§ 142. Conjugation. The complete inflexion of a Verb is called conjugation. [Lat. conjugare, "to yoke together."] Verbs are divided into two principal classes, according to their manner of forming the Past Tense: namely,— * (1.) Verbs which form the Past Tense by a change in the body of the word: as, write, wrote. These are called STRONG VERBS. [Also called Irregular Verbs.] (2.) Verbs which form the Past Tense by adding d (ed) or t to the Present: as, love, loved; leap, leapt. These are called WEAK VERBS. [Also called Regular Verbs.] COMPLETE PARADIGM OF THE ACTIVE VOICE. STRONG AND WEAK CONJUGATIONS AT ONE VIEW. TO WRITE. TO LOVE. Principal Parts : Write, wrote, written [Strong]. N.B.-The Pronouns are put in a different type in order to remind the learner that they form no part of the Verb. Negative form: I do not write; thou dost not write, &c. [See § 123, Obs.] [I love or do love; Do I love? I do not love, &c.] INCOM PLETE. -код (Sing. I am writing Plur. We are writing Ye or you are writing Interrogative form: Am I writing? Art thou writing? &c. [I am loving; Am I loving? I am not loving, &c.] Interrogative form: Have I written? Hast thou written? &c. Negative form: I have not written: thou hast not written, &c. [I have loved; Have I loved? I have not loved, &c.] * For a more complete classification, see p. 72, foll. Interrogative form: Did I write? Didst thou write? &c. [I loved or did love, Thou lovedst, &c.; Did I love? I did not love, &c.] INCOM PLETE. (Sing. I was writing Thou wast writing Plur. We were writing Ye or you were writing Interrogative form: Was I writing? Wast thou writing? &c. Negative form: I was not writing; thou wast not writing, &c. [I was loving; Was I loving? I was not loving, &c.] COM PLETE. Sing. I had written Thou hadst written He had written Plur. We had written Ye or you had written Interrogative form: Had I written? Hadst thou written, &c. Negative form: I had not written; thou hadst not written, &c. [I had loved; Had I loved? I had not loved, &c.] FUTURE TENSE. INDE INCOM COM FINITE. Sing. I shall write Thou wilt write He will write Plur. We shall write Ye or you will write Interrogative form: Shall I write? Shalt thou write? Will he write? &c. [I shall love; Shall I love? I shall not love, &c.] PLETE. (Sing. I shall be writing He will be writing Plur. We shall be writing Ye or you will be writing Interrogative form: Shall I be writing? Shalt thou be writing? &c. Negative form: I shall not be writing; thou wilt not be writing, &c. [I shall be loving; Shall I be loving? I shall not be loving, &c.] PLETE. (Sing. I shall have written He will have written Plur. We shall have written Ye or you will have written They will have written Interrogative form: Shall I have written? Shalt thou have written? &c. [I shall have loved; Shall I have loved? I shall not have loved, &c. ] INCOMPLETE. INDEFI NITE. (Sing. [If, though, &c.] I write Plur. [If, though, &c.] we wiite thou COMPLETE. Comp. Form: If I should be writing, &c. [If, though, &c. I should be loving, &c.] (Sing. [If, though, &c.] I have Plur. [If, though, &c.] we have written thou have written written ye or you have written they have written * Observe that after "if, though, &c.," should is retained in all persons and not changed to would in the 2nd or 3rd. Sometimes, however, this form of the Subjunctive is used in the Principal sentence without any Conjunction: and then it is inflected thus: I should (write, &c.), Thou wouldst, He would, &c. COMPLETE. INCOMPLETE. INDEFI NITE. PAST TENSE. Sing. [If, though, &c.] I wrote Plur. [If, though, &c.] we wrote Obs. 1. In the earlier forms of our language, the Subjunctive Mood has all the three "If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." (John xi. 21.) Obs. 2. Besides should, several other auxiliary verbs are used in the compound or periphrastic Subjunctive: as, may, might, especially after the conjunctions that, lest; and would in the conclusion of an hypothetical sentence. For examples, see Syntax, 258. Obs. 3. There is no special Future Subjunctive; the entire Subjunctive Mood having a future sense. The same is the case in Greek and in Latin. INFINITIVE MOOD. INDEFINITE: To write. [To love.] INCOMPLETE: To be writing. [To be loving.] GERUND. Writing, [of] writing, [for] writing, [by] writing, &c. PARTICIPLES. INCOMPLETE: Writing [Imperfect Participle.] [Loving.] COMPLETE PAST: Having written [Compound Perfect.] [Having loved.] |