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-SUBJECT INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
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) | | | | |