Are such as can be conjugated, or varied, only in some particular modes and tenses. Am, was, been, can, must, could, shall, should, may, might, will, would, ought, quoth, &c. are defective verbs. We can say, 'I learn, I learned, I have learned, I had learned, I shall or will learn, I may, can, or must learn.' But, shall is a defective verb. We can say, I shall, but we cannot say, I have shall, I had shall, I shall or will shall, I may, can, or must shall. By this rule, we can always distin guish a defective verb.

AUXILIARY, OR HELPING VERBS,

Are those which help to conjugate other verbs. They are, do, be, have, has, shall, will, may and can, with their variations; and let and must, which have no variations.

The auxiliary and principal verb must be parsed together, although they may be separated by intervening words; as, We should immediately and without reserve, confess our faults.' Should, in this sentence, is the auxiliary, and confess is the principal verb; therefore, should and confess are taken together, and parsed as one word. Verbs and other parts of speech cannot be parsed together; therefore, we cannot parse should immediately confess in union with each other, because, immediately is an adverb.

The verb, whose tense the auxiliary shows, is the principal verb; as, 'James will ride. John has written.'

The auxiliary verbs are signs of the potential mode. The auxiliary verbs are thus varied:

hadst,

He, did, wast,

had,

I, did, was,
Thou, didst, wast,

Imperfect Tense.

had, should, would, might, could. shouldst, wouldst, mighst, couldst. should, would, might, could.

Pres. doing, being, having; Perf. done, been, had.

CONJUGATION OF VERBS.

The conjugation of a verb, is its variation through all its moods, tenses, numbers and persons.

The conjugation of an active verb is styled the active voice; and that of a passive verb, the passive voice.

*The second person singular may have a similar variation in eyery personal tense of this and all other veibs,

When a question is asked, which occurs only in the indicative and potential moods, the pronoun or substantive is placed after the verb, or its first auxiliary; as,

Singular.
Have I ?
Hast thou?

Has he?

Plural.
Have we ?
Have ye?
Have they?

Shall I have had?'' May

• Have I had?'
Am I loved?' &e.

Imperfect Tense.

1 I might, could, would, or should 1 We might, could, would, or

2 Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst, 2 or shouldst have

3 He might, could, would, or 3 They might, could, would, or

Present or Active. Having.

Perfect or Passive. Had.

Compound Perfect. Having had.

Conjugation of the irregular neuter verb, be.