mood, expresses the _present_ of the
hypothetical; as, 'I wish that I _was_ well.' _The use of this hypothetical
form_ of the subjunctive mood, _has given rise to_ a form of expression
_wholly unwarranted by the rules of grammar_. When the verb _was_ is to be
used in the _present tense singular_, in this form of the subjunctive mood,
the ear is often pained with a _plural were_, as, '_Were I_ your
master'--'_Were he_ compelled to do it,' &c. This has become so common that
some of the best grammars of the language furnish authority for the
barbarism, and even in the second person supply _wert_, as a convenient
accompaniment. If such a conjugation is admitted, we may expect to see
Shakspeare's '_thou beest_' in full use."--_Chandler's Gram._, Ed. of 1821,
p. 55. In "_Chandler's Common School Grammar_," of 1847, the language of
this paragraph is somewhat softened, but the substance is still retained.
See the latter work, p. 80.

[264] "If I were, If _thou were_. If he were."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 31.
"If, or though, I were loved. If, or though, _thou were_, or _wert_ loved.
If, or though, he were loved."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part i, p. 69. "If,
though, &c. I were burned, _thou were_ burned or you were burned, he were
burned."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 53. "Though _thou were_. Some say, 'though
thou _wert_.'"--_Mackintosh's Gram._, p. 178. "If or though I were. If or
though _thou were_. If or though he were."--_St. Quentin's General Gram._,
p. 86. "If I was, Thou wast, or You was or were, He was. Or thus: If I
were, Thou wert, or you was or were, He were."--_Webster's Philosophical
Gram._, p. 95; _Improved Gram._, p. 64. "PRESENT TENSE. Before, &c. I _be_;
thou _beest_, or you _be_; he, she, or it, _be_: We, you or ye, they, _be_.
PAST TENSE. Before, &c. I _were_; thou _wert_, or you _were_; he, she, or
it, _were_; We, you or ye, they, _were_."--WHITE, _on the English Verb_, p.
52.

[265] The text in Acts, xxii, 20th, "I also _was standing_ by, and
_consenting_ unto his death," ought rather to be, "I also _stood_ by, and
_consented_ to his death;" but the present reading is, thus far, a literal
version from the Greek, though the verb "_kept_," that follows, is not.
Montanus renders it literally: "Et ipse _eram astans, et consentiens_
interemptioni ejus, et _custodiens_ vestimenta interficientium illum." Beza
makes it better Latin thus: "Ego quoque _adstabam_, et una _assentiebar_
caedi ipsius, et _custodiebam_ pallia eorum