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]
