398 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
Moreover 7 if one accession of meaning puts a verb into a differ¬ 
ent mode', fair play would seem to call for change of modal rank 
with other accessions. I see no reason for laying greater stress 
upon an added idea of-command; than on the more effective, and 
so far more important, idea of aid. If an expression meaning 
“I command you to climb” have modal recognition, much more 
an expression meaning “I assist you to climb” would seem in 
ordinary justice to require modal recognition also 1 . With the 
courage of this conviction, given “I help you over the fence” 
(meaning “I assist you to 1 climb,” etc.), I might announce this 
“help” as the cooperative mode of climbing, except that I mis¬ 
trust me it should rather rank as the transcendental mode of 
cooperation. 
Once started in the role of “modiste,” I should hardly know 
when to stop. What is allowed with a first accession of mean¬ 
ing might also be allowed with a second—a third—a thirtieth. 
But as the vistas open—as there rise to view the modal possi¬ 
bilities offered for instance by “I desire to help to persuade you 
to attempt to cause to fall”—I renounce the' effort to establish 
as modal what are obviously mere agglomerations of meaning— 
occur with the utmost frequency—in the greatest variety—with 
every sort of word. If, coexisting with the word “to fall,” I 
ever find another word of similar form invested with the com¬ 
plex meaning of my illustration, I shall say that this word and 
“to fall” are merely different words. So also, given “Come!”' 
and “I come,” the meaning-difference between the “come” of 
one case and the “come” of the other might, in the interest of 
clearness and convenience, justify their recognition as two dif¬ 
ferent words, alike in form alone. Indeed it would be well per¬ 
haps to do the like: with every so-called mode which adds to the 
dictionary meaning of a, verb any other meaning than the assert¬ 
ive element expressible by “I believe.” 
Or rather, to be even more consistent, I would with others 
rank the assertive form—that is the so-called indicative mode— 
as alone a, verb. The so-called imperative, which I shall try to 
exhibit as the maker of a merely complex assertion—that is, as 
ai so-called indicative with complex meaning—I would also rank 
as a, verb, but as another verb. 
The unassertive forms of conjugation might be ranked as members 
of an extra-verbal word-class—as what might well enough be known 
as hybrid parts of speech—more or less verbal in their power of gov- 
