hence we find, in the infancy of the language, done used for do, and do for done; and that by the same hand, with like changes in other verbs: as, "Thou canst nothing done."--Chaucer. "As he was wont to done."--Id. "The treson that to women hath be do."--Id. "For to ben honourable and free."--Id. "I am sworn to holden it secre."--Id. "Our nature God hath to him unyte."--Douglas. "None otherwise negligent than I you saie haue I not bee."--Id. See W. Allen's E. Gram., p. 97.
"But netheless the thynge is do, That fals god was soone go."--GOWER: H. Tooke, Vol. i, p. 376.
OBS. 13.--"May is from the Anglo-Saxon, mægan, to be able. In the parent language also, it is used as an auxiliary. It is exhibited by Fortescue, as a principal verb; 'They shall may do it:' i. e. they shall be able (to) do it."--W. Allen's Gram., p. 70. "May not, was formerly used for must not; as, 'Graces for which we may not cease to sue.' Hooker."--Ib., p. 91. "May frequently expresses doubt of the fact; as, 'I may have the book in my library, but I think I have not.' It is used also, to express doubt, or a consequence, with a future signification; as, 'I may recover the use of my limbs, but I see little probability of it.'--'That they may receive me into their houses.' Luke, xvi, 4."--Churchill's Gram., p. 247. In these latter instances, the potential present is akin to the subjunctive. Hence Lowth and others improperly call "I may love," &c. the subjunctive mood. Others, for the same reason, and with as little propriety, deny that we have any subjunctive mood; alleging an ellipsis in every thing that bears that name: as, "'If it (may) be possible, live peaceably with all men.' Scriptures."--W. Allen's Gram., p. 61. May is also a sign of wishing, and consequently occurs often in prayer: as, "May it be thy good pleasure;"--"O that it may please thee;"--"Mayst thou be pleased." Hence the potential is akin also to the imperative: the phrases, "Thy will be done,"--"May thy will be done,"--"Be thy will done,"--"Let thy will be done,"--are alike in meaning, but not in mood or construction.
OBS. 14.--Can, to be able, is etymologically the same as the regular verbs ken, to see, and con, to learn; all of them being derived from the Saxon connan or cunnan, to know: whence also the adjective cunning, which was formerly a participle. In the following example will and can are principal verbs: "In evil, the best condition is, not to will; the second, not to can."--Ld. Bacon. "That a verb which signifies knowledge, may also signify power, appears from these examples: Je ne saurois, I should not know how, (i. e. could not.) Ἀσφαλίσσασθε ὡς οἴδατε [Greek: Asphalisasthe hos oidate], Strengthen it as
