THIRD PERSON PLURAL.

IND.  Are they not loved?  Were they not loved?  Have they not been loved?  Had they not been loved?  Shall or will they not be loved?  Will they not have been loved?  May, can, or must they not be loved?  Might, could, would, or should they not be loved?  May, can, or must they not have been loved?  Might, could, would, or should they not have been loved?

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—­In a familiar question or negation, the compound or auxiliary form of the verb is, in general, preferable to the simple:  as, “No man lives to purpose, who does not live for posterity.”—­Dr. Wayland.  It is indeed so much more common, as to seem the only proper mode of expression:  as, “Do I say these things as a man?”—­“Do you think that we excuse ourselves?”—­“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”—­“Dost thou revile?” &c.  But in the solemn or the poetic style, though either may be used, the simple form is more dignified, and perhaps more graceful:  as, “Say I these things as a man?”—­1 Cor., ix, 8. “Think ye that we excuse ourselves?”—­2 Cor., xii, 19. “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”—­1 Cor., v, 6. “Revilest thou God’s high priest?”—­Acts.  “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?”—­Ib. “Understandest thou what thou readest?”—­Ib. “Of whom speaketh the prophet this?”—­Id. “And the man of God said, Where fell it?”—­2 Kings, vi, 6.

   “What! heard ye not of lowland war?”—­Sir W. Scott, L. L.

    “Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost?”—­Id., L. of Lake.

    “Where thinkst thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he?
    Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?”—­Shak., Ant. and Cleop.

OBS. 2.—­In interrogative sentences, the auxiliaries shall and will are not always capable of being applied to the different persons agreeably to their use in simple declarations:  thus, “Will I go?” is a question which there never can be any occasion to ask in its literal sense; because none knows better than I, what my will or wish is.  But “Shall I go?” may properly be asked; because shall here refers to duty, and asks to know what is agreeable to the will of an other.  In questions, the first person generally requires shall; the second, will; the third admits of both:  but, in the second-future, the third, used interrogatively, seems to require will only.  Yet, in that figurative kind of interrogation which is sometimes used to declare a negative, there may be occasional exceptions to these principles; as, “Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”—­Psalms, 1, 13.  That is, I will not eat, &c.