May expresses permission or possibility; as,

You may [are permitted to] enter the room.

He may [it is possible that he will] change his mind. May is also used to express purpose, or to express a wish; as,

Open the gate that they may enter.

May you be happy.

Could and might are sometimes used as the simple past of can and may, and sometimes in a conditional sense; as,

I could hear the music.

The lights of the village might be seen from the bay.
He might go if he could spare the time.

III. -Must.

Must has no change of form. It expresses necessity; as,-
He must have rest.

IV. Should and Would.

Should is no longer used as a simple past, but has the sense of an indefinite present or of a contingent condition; as,

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

If I should begin the work, I could not finish it.

Would is sometimes a simple past, sometimes a contingent present; as,

He would not speak when he had the opportunity.

He would not speak if he had the opportunity.

The phrases made up of the verbs may, can, must, might, could, would, or should, with an infinitive, are classed together by some grammarians, and called the potential mode; thus,

Ought is the old past tense of the verb owe, and expresses duty or obligation. It is used with the present infinitive to indicate present time, and with the perfect infinitive to indicate past time; as,—

Tell how the verbs may, can, must, should and would are used in the following sentences: —

I.

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime. — Longfellow.

It may be the gulfs will wash us down:

4.

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles.

5. Wealth may seek us, but wisdom must be sought. 6. It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do. — BURKE.

7.

They had been friends in youth,

But whispering tongues can poison truth.

8. Too late! too late! ye cannot enter now. — TENNYSON. 9. How he could trot! how he could run! and then such leaps as he could take there was not a hedge in the whole country that he could not clear. - IRVING.

TENNYSON.

10. She must weep or she will die. II. He saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village. — IRVING.

i2. If a storm should come and awake the deep, What matter! I shall ride and sleep. - PROCTER.

EXERCISE II.

Write sentences containing the verbs may, can, must,

might, could, should, and would.

LESSON XLIII.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB DRIVE.

To conjugate a verb is to give its different forms; thus,—