433 



No. 1. 



sxpresses simple fu- 

 turity : 



I shall 

 Thou wilt 

 He will 

 We shall 

 You will 

 They will. 



I should 

 Thou wouldst 

 He would 

 We should 

 You would 

 They would. 



No. 2. 



the decision of the 

 speaker : 



1 will 



Thou shalt 

 He shall 

 We will 

 You shall 

 They shall. 



Preterite. 

 I would 

 Thou shouldst 

 He should 

 We would 

 You should 

 They should. 



No. 3. 

 the decision of the 

 party spoken of. 

 I Will 

 Thou wilt 

 He will 

 We will 

 You will 

 They will. 



I would 

 Thou wouldst 

 He would 

 We would 

 You would 

 They would. 



The first persons singular and plural in both tenses of 

 the verbs No. 2. and 3. are necessarily the same, because 

 the speaker and the party spoken of are one ; and there- 

 fore No. 3. may be said to have no first person. The only 

 apparent ambiguity lies between the second persons of 

 No. 1. and 3 ; but the verbs are so essentially distinct in 

 sense, that this is never perceived even in writing ; and 

 in conversation it is always avoided by the emphasis 

 laid on No. 3. An Englishman says to his friend, " I 

 shall be very glad to see you : " not, like the Scotch and 

 Irish, " I willhe very glad." The simple futurity only 

 is here proper to be expressed, for an effort of implied 

 volition destroys the civility. It is no compliment to 

 any one to say, " I will try to be glad to see you ;" and 

 the expression itself is a solecism. Writers on experi- 

 mental philosophy in Scotland often say, "If we make 

 such and such an experiment, we will find the result, &c," 

 though they mean simple futurity, that the result will 

 be so. It is as ridiculous to say, " we will (that is, we 

 are determined to) find the result so," as to say, "the 

 result shall be so ;" or else to understand the verb No. 3. 

 instead of No. 1. "the result will (or is in its own mind 

 determined to) be so." A true English writer is so much 



VOL. II. 2 F 



