To illustrate:--
1. _May_ you be happy.
2. I learn that I _may_ be able to teach.
3. He _might_ have done it if he had liked.
4. If he _should_ try, he _would_ succeed.
5. I _would_ not tell you if I _could_.
6. I _could_ not do this if I were to try.
The forms italicized above are said to be subjunctive auxiliaries; those
below are said to be independent verbs in the indicative.
7. He _may_ be there.
8. He _might_ ask you to go.
9. You _should_ not have done that.
10. He _would_ not come when called.
11. I _could_ do this at one time.
We are told that _can_ and _must_ are always independent verbs in the
indicative, and that _may, might, could, would_, and _should_ are either
subjunctive auxiliaries or independent verbs parsed in the indicative,
separately from the infinitives with which they seem to combine. But in
parsing these words as separate verbs the student is left in doubt as to
whether they are transitive or intransitive, and as to the office of the
infinitives that follow.
_Shall_ (to owe) and _will_ (to determine) are, in their original meaning,
transitive. _May, can_, and _must_ denote power (hence potential); and, as
the infinitive with which they combine names the act on which this power is
exercised, some philologists regard them as originally transitive.
Pages:
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508