Chapter LXI: Defective Verbs. Verb Phrases

=243.= Some verbs lack one or more of their principal parts. Such verbs are called =defective verbs=.

A very common defective verb, which has only one form, is _ought_. (See page 135.)

Other defective verbs are _can_, _may_, _must_, _shall_, and _will_. The past tense forms of these verbs are _could_, _might_, _must, should_, and _would_, respectively. No one of these verbs is ever used as a principal verb, except _would_, as in the familiar expressions, “I _would_ I were a bird,” “_Would_ that he were here!”

=244.= _Shall_ and _will_ are used as auxiliary verbs to form the future tenses. _Can_, _could_, _may_, _might_, _must_, _should_, and _would_ are used to form certain very useful verb phrases that are in the present, the past, or the future perfect tense, and in either the indicative or the subjunctive mode according to their meaning.

=245.= Using these verb phrases in the indicative mode we say,—

I _may go_ to Japan. He _may have gone_ home early.
I _can see_ seven stars. It _cannot have come_ yet.
We _must go_ early. He _must have sold_ it.
You _might hurry_ a little. We _might have hurried_.
He _could not tell_ a lie. I _could have eaten_ more.
She _would talk_ in church. He _would have helped_ me.
We _should honor_ the flag. You _should have earned_ it.

If we look closely at the meaning of these sentences, and think of others containing the same auxiliaries, we shall conclude (1) that _may_ and _might_ denote possibility or permission, (2) that _can_ and _could_ denote power or ability, (3) that _must_ denotes necessity, (4) that _would_ denotes determination, (5) that _should_ denotes obligation or duty.

Any one of the verb phrases just studied may be made interrogative by transposition; as,—_May I borrow_ your knife?

=246.= _Can_ and _must_ are used only in the indicative mode. Using _may_, _might_, _could_, _would_, and _should_ in subjunctive verb phrases, we say,—

Long _may_ it _wave_!

Oh, that he _would help_!

Though he _might be telling_ the truth, he would not be
believed.

If I _could go_ with father, I should be happy.

If it _should freeze_, we could go skating.

If we look closely at these sentences, we shall see that the verbs denote (1) a wish, (2) something contrary to fact, (3) something uncertain. (See Lesson LII.)

=247.= The seven auxiliaries just studied may be used in making passive verb phrases. Use the following phrases or similar ones in sentences:—

may be broken may have been taken
can be cut can have been heard
must be paid must have been bought
might be driven might have been kept
could be seen could have been done
would be hurt would have been stung
should be met should have been thrown

=248.= Other verb phrases in very common use in speech are formed by means of the participle _going_. It is easy to imagine the following conversation as really taking place.

“I _am going to go_ to Niagara Falls next summer.”

“Why, _you were going to go_ there last summer. In fact, you
_have been going to go_ there every summer since I have known
you.”

“True enough. My intentions are good, but my purse is light.
Perhaps I _shall be going to go_ all my life, and then get to
heaven first after all.”

Each of the four groups of italicized words is a verb phrase denoting an intention. Make ten similar phrases; as, _am going to sing_, _was going to eat_. Notice that _going_ does not denote the act of going anywhere to sing or to eat, as it does in “I am going to the Park to hear the band play,” but only the _purpose_ or _intention_ of singing or eating.

=249.= Just as we denote an intended future action by using the word _going_, so we often denote a customary past action by a phrase in which we employ the verb _used_; as, “She _used to wear_ a little red cape,” “Johnson _used to touch_ every fence post that he passed.” The italicized words should not be separated here, but should be considered as one group or verb phrase.

=250.= In speaking of any of the verb phrases described in this lesson, we may call them verbs; we decide their person and number by their subject, their voice and mode by their meaning, and their tense by their form.

=251.= The verbs _have_ and _do_ are not always auxiliaries. They are sometimes principal verbs, and as such are conjugated in the various ways. What are the principal parts of _have?_ of _do_?

Conjugate _have_ in the indicative mode; _do_ in the emphatic form; _have_ in the progressive form; _do_ in the passive voice, in the third person, singular number, using _it_ for the subject.

