The dual form has been swept away entirely as needless, and worse, cumbrous and perplexing; but it will be seen that we have retained every one of the other forms. _Ic_ has become I; _mine_ is still the possessive of I; _me_ is still not only the objective form of the first person, but the dative, “make me a hat,” or “buy me a horse,” being merely “make a hat to or for me,” or “buy to or for me a horse.” _We_ and _us_ will be recognized at sight, and _ure_ has only changed its pronunciation from _oor_ to _our_. These forms have been retained in our modern English partly because a pronoun is the most ancient of indestructible parts of speech,[B] but chiefly because of their usefulness, their convenience. A brief consideration of them by the intelligent reader will make this so plain that more need not be said on the subject. Now let us see the unlike fate of the verb _to have_. This will be more readily apparent if we look at it in Latin, in French, and in English (it is actually the same word in all these languages, with slight phonetic variation); and we shall thus also have another demonstration of the manner in which English differs from other languages. SINGULAR. PLURAL. Latin. French. English. Latin. French. English. 1. _habeo._ _J’ai._ I have. _habemus._ _nous avons._ we have. 2. _habes._ _tu as._ thou hast. _habetis._ _vous avez._ you have. 3. _habet._ _il a._ he has. _habent._ _ils ont._ they have. It will be seen at once that the Latin and the French have each a special plural form, and also three forms for the three persons of that number. English has swept away this plural form entirely, and uses for the plural in all its persons the simple _have_ of the first person singular. The form of the second person singular has also virtually disappeared; the simple _have_ appearing in its substitute, _you have_. Whether the form of the third person singular will ever follow the other is doubtful; but it is certain that our language has lost nothing in clearness, and has gained much in simplicity by the doing away with all the formal superfluity by which the old numbers and persons were distinguished.