thing: as, I _write_; you _know_: or asks a question; as, "Do
you _know?_"--"_Know_ ye not?"

The _Potential mood_ is that form of the verb which expresses the power,
liberty, possibility, or necessity, of the being, action, or passion: as,
"I _can walk_; he _may ride_; we _must go_."

The _Subjunctive mood_ is that form of the verb, which represents the
being, action, or passion, as conditional, doubtful, and contingent: as,
"If thou _go_, see that thou _offend_ not."--"See thou _do_ it
not."--_Rev._, xix, 10.

The _Imperative mood_ is that form of the verb which is used in commanding,
exhorting, entreating, or permitting: as, "_Depart_ thou."--"Be
_comforted_."--"_Forgive_ me."--"_Go_ in peace."

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The _Infinitive_ mood is so called in opposition to the other
moods, in which the verb is said to be _finite_. In all the other moods,
the verb has a strict connexion, and necessary agreement in person and
number, with some subject or nominative, expressed or understood; but the
infinitive is the mere verb, without any such agreement, and has no power
of completing sense with a noun. In the nature of things, however, all
being, action, or passion, not contemplated abstractly as a _thing_,
belongs to something that is, or acts, or is acted upon. Accordingly
infinitives have, in most instances, a _reference_ to some subject of this
kind; though their grammatical dependence connects them more frequently
with some other term. The infinitive mood, in English, is distinguished by
the preposition to; which, with a few exceptions, immediately precedes it,
and may be said to govern it. In dictionaries, and grammars, _to_ is often
used as a mere _index_, to distinguish verbs from the other parts of
speech. But this little word has no more claim to be ranked as a part of
the verb, than has the conjunction _if_, which is the sign of the
subjunctive. It is the nature of a preposition, to show the relation of
different things, thoughts, or words, to each other; and this "sign of the
infinitive" may well be pursued separately as a preposition, since in most
instances it manifestly shows the relation between the infinitive verb and
some other term. Besides, by most of our grammarians, the present tense of
the infinitive mood is declared to be the _radical form_ of the verb; but
this doctrine must be plainly untrue, upon the supposition that this tense
is a compound.

OBS. 2.--The _Indicative_ mood is so calle