=252.= Verbs like _rain_, _snow_, _hail_, etc., are sometimes called =impersonal verbs=, because they are used only in the third person singular with the pronoun _it_.

=Summary.=—A =defective verb= is one that lacks one or more of its principal parts.

Defective verbs are used as auxiliary verbs.

The auxiliaries _may_, _can_, _must_, _might_, _could_, _would_, and _should_ are used to form certain common verb phrases.

These verb phrases may be active or passive, declarative or interrogative, indicative or subjunctive mode, present, past, or present perfect tense.

_Going_ is used to form verb phrases that denote a future or intended action.

_Used_ is employed to form verb phrases that denote a customary past action.

_Have_ and _do_ may be principal verbs as well as auxiliary verbs.

=Impersonal verbs= are used only in the third person singular, with the neuter pronoun _it_.

=Exercise 1.=—Select all the verb phrases in the following sentences. Tell their voice, person, number, subject, and complement if they have any.

1. What a bird it must be that could utter such wondrous sounds!

2. From time to time the two rabbits would halt, sit up on
their hind quarters, erect their long, attentive ears, and
glance about warily with their bulging eyes.

3.

The rich man’s son inherits cares;
The bank may break, the factory burn,
A breath may burst his bubble shares,
And soft white hands could hardly earn
A living that would serve his turn.

4. All the girls in the class are going to wear pink chambray
dresses, and mother is going to make mine by hand.

5. We can go by the North Road, the South Road, or the Middle
Road.

6. Instead of candy, mother used to give him sugar in a cup,
and then he would stretch out on the sunny doorstep and feed
his sweet crystals to the flies.

7. The Cottontails were now sole owners of the holes, and did
not go near them when they could help it, lest anything like a
path should be made that might betray their last retreats to an
enemy.

8. If you are going to make orange marmalade to-morrow, you
must peel the oranges this evening.

9. I should think that something might be done about covering
the cow’s horns; perhaps they might be padded with cotton.

10. Governor Winthrop wrote his third wife tender messages in a
way that could only have come of long practice.

11. The children used to stand at the window in the twilight,
and watch the lights appear in the houses; and when they had
counted ten, they used to clap their hands, and say, “Now,
mother, it is time to light the lamp.”

12. On the usual crisp mornings of sugar season the snow at
such an hour would have borne a crust to crackle sharply under
every footstep.

13. I had not told the horse that I was going to whip him, so
he was taken by surprise and started forward.

14. Grandpa would not be helped into his overcoat.

=Exercise 2.=—Select all the verb phrases containing any form of _have_ or _do_. Tell whether this form is used as an auxiliary or as a principal verb.

1. Shere Khan does us great honor.

2. Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the
Kaatskill Mountains.

3. Do you ever wonder how so much sin and wrong and suffering
can be in God’s world?

4. Mother never forgot the millionaire’s daughter who said that
she did up her father’s shirts.

5. All the Offal Court boys had this same hard time, so Tom
supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing.

6. Where does amber get its strange, poetic charm?

7. I never had the pleasure of meeting a crowing hen; but I
have known a great many whistling girls, and I cannot recall an
instance where their ends were any worse than those of other
girls.

8. If I could have committed suicide without killing myself, I
should certainly have done so.

9. She had eaten as many mouthfuls of breakfast as she possibly
could in her excited condition, had kissed everybody good-by
twice over, and now thought it was time to be starting.

10. I can’t write a composition unless I have something to say,
can I?

11. On these hard, smooth roads one horse will do the work of
two.

12. I do not feel wholly sure that my Pussy wrote these letters
herself.

13. The Boy had no fear of the undisputed Master of the Woods,
the big black bear.

14. Do the duty that lies nearest thee; thy second duty will
already have become clearer.

15. Jakie had been stolen from the nest before he could fly.

16. I do wish that you and your father would turn around
directly and come home.

17. Jane had had the inestimable advantage of a sorrow.

18. The old bell had things all its own way up in the steeple.

19. Boys always do the nice splendid things, and girls can only
do the nasty dull ones that get left over.

20. After the twins had had measles and mumps, whooping cough
descended on the household.

Tell the part of speech and use of _us_, sentence 1, _honor_ 1, _shirts_ 4, _same_ 5, _great_ 7, _two_ 11, _wholly_ 12, _herself_ 12, _bear_ 13, _clearer_ 14, _father_ 16, _home_ 16.

