alytical practical grammar - Toronto Public Library

80 ENGLISH GRAl\1!IIAR.
466. The subject of the verb, in the first person singular, is always I,
in the plural, 1l'e; in the second per~on singular, thou, in the plural, ye or
you; in the third person, the subject is the name of any person or thing
spoken of, or a pronoun of the third person in its stead; also, it may be an
infinitive mood, or a clause of a sentence, or any thing of which a person
can think or speak (7G::!).
467. In ordinary discourse, the imperative mood has only the eecond
person, because a command, exhortation, &e., can be addressed only to the
person or persons spoken to.
468. In such expreseions as "Let us love,"-"Let him love,"-"Let them
love,"-phrases by which the fir.t and the third person of the imperative
in some languages are rendered-let is the proper imperative, in the
second person, with thou or ye as its subject understood, and love the infill'
itive without the sign (877). Thus," Let [thou] us [to] love," &c.
469. This mode of expression is sometimes used, even when no definite
individual is addressed; as, "Let there be light."
470. Among the poets, however, we sometimes find a fir.lt and a third
pe, Bon in the imperati ve; ae, "Confide we in ourselves alone"-" With virtue
f,c we armed."-Hunt's Tasso. "And rest we here, Matilda 6aid."-Scott.
"Fall he that must beneath his rival's arm,
And live the rest secure from future harm."-Pope.
"Laugh those that can, lcecp those that may."-Scott.
471. Such expressions as "Hallowed be thy name "-" Thy kingdom
come "_u Be it enacted "-" So be it," 6:c., may be regarded either ad examples
of the third person ill the imperative, or as elliptical for "May," or,
"Let thy name be hallowed "-" Let it be enacted "_u Let it be so," &c.
472. The injinitit'c, because it usually has no subject (872), has neither
number nor person.
COXJUGATION.
473. The CONJUGATION of a verb is the regular combination
and arrangement of its several voices, moods,
tenses, mtmbers, and persons. '"
474. In the active voice, most vel'be have two forms-the Common and
the Prot;ress,,'c, See Appendix VIII., I., 1, p. 252.
is the mskin/'; of tbone cbanges of form which
• INFLECTION properly speakin~,
the verb undergoes JD its several parts; Conjugation is the combining or arran~nll:
of these forms in the several voices, moods, tenses, numbers, and persons, to which
they belong. Both are usually included under the term conjugation.