no intention of expressing an opinion as to the condition being a fact or a conception:

If a boy loves reading, reward him with a plaything: if he loves sport, with a book.-Hare.

If reading verse be your delight,

'Tis mine as much or more to write.-Cowper.

But when he desires to hint that, in his opinion, the condition is a fact, he must use the indicative; and when he wishes to suggest that it is not a fact, he must use the subjunctive:

If every one knows us and we know no one, 'tis time to trudge. Shakespeare.

If she be a traitor,

Why so am I.-Shakespeare.

158. When the statement refers to the Future, it can scarcely be regarded as more than a conception of what may happen; and the subjunctive is the proper mood:

If thou read this, O Caesar, thou may'st live.-Shakespeare.

Place me where Winter breathes his keenest air,
And I will sing, if Liberty be there.-Cowper.

To go on the forlorn hope of truth is a service of peril: who will undertake it, if it be not also a service of honour?— Macaulay.

If thou consider rightly of the matter,

Caesar has had great wrong.-Shakespeare.

Or if he prove unkind (as who can say

But, being man and therefore frail, he may ?)

One comfort yet shall cheer thine aged heart,

Howe'er he slight thee, thou hast done thy part.-Cowper.

The tendency of modern usage is to neglect this use of the subjunctive to express a supposed future occurrence, so that

we employ the inexact expression if he wishes, not merely for if he now wishes, but also for if he shall hereafter wish. The sense of the context, however, generally makes the meaning clear.

159. When a supposed future event is to be stated distinctly and vividly, we use If with will or shall:

Now he may read what he pleases, and ride where he will, if the gout will give him leave.—Cowper.

If we shall stand still,

In fear our motion will be mocked or carped at,

We should take root here, where we sit.-Shakespeare. 160. When the condition refers to a state of things not really existing, and not likely to exist, the past subjunctive is used:

I should be angry with you, if the time were convenient.

Or, if Virtue feeble were,

Heaven itself would stoop to her.-Milton.

If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,

Shakespeare.

As he will have me, why am I so poor?-Shakespeare. If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee.-Shakespeare.

161. With regard to conditions of the Past, the want of distinct forms in the subjunctive tenses causes a difficulty in expressing the opinion of the speaker as to the fulfilment of the condition. His opinion must be gathered from the context.

Generally, If thou didst know is a form implying that in the opinion of the speaker the condition was fulfilled, and If thou hadst known is a form implying that the condition was not fulfilled.

If thou didst ever thy dear father love,

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.-Shakespeare.

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart;

Absent thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,

To tell my story.-Shakespeare.

If thou hadst died as honour dies,

Some new Napoleon might arise

To shame the world again.-Byron.

162. The past indicative is used in the principal sentence instead of would have with the past participle, when the speaker desires to express vividly his conviction that a certain result would have followed the fulfilment of the condition:

Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.— Joh. xi. 21.

If heaven had pleased to give me longer life,

And able means, we had not parted thus.-Shakespeare. 163. If is often omitted, and one of the Auxiliary Verbs had, could, were, etc., stands before the subject.

Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to my enemies.-Shakespeare.

O Douglas! hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus,
I never had triúmph'd upon a Scot.-Shakespeare.
Were my letters composed of materials worthy of your
acceptance, they should be longer.—Cowper.

164. In many passages our great writers use the indicative in expressing a condition of which the speaker desires the fulfilment, and the subjunctive when he desires that the condition should not be fulfilled:

Let us not neglect, on our part, such means as are in our power, to keep the cause of truth, of reason, of virtue, and of

liberty, alive. If the blessing be withheld from us, let us deserve, at least, that it should be granted to us. If Heaven, in mercy, bestows it on us, let us prepare to receive it, to improve it, and to co-operate with it.-Bolingbroke.

If thou speak'st false,

Upon the next tree thou shalt hang alive,

Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth,

I care not if thou dost for me as much.-Shakespeare. 165. Conditions of negation are often introduced by except and unless, with the subjunctive :

Except the Lord build the house . . .

-Ps. cxxvii. 1.

I will not forgive him, unless he ask my forgiveness.
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good.—Shakespeare.
NOTE. Unless is also found, but rarely, with the indicative :
Let none enter those holy walls, unless he is conscious of
a pure and innocent mind.—Gibbon.

Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,
This is my son Antipholus.—Shakespeare.

VII. COMPARATIVE SENTENCES.

166. Introduced by As and Than, with the indicative : Strike as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.—Shakespeare.

And as with age his body uglier grows,

So his mind cankers.--Shakespeare.

When a bare conception is stated, the subjunctive occurs with or without if:

I will make a pretence, as if I were going out.

She went... a good way off, as it were a bowshot.—Gen. xxi,
And, like as there were husbandry in war,

Before the sun rose, he was harness'd light,
And to the field he goes.-Shakespeare.

G

THE SUBJUNCTIVe after verbs of Asking or TELLING.

167. When the Verb in the principal sentence is one of asking or telling, and the subordinate sentence is connected with the principal sentence by if, the Verb in the subordinate sentence is often in the subjunctive :

'Tis hard to say if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill.-Pope.
O say me true if thou wert mortal wight,

And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.—Milton.
When I ask her if she love me.- -Tennyson.

Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well.—Shakespeare.

INDIRECT NARRATION.

168. If we report the precise words used by a speaker, we call it Direct Narration:

"I am King," he said, "I will be obeyed."-Macaulay. If we make the words of a speaker conform to the grammatical construction of a sentence, of which the principal Verb is said, answered, or the like, we call it Indirect Narration: I have heard him say a thousand times,

His Julia gave it him at his departure.-Shakespeare. 169. The tense of the Verb in the subordinate sentence depends in many cases on the tense of the Verb in the principal

sentence:

DIRECT NARRATION.

I will come.

It shall be done.

They have accused me.

{

INDIRECT NARRATION.

He says he will come.
He said he would come.
He says it shall be done.
He said it should be done.
He says they have accused him.

He said they had accused him.

So also may after a present becomes might after a past.