How to parse. ...

Par. I73, 174.] AUXILIARY VERBS.

117

"1I could have," except that in "Icould " there is no notion
of " lawf ul "power.
* (1) "If hie had wished he might have helped me."
(2) "If lie had not been too scrupulous, he could soon have
niade his fortuiie."
Bnt the two words are often coafused. Very often also it is doubtfnl whether ' iniiilit " and " could " are not Indlicatively, rather than
Sitijuictively, used. ''He wiig/titavelhelp~ed mie " sometimes (sea3
Par. 17,5) Means " Ife /ied (Tille.) the power to have helped me (lint
did not use it).'' Since, iiccordinig to the proverb, "1 no one knows
what lie can dlo till lie tries," powe,(r may always be regardled (I) as
existbig tlioiiih unused, i. e. lvdicatirely;or (2) as a possibility,
s~iioject to the filfilmnit of condidtioii. i. e. Sabmioctirely. Helee,
iii Latiii, the Indicative "II otui" is often used in Conditional
laiguagre.
173 ill, would, - No te that - jus t as?n ay come " m ean s
tiI shaoll possibly come," - in (lie same way " I will, or
would come " often means " I shiol willingly, or, should
willingly, come." In other words, " will " is used for the
Future of itself, i.e. " I shall will," just as "may" is for
"I shall may."
Hence "would" is not quite th e same in -
(1) "John said be (John) would be punctual."
(2) "Jolii thought lie (John) would take a walk."
In (1) the meshing is little more than "1John slaidl lie was goin~g
to be punctual; "linut in (2) " will " is for "1shall will " or ",shall
like," amil " woultl " is, therefore, for "1 should will ' or "1should
like," so that the sentence means '1 John thought lie should tike to
take a walk."
This explains the use of "Iwould " for "1might " after Verbs of
pra~ying (Par. 166). ' We begged that lie wouid conie" is put for
"we beggLed that he might will, i. e. mright bepleased to come."1
Indicative Use of Auxiliary Verbs.
The Verbs "can," ")6may," " shall," " will," together with their Past Tenses "could," "1 might,"
"6should," "gwould," being sometimes Indicatively
and sometimes Subjunctively used, require much
care. Here are examples of the Indicative use of
these verbs: -
I74 Can, could, "1to be able."