=253.= Many errors are made in the use of the auxiliaries _may_ and _can_, _would_ and _should_.

We should use _may_ to denote permission, liberty, or possibility, and _can_ to denote power or ability.

=Exercise 1.=—Supply the correct word in each of these sentences, and give your reason in each case:—

1. What —— I do to help you?

2. You —— have a watch when you graduate.

3. I —— go by boat, but it is doubtful.

4. —— you run an automobile?

5. —— we have a school paper?

6. Do you think that I —— earn ten dollars a week?

7. Fred, you —— open the east windows.

8. If we walk fast, we —— surely get there in time.

9. We —— get there in time, but we shall have to hurry.

Make three good sentences containing _may_ and three containing _can_.

_Would_ is used to denote,—

(1) Determination; as, “Albert _would_ leave school.”

(2) Inclination; as, “I _would_ read more if I could.”

(3) Customary past action; as, “We _would_ listen to her songs hour after hour.”

_Should_ is used to denote,—

(1) Simple intention; as, “I _should_ come often if you did not live so far.”

(2) Obligation or duty; as, “We _should_ honor our parents.” Perhaps these auxiliaries are oftenest misused when associated with the verb _like_. The expression, “I would like to go,” is wrong, because it means “I am inclined or determined to like something,” which is not good sense. We should say,—

I should like to go We should like to go
You would like to go You would like to go
He would like to go They would like to go

In a dependent clause _should_ denotes merely an imaginary condition, and _would_ denotes inclination as well as an imaginary condition.

The clauses, “If I should lose my watch,” “If you should lose your watch,” “If he should lose his watch,” are equivalent to the present tense of the subjunctive mode, and denote merely an imaginary condition.

The clauses, “If I would study harder,” “if you would study harder,” “if he would study harder,” denote an imaginary condition that may become real according to the inclination of the subject.

What is the meaning of the familiar dependent clause in the following sentence: “If it would only snow, we could have a sleigh ride?”

=Exercise 2.=—Supply the correct word in each of these sentences, and give your reason in each case:—

1. You —— study the text before you undertake the exercise.

2. What —— you do with him, Mr. Dick?

3. I —— wash him and put him to bed.

4. Neither of the boys —— obey me.

5. As soon as day broke, the canary —— begin to sing.

6. I —— like to meet your grandfather.

7. Any girl —— be satisfied with two new hats.

8. They —— all like to come, I am sure.

9. I —— not take one cent of his money.

10. I —— think that you —— be glad to work.

11. Each man —— keep himself loyal to truth.

12. If I —— tell the story, the children —— not be satisfied.

13. If I —— tell them stories all day long, they —— not be
satisfied.

Make five good sentences containing _would_, and five containing _should_.

The verb _have got_ is often misused for the verb _have_. “I have it” means “I possess it,” while “I have got it” means “I have procured it.” “I have to go” means “I must go,” while “I have got to go” is an incorrect expression.

=Exercise 3.=—Supply _has_ or _have_, _has got_, or _have got_ in each of the following sentences, and give your reason in each case. Use the negative word _not_, if necessary.

1. —— you tickets for the entertainment?

2. No, I —— them yet.

3. Can he buy a farm if he —— no money?

4. —— you a chisel, Albert?

5. No, I —— one, but Herman —— one.

6. At last he —— a position on the police force.

7. We —— a fruit farm and father —— a new tenant on it.

8. We —— to practice at four o’clock.

9. I can’t go to the football game for I —— to work Saturday
afternoons.

10. Nobody —— to leave before nine o’clock.

What correct expressions can you substitute for _has got_ in the familiar sentence, “Madge has got to do as I say”?