Practical Exercises in English Part 23

13. The Balloon Society recently invited Mr. Gould to read before them a paper on yachting. Mr. Gould, in reply, has expressed regret that the shortness of his visit will prevent him from accepting the invitation.

14. I should be obliged to him if he will gratify me in that respect.

15. While he was in England the British had given him very honorable positions in America in order to have his help if they had any trouble with the colonies.

16. Up and down the engines pounded. It is a good twenty-one knots now, and the upper deck abaft the chart-house began rapidly to fill.

17. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln regret that a previous engagement, will prevent them from accepting Mrs. Black's kind invitation for Thursday.

18. Mr. Rockwell will accept with pleasure the invitation of Mr. and Mrs.

Pembroke for Tuesday evening, December 3d.

19. I am sure that he has been there and did what was required of him.

20. He might probably have been desirous, in the first place, to have dried his clothes and refreshed himself.

21. He could not have failed to have aroused suspicion.

22. When, on the return of Dr. Primrose's son Moses from the Fair, the family had discovered how he had been cheated, we are shown an admirable picture of home life.

23. Apart from his love, Orlando was also a n.o.ble youth. When old Adam, at last overcome by fatigue, sank in the footsteps of Orlando, Orlando tries to encourage and a.s.sist him.

24. The increase in tonnage was not so rapid as it would have been were it not for the Act of 1790.

INDICATIVE OR SUBJUNCTIVE.[82]--The modern tendency to drop the subjunctive is unfortunate, for the distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative is too useful to be abandoned.[83] A knowledge of the difference between these modes in English is especially important in view of the difficulty which pupils complain of in mastering the uses of the Latin subjunctive or the Greek subjunctive and optative.[84] For these reasons more s.p.a.ce is given to the subjunctive in this book than would be called for by a mere discussion of modern English usage.

FORMS of the SUBJUNCTIVE--In form the English subjunctive differs from the indicative in several ways:--

1. In the single case of the verb _to be_ there are distinct forms for the present and past tenses, namely:--

_Present_. _Past_ I, we I _were_, we thou, you } _be_. thou _wert_, you } _were_.

he, they/ he _were_, they/

EXAMPLES.--"See that my room _be_[85] got ready at once." "I will work you a banner if you _be_[85] victorious." "The headsman feels if the axe _be_[85] sharp." "Take care lest you _be_ deceived." "Judge not that ye _be_ not judged." "I will beard them, though they _be_[85] more fanged than wolves and bears." "If I _were_ you, I would not say that." "If you _were_ more studious, you would rank high." "Would that my parents _were_ here!"

2. In _other verbs_ the subjunctive form is distinguishable from the indicative in the second and third persons singular by the absence of the personal endings _-th,-s_, or _-st_: as,

_Present Indicative_: I have, thou hast, he has (hath).

_Subjunctive_: I have, thou have, he have.

_Past Indicative_: I had, thou hadst, he had.

_Subjunctive_: I had, thou had, he had.

_Present Indicative_: I come, thou comest, he comes (cometh).

_Subjunctive_: I come, thou come, he come.

_Past Indicative_: I came, thou earnest, he came.

_Subjunctive_: I came, thou came, he came.

[82] "Foundations," pp. 98-101.

[83] "Some people seem to think that the subjunctive mood is as good as lost, that it is doomed, and that its retention is hopeless. If its function were generally appreciated, it might even now be saved.... If we lose the Subjunctive Verb, it will certainly be a grievous impoverishment to our literary language, were it only for its value in giving variation to diction--and I make bold to a.s.sert that the writer who helps to keep it up deserves public grat.i.tude."--John Earle: English Prose, its Elements, History, and Usage, p. 172.

[84] "The lecturer also put in a plea for more vitality in the teaching of English, which ought to be made the gate to other languages. Many of the difficult questions of Latin syntax might be examined in the field of English, if only we were careful to treat our English critically. Whereas most grammars cut the ground from under them by denying the existence of a Subjunctive Mood. Until teachers recognize generally that, in such a sentence as 'If he had done it, it had been better,' we have a Subjunctive in both clauses, and a sentence essentially different from 'If he had loved her before, he now adored her,' English must forfeit half its value, both as a mental discipline and as a means of approach to Latin, Greek, and German."--From a report of a Lecture by Prof. Sonnenschein, of the Mason College, quoted in Earle's "English Prose," p. 55.

[85] In such sentences the indicative would be, according to modern usage, correct, and it is more common.

EXAMPLES.--"Long _live_ the king!" "If thou _go_, see that thou _offend_ not." "It is better he _die_." "Though he _slay_ me, yet will I trust him." "Unless he _behave_[86] better, he will be punished." "If I will that he _tarry_ till I come, what is that to thee?" "Govern well thy appet.i.te, lest sin _surprise_ thee." "If my sister _saw_ this snake, she would be frightened." "I wish I _knew_ where Charles is."

The perfect and pluperfect subjunctives are of course formed by means of the subjunctive present and past tenses of "have."

