< Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu
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ETYMOLOGY.
63
| PRESENT. | IMPERFECT. | PERF. OR PASS. PART |
| Catch | cotch | cotched. |
| Come | kim | comed. |
| Drive | druv | driv. |
| Freeze | friz | froze. |
| Give | guv | giv. |
SECTION VIII.
OF DEFECTIVE VERBS.
Most men have five senses,
Most verbs have six tenses;
But as there are some folks
Who are blind, deaf, or dumb folks,
Just so there are some verbs
Defective, or rum verbs,
which are used only in some of their moods and tenses.
The principal of them are these:—
| | IMPERFECT. | PERF. OR PASS. PART |
| Can | could | nix. |
| May | might | — |
| Shall | should | — |
| Will | would | — |
| Must | must | — |
| Ought | ought | — |
| — | quoth | — |
There is not, perhaps, anything in the defective verbs peculiarly valuable in a comic point of view. However, it should not be forgotten, that
Can is one of the signs of the pot-ential Mood;
Ought, ought, with 1 before it, stands, (in school-boy phrase) for 100.
'Tis naught, so to speak, says Murray.
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