Defective strong verbs,verbs&verbals - Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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DEFECTIVE STRONG VERBS

247. There are several verbs which are lacking in one or more
principal parts. They are as follows:--

  PRESENT.    PAST.      |     PRESENT.     PAST.
                         |
  may         might      |      [ought]     ought
  can         could      |      shall       should
  [must]      must       |      will        would


248. May is used as either indicative or subjunctive, as it has two
meanings. It is indicative when it expresses _permission_, or, as it
sometimes does, _ability_, like the word _can_: it is subjunctive when it expresses doubt as to the reality of an action, or when it
expresses wish, purpose, etc.

[Sidenote: _Indicative Use: Permission. Ability._]

     If I _may_ lightly employ the Miltonic figure, "far off his
     coming shines."--WINIER.

     A stripling arm _might_ sway
     A mass no host could raise.--SCOTT.

     His superiority none _might_ question.--CHANNING.

[Sidenote: _Subjunctive use._]

     In whatever manner the separate parts of a constitution _may_ be arranged, there is one general principle, etc.--PAINE.

[Sidenote: (_See also Sec. 223._)]

     And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
     _May_ violets spring!
     --SHAKESPEARE.


249. Can is used in the indicative only. The _l_ in _could_ did
not belong there originally, but came through analogy with _should_
and _would_. _Could_ may be subjunctive, as in Sec. 220.

250. Must is historically a past-tense form, from the obsolete
verb _motan_, which survives in the sentence, "So _mote_ it be."
_Must_ is present or past tense, according to the infinitive used.

     All _must concede_ to him a sublime power of action.--CHANNING

     This, of course, _must have been_ an ocular
     deception.--HAWTHORNE.

251. The same remarks apply to ought, which is historically the
past tense of the verb _owe_. Like _must_, it is used only in the
indicative mood; as,

     The just imputations on our own faith _ought_ first _to be
     removed_.... Have we valuable territories and important
     posts...which _ought_ long since _to have been surrendered_?
     --A. HAMILTON.

It will be noticed that all the other defective verbs take the pure
infinitive without _to_, while _ought_ always has _to_.



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