as, I _read_, thou _readst_, he _reads_; I _know_, thou
_knowst_, he _knows_; I _take_, thou _takest_, he _takes_; I _free_, thou
_freest_, he _frees_. For, when the verb ends in mute _a_, no termination
renders this _a_ vocal in the familiar style, if a synaeresis can take
place. To prevent their readers from ignorantly assuming the pronunciation
of the solemn style, the poets have generally marked such words with an
apostrophe: as,

"Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
To lie the way thou _go'st_, not whence thou _com'st_."--_Shak_.

OBS. 37.--But when the verb ends in a sound which will not unite with that
of _st_ or _s_, the second and third persons are formed by adding _est_ and
_es_; or, if the first person end in mute _e_, the _st_ and _s_ render that
_e_ vocal; so that the verb acquires an additional syllable: as, I _trace_,
thou _tracest_, he _traces_; I _pass_, thou _passest_, he _passes_; I
_fix_, thou _fixest_, he _fixes_; I _preach_, thou _preachest_, he
_preaches_; I _blush_, thou _blushest_, he _blushes_; I _judge_, thou
_judgest_, he _judges_. But verbs ending in _o_ or _y_ preceded by a
consonant, do not exactly follow either of the foregoing rules. In these,
_y_ is changed into _i_; and, to both _o_ and _i, est_ and _es_ are added
without increase of syllables: as, I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goes_; I
_undo_, thou _undoest_,[253] he _undoes_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he
_flies_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_, he _pities_. Thus, in the following
lines, _goest_ must be pronounced like _ghost_; otherwise, we spoil the
measure of the verse:

"Thou _goest_ not now with battle, and the voice
Of war, as once against the rebel hosts;
Thou _goest_ a Judge, and _findst_ the guilty bound;
Thou _goest_ to prove, condemn, acquit, reward."--_Pollok_, B. x.

In solemn prose, however, the termination is here made a separate syllable:
as, I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goeth_; I _undo_, thou _undoest_, he
_undoeth_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flieth_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_,
he _pitieth_.

OBS. 38.--The auxiliaries _do, dost, does_,--(pronounced _doo, dust, duz_;
and not as the words _dough, dosed, doze_,--) _am, art, is,--have, hast,
has_,--being also in frequent use as principal verbs of the present tense,
retain their peculiar forms, with distinction of person and number, when
they help to form the compound tenses of other verbs. The other auxiliaries
are not varied, or ought not to be varied