nsidered, do not have person and number."--R. C. Smith's New Gram., p. 21. [This notion of Smith's is absurd. Kirkham taught the same as regards "person."] In the following example, does he is used for is,--the auxiliary is,--and perhaps allowably: "It is certain from scripture, that the same person does in the course of life many times offend and be forgiven."--West's Letters to a Young Lady, p. 182.
OBS. 7.--In the compound tenses, there is never any variation of ending for the different persons and numbers, except in the first auxiliary: as, "Thou wilt have finished it;" not, "Thou wilt hast finishedst it;" for this is nonsense. And even for the former, it is better to say, in the familiar style, "Thou will have finished it;" for it is characteristic of many of the auxiliaries, that, unlike other verbs, they are not varied by s or eth, in the third person singular, and never by st or est, in the second person singular, except in the solemn style. Thus all the auxiliaries of the potential mood, as well as shall and will of the indicative, are without inflection in the third person singular, though will, as a principal verb, makes wills or willeth, as well as willest, in the indicative present. Hence there appears a tendency in the language, to confine the inflection of its verbs to this tense only; and to the auxiliary have, hast, has, which is essentially present, though used with a participle to form the perfect. Do, dost, does, and am, art, is, whether used as auxiliaries or as principal verbs, are always of the indicative present.
OBS. 8.--The word need,--(though, as a principal verb and transitive, it is unquestionably both regular and complete,--having all the requisite parts, need, needed, needing, needed,--and being necessarily inflected in the indicative present, as, I need, thou needst or needest, he needs or needeth,--) is so frequently used without inflection, when placed before an other verb to express a necessity of the being, action, or passion, that one may well question whether it has not become, under these circumstances, an auxiliary of the potential mood; and therefore proper to be used, like all the other auxiliaries of this mood, without change of termination. I have not yet knowingly used it so myself, nor does it appear to have been classed with the auxiliaries, by any of our grammarians, except Webster.[258] I shall therefore not presume to say now, with positiveness, that it deserves this rank; (though I incline to think it does;) but rather quote such instances as have occurred to me in reading, and leave the student to take his choice, whether to condemn as bad English the uninflected examples, or to justify them in this manner. "He that can swim, need not despair to fly."--Johnson's Rasselas, p. 29. "One therefore needs not expect to do it."--Kirkham's Elocution, p. 155. "In so doing I should only record some vain opinions of this age, which a future one need not know."--Rush, on the Voice, p. 345. "That a boy needs not be kept at school."--LISDSEY: in Kirkham's Elocution, p. 164. "No man need promise, unless he please."--Wayland's Moral Science, p. 312. "What better reason needs be given?"--Campbell's Rhet., p. 51. "He need assign no other reason for his conduct."--Wayland, ib., p. 214. "Sow there is nothing that a man needs be ashamed of in all this."--Collier's Antoninus, p. 45. "No notice need be taken of the advantages."--Walker's Rhyming Dict., Vol. ii, p. 304. "Yet it needs not be repeated."--Bicknell's Gram., Part ii, p. 51. "He need not be anxious."--Greenleaf's Gram. Simplified, p. 38. "He needs not be afraid."--Fisk's Gram. Simplified, p. 124. "He who will not learn to spell, needs not learn to write."--Red Book, p. 22. "The heeder need be under no fear."--Greenleaf's Gram., p. 38.[259] "More need not be said about it."--Cobbett's E. Gram., ¶ 272. "The object needs not be expressed."--Booth's Introduct. to Dict., p. 37. "Indeed, there need be no such thing."--Fosdick's De Sacy, p. 71. "This needs to be illustrated."--Ib., p. 81. "And no part of the sentence need be omitted."--Parkhurst's Grammar for Beginners, p. 114. "The learner needs to know what sort of words are called verbs."--Ib., p. 6. "No one need be apprehensive of suffering by faults of this kind."--Sheridan's Elocution, p. 171. "The student who has bought any of the former copies needs not repent."--Dr. Johnson, Adv. to Dict. "He need not enumerate their names."--Edward's First Lessons in Grammar, p. 38. "A quotation consisting of a word or two only need not begin with a capital."--Churchill's Gram., p. 383. "Their sex is commonly known, and needs not to be marked."--Ib., p. 72; Murray's Octavo Gram., 51. "One need only open Lord Clarendon's history, to find examples every where."--Blair's Rhet., p. 108. "Their sex is commonly known, and needs not be marked."--Lowth's Gram., p. 21; Murray's Duodecimo Gram., p. 51. "Nobody need be afraid he shall not have scope enough."--LOCKE: in Sanborn's Gram., p. 168. "No part of the science of language, needs to be ever uninteresting to the pursuer."--Nutting's Gram., p. vii. "The exact amount of knowledge is not, and need not be, great."--Todd's Student's Manual, p. 44. "He needs to act under a motive which is all-pervading."--Ib., p. 375. "What need be said, will not occupy a long space."--Ib., p. 244. "The sign TO needs not always be used."--Bucke's Gram., p. 96. "Such as he need not be ashamed of."--Snelling's Gift for Scribblers, p. 23.
"Needst thou--need any one on earth--despair?"--Ib., p. 32.
"Take timely counsel; if your dire disease Admits no cure, it needs not to displease."--Ib., p. 14.
OBS. 9.--If need is to be recognized as an auxiliary of the potential mood, it must be understood to