3. Very often, instead of the simple subjunctive forms, we use auxiliary verbs--_may_ (past, _might_) and _would_ or _should_--to express the subjunctive idea. "May" ("might") is common as an equivalent for the subjunctive mode in clauses denoting a purpose, a wish, a hope, or a fear: as, "Bring him the book, that he _may read_ to us;" "_May_ he _rest_ in peace;" "I hope you _may succeed_;" "They were afraid we _might lose_ the way." "Would" and "should" are common subst.i.tutes for all tenses of the subjunctive: as, "Walk carefully lest you (stumble) _should stumble_;" "If he (come) _should come_, he will find me at home;" "It (were) _would be_ better if he (went) _should go_ alone;" "If my sister had seen this mouse, she (had been) _would have been_ frightened." In these sentences either the form in parenthesis or the italicized form is correct, though the latter is more common.

NOTE.--It does not follow that the verbs "may," "would," and "should"

always express the subjunctive idea. In the following sentences, for instance, they express the indicative idea: "You _may_ (_i.e_., are permitted to) stay an hour;" "You _should_ (_i.e_., ought to) be punctual;" "Edith _would_ not (_i.e_., was unwilling to) come." In such sentences "may," "should," and "would" make simple statements of fact.

USES of the SUBJUNCTIVE.--The indicative form is used in expressing a fact or what is a.s.sumed to be a fact: as "He _thinks_ he _is_ ill;" the subjunctive form indicates some uncertainty or doubt in the speaker's mind: as, "Whether it _rain_ or not, I will go."

The subjunctive idea occurs most frequently, perhaps, in _conditional sentences_. A conditional sentence is one that contains a condition or supposition. A supposition may refer to present, past, or future time. If it refers to present or past time, it may be viewed by the speaker as true, untrue, or as a mere supposition with nothing implied as to its truth; if it refers to the future, it may be viewed as either likely or unlikely. A supposition which is a.s.sumed to be true, or which is made without any hint as to its correctness, is expressed by the indicative. A supposition which is viewed by the speaker as untrue or unlikely is expressed by the subjunctive or a periphrase[87] for the subjunctive. When the character of the supposition makes the conclusion untrue or unlikely, the conclusion also is expressed by the subjunctive or a periphrase[87] for the subjunctive. The use of tenses is peculiar, as will be seen from the following table of a few common forms of conditional sentences. The tenses should be carefully noted:--

PRESENT: If it _rains_ (_is raining_) now, I am sorry.

_Present indicative_: A simple supposition without any hint as to its correctness.

If it _rained_ (_were raining_), I _should be_ sorry.

_Past subjunctive, both clauses_: The speaker implies that it is not raining.

PAST: If it _rained_ (_was raining_), I was sorry.

_Past indicative_: No suggestion of doubt.

If it _had rained_, I _should have been_ sorry.

_Past perfect subjunctive, both clauses_: The speaker implies that it did not rain.

FUTURE: If it _rains_, I shall be sorry.

_Present indicative_: The common, though inexact, form of a simple future supposition.

If it _rain_, I shall be sorry.

_Present subjunctive_: Less common, but more exact. The future is uncertain.

If it _should_ (_were to_) _rain_, I _should be_ sorry. _Subjunctive, both clauses_: The uncertainty is emphasized by the auxiliary form; the chances of rain seem more remote.

NOTE 1.--When _if_ is equivalent to "whenever", the condition is called "general", to distinguish it from "particular" conditions, which refer to some particular act at some particular time. General conditions always take the indicative: as, "If (whenever) it _rains_, I stay at home."

NOTE 2.--Sometimes there is no "if", and then the verb or a part of the verb precedes the subject: as, "Were it raining, I should be sorry;" "Had it been raining, I should have been sorry."

NOTE 3.--In such sentences as "If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," it may perhaps be questioned whether "had not died" is indicative, as in the Greek, or subjunctive, as in the Latin, idiom.

NOTE 4.--Clauses introduced by _though_ and _unless_ take the same forms as clauses introduced by _if_.

_Wishes_ are naturally expressed in the subjunctive. The _present_ subjunctive denotes a wish for the future: as, "Thy kingdom _come_." The _past_ subjunctive denotes a wish for the present which is unfulfilled: as, "I wish I _were_ a bird." The _past perfect_ subjunctive denotes a wish contrary to a past fact: as, "I wish you _had been_ there."

[86] In such sentences the indicative would be, according to modern usage, correct, and it is more common.

[87] See paragraph 3, page 84. The forms in "would" and "should" in conditional sentences, though they express the subjunctive idea, can hardly be called the "subjunctive mood". Sometimes they are called the "conditional mood."

EXERCISE L.

_Tell the time referred to in each of the following sentences, and whether the speaker regards the condition as true, untrue, or uncertain_:--

1. If all men did their duty, there would be less misery in the world.

2. Had I heard of the affair sooner, this misfortune would not have happened.