Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (popular books to read TXT) 📕

rent. Rid, rid, rid. Ride, rode, ridden. Ring, rang, rung, rung, (A)Rise