Слике страница
PDF
ePub

The boy who has once lied we are slow to believe.

Lie, lied, lied.

The book lies on the desk.

It lay there yesterday.

Indeed, it has lain there since last week.

[blocks in formation]

of one

As you have learned, some verbs are made up of the verb forms and another verb known as an auxiliary. Some of these auxiliaries were given on pages 171, 172. Turn back to them and read them. Most of them may also be used alone, as verbs. Thus, have is a verb meaning to possess,-"I have a book.” It is also an auxiliary, "I have recited."

From "Rain in the Garret," page 66, copy all the verbs that are formed with auxiliaries.

Some auxiliaries have irregular inflection both when used as auxiliaries and when used as independent verbs.

The verb be is irregular not merely in the formation of its past tense and past participle, but in its present tense also. It has more inflected forms than any other verb.

They are given in the following table, which should be memorized. The forms are so familiar that this will

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Turn to "A Parable against Persecution," p. 203, and copy all the verbs in solemn style with their subjects.

Find in your reader or elsewhere, and copy, sentences in which each of the following forms is used:—

[blocks in formation]

There are no inflected forms for the future tense, but future time is expressed by the simple verb with the auxiliaries shall or will, as:

[blocks in formation]

These words are used with two different meanings. One is to express the idea of future time, and the other to express purpose or determination. If you say

I will go, you mean that you are determined to go; that it is your will to go. But if you say I shall go, you mean merely to make a statement as to the future.

In the following sentences see if you can tell which meaning is intended, merely future time or determination :

I will do as I please.

I shall not be gone long.
You shall pay for this.

You will be elected captain.

He will never yield.

He shall never enter my door.

We will surely come.

We shall miss the train.

The colonies shall be free or we will die in the struggle.

There is an old story of a foreigner who fell into the water. When people came to help him out he cried, "I will drown and nobody shall help me." At first they let him alone thinking that he wanted to drown, and being kind-hearted people they were willing that he should have his own way. He really did not want to drown, but feared lest he might be left without help. What should he have said?

The following table will give you the correct usage:

Memorize :

FUTURE TIME

I shall.
You will.

He will.

We shall.

You will.

DETERMINATION

I will.
You shall.

He shall.
We will.

You shall.

They will.

They shall.

Use each of these expressions correctly in sentences.

Nouns may be used in place of he and they.

XXX

REVIEW

Inflection of Verbs

Turn to "The Discontented Pendulum," page 29, and copy all the verbs in the story, writing in one column all those with auxiliaries and in another those without. Write the inflected forms of all the verbs on the first page, writing the auxiliaries separately.

XXXI

COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE PREDICATION

The sun arose, all nature awoke. The noises of the day began. The cocks crowed, the hens cackled, the dogs barked, the kittens mewed, the cows lowed, the birds sang; each in his own way voiced his joy at the coming of the day. -B. G. WEST.

[ocr errors]

Copy the subjects and the predicates of all the above sentences. In all but the last, how many words do you find in the predicate? What part of speech is this word? What one part of speech is always found in the predicate?

What is the verb in the predicate of the last sentence? Could voiced be used alone in the predicate, as arose and awoke are, and make sense?

Some verbs can be used alone as predicates; they need no other words to make complete sense. Such words are called verbs of complete predication.

Other verbs do not make complete sense when used alone as predicates. Such verbs are called verbs of incomplete predication.

« ПретходнаНастави »