| H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921. |
Page 287 |
| | | must. The American seldom says “I must go”; he almost invariably says “I have to go,” 67 or “I have got to go,” in which last case, as we have seen, got is the auxiliary. |
The most common inflections of the verb for mode and voice are shown in the following paradigm of to bite:
ACTIVE VOICE |
| Indicative Mode |
| Present | I bite | Past Perfect | I had of bit |
| Present Perfect | I have bit | Future | I will bite |
| Past | I bitten | Future Perfect | (wanting) |
| Subjunctive Mode |
| Present | If I bite | Past Perfect | If I had of bit |
| Past | If I bitten | | |
| Potential Mode |
| Present | I can bite | Past | I could bite |
| Present Perfect | (wanting) | Past Perfect | I could of bit |
| Imperative (or Optative) Mode |
| Future | I shall (or will) | | |
| bite | | |
| Infinitive Mode |
| (wanting) | | | |
PASSIVE VOICE |
| Indicative Mode |
| Present | I am bit | Past Perfect | I had been bit |
| Present Perfect | I been bit | Future | I will be bit |
| Past | I was bit | Future Perfect | (wanting) |
| Subjunctive Mode |
| Present | If I am bit | Past Perfect | If I had of been |
| Past | If I was bit | | bit |
| Potential Mode |
| Present | I can be bit | Past | I could be bit |
| Present Perfect | (wanting) | Past Perfect | I could of been bit |
| Imperative Mode |
| (wanting) | | | |
| Infinitive Mode |
| (wanting) | | | | |
| Note 67. Almost always pronounced haf to, or, in the past tense, hat to. Sometimes hat to undergoes composition and the d is restored; it then becomes hadda. Haf to similarly changes to hafta. [back] |
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