ctive_; such are most of the auxiliaries.

An _auxiliary_ is a short verb prefixed to one of the principal parts of an
other verb, to express some particular mode and time of the being, action,
or passion. The auxiliaries are _do, be, have, shall, will, may, can_, and
_must_, with their variations.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The _present_, or the verb in the present tense, is radically the
same in all the moods, and is the part from which all the rest are formed.
The present infinitive is commonly considered _the root_, or _simplest
form_, of the English verb. We usually place the _preposition_ TO _before_
it; but never when with an auxiliary it forms a compound tense that is not
infinitive: there are also some other exceptions, which plainly show, that
the word _to_ is neither a part of the verb, as Cobbett, R. C. Smith, S.
Kirkham, and Wells, say it is; nor a part of the infinitive mood, as Hart
and many others will have it to be, but a distinct _preposition_. (See, in
the _Syntax_ of this work, Observations on Rule 18th.) The preterit and the
perfect participle are regularly formed by adding _d_ or _ed_, and the
imperfect participle, by adding _ing_, to the present.

OBS. 2.--The moods and tenses, in English, are formed partly by
inflections, or changes made in the verb itself, and partly by the
combination of the verb or its participle, with a few short verbs, called
_auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. This view of the subject, though
disputed by some, is sustained by such a preponderance both of authority
and of reason, that I shall not trouble the reader with any refutation of
those who object to it. Murray the schoolmaster observes, "In the English
language, the times and modes of verbs are expressed in a perfect, easy,
and beautiful manner, by the aid of a few little words called
_auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. The possibility of a thing is expressed
by _can_ or _could_; the liberty to do a thing, by _may_ or _might_; the
inclination of the will, by _will_ or _would_; the necessity of a thing, by
_must_ or _ought, shall_ or _should_. The preposition _to_ is never
expressed after the helping verbs, except after _ought_."--_Alex. Murray's
Gram._, p. 112. See nearly the same words in _Buchanan's English Syntax_,
p. 36; and in _the British Gram._, p. 125.

OBS. 3.--These authors are wrong in calling _ought_ a helping verb, and so
is Oliver B. Peirce, in calling "_ought to_," and "_ought to have_"
auxiliaries;