17.  I said nothing lest she ——­ feel hurt. 18.  I asked her whether she ——­ come again. 19.  He promised that it ——­ not occur again. 20.  If it ——­ rain, we would not start. 21.  Queen Isabella offered a reward to the first man who ——­ discover
    land.
22.  Cornelia was afraid that we ——­ miss the train. 23.  I expected that they ——­ accept the proposal. 24.  He said Miss Anderson ——­ not return to the stage. 25.  Franklin resolved that Collins ——­ row.  Collins said that he ——­ not
    row, but that Franklin ——­ row in his place.
26.  At first I did not think I ——­ enjoy seeing the World’s Fair. 27.  What ——­ we do without our friends? 28.  If he ——­ come to-day, would (should) you be ready?

QUESTIONS OF TENSE.[80]—­The tense of a verb should correctly express the time referred to.  Most errors in the use of tenses are violations of some one of the following principles, which are established by good usage:—­

1.  Principal verbs referring to the same time should be in the same tense.
2.  The perfect indicative represents something as now completed—­as
   begun in the past but continuing till the present, at least in its
   consequences:  as, “I have lost my book” (so that now I do not have
   it); “This house has stood for ninety years” (it is still standing);
   “Bishop Brooks has died, but he has left us his example” (he is not
   now among us, but we have his example).
3.  The tense of the verb in a dependent clause varies with the tense of
   the principal verb:[81] as,
      I know he will come. 
      I knew he would come. 
      I have taken the first train, that I may arrive early. 
      I had taken the first train, that I might arrive early. 
      Blanche will be frightened if she sees the bat. 
      Blanche would be frightened if she saw the bat. 
      Blanche would have been frightened if she had seen the bat. 
  Present facts and unchangeable truths, however, should be expressed in
  the present tense, regardless of the tense of the principal verb:  as,
  “What did you say his name is?”
4.  The perfect infinitive is properly used to denote action which is
   completed at the time denoted by the principal verb:  as, “I am glad to
   have seen Niagara Falls;” “He felt sorry to have hurt your feelings.”

EXCEPTION.—­Ought, must, need, and should (in the sense of “ought”) have no distinctive form to denote past time; with these verbs present time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the present tense, past time is denoted by putting the complementary infinitive in the perfect tense:  as, “You ought to go,” “You ought to have gone;” “He should be careful,” “He should have been careful.”  A similar change from the present to the perfect infinitive is found after could and might in some of their uses:  as, “I could go,” “I could have gone;” “You might have answered.”