JB_102_570.xml

Title: [24 Dec. 1815 Chrestom. or Language]

Description: 24 Dec. 1815

Chrestom. or Language

5

Ch.5 Verb

Tense

'. Shall and Will

5

For placing all this matter in what it is believed will be found a clear light, the following two scales of phrases, by one of which one of the two imports is meant to be expressed, - and by the other of them the other, will it is hoped, be found to serve.

1. - Case in which the event is meant to be represented by me (the speaker) as dependent upon my will, this may be called the imperative, or dominative, or tyrannically predictive future.

Singular Number.

1. First person singular I will perish.

2. Second person singular Thou shalt perish.

3. Third person singular He she or it shall perish.

4. First person plural We will perish.

5. Second person plural Ye shall perish.

6. Third person plural They shall perish.

JB_102_574.xml

Title: [24 Dec. 1815 Chrestom. or Language]

Description: 24 Dec. 1815

Chrestom. or Language

7

Ch.5 Verb

Tense

'. Shall and Will

7

Case 2. Case in which shall is the word employed.

1. First person singular I shall perish. Intimation not given that the event is dependent on the will of the speaker.

2. Second person singular Thou shalt perish.

3 Third person singular He, she, or it shall perish. Intimation given in these two cases that the event is dependent on the will of the speaker.

4. First person plural We shall perish. Intimation not given.

5. Second person plural Ye shall perish. Intimation given.

6. Third person plural They shall perish. Intimation given.

In a jest book story, the mode in which a foreigner is apt to make a mistake in the application of these two words, is presented in a half-disastrous, half-ludicrous, point of view. The stranger has fallen into the water, and he cries out to the bystanders, "I will be drowned."

52

JB_102_578.xml

Title: [26 Dec. 1815 Chrestom. or Language]

Description: 26 Dec. 1815

Chrestom. or Language

2 1

Ch.5 Verb

'. Tense

Shall and Will

Should and would appear, at first sight, as derived from and corresponding to shall and will respectively, and thence to one another. But this correspondence is far from being so perfect as at first sight might be expected.

1. Should has two perfectly distinct senses, viz. the conditional, and what may be termed the moral.

1. The conditional: - as if I should move, I should fall. 2. The moral, or monitory; as, You should take heed, lest you should fall. Here, in the first clause, the word should is moral, monitory, - importing that, in the opinion of the speaker, the performance of the act designated by the principal verb, is the object of moral duty or obligation, at any rate, of prudence, considered as choosing and employing means to the attainment of ends, good being included under that notion.

1. Preceptive in respect of probity, i.e. designative of what is conducive to general welfare; as -

In whatever you do for the furtherance of your own interest, you should never be disregardful of the effect it may have on the interest of others.

2. Moral, in respect of prudence, abstracted from the consideration of the end aimed at, consisting in the choice of means considered with reference to the probability they present of contributing to the attainment of the ends; as -

In whatever course you take for the furtherance of your own interest, you should never appear to be regardless of the effect it may have upon the interest of others.

So, in matters where morality is out of the question, - if you wish to hit a mark, you should be sure to take good aim.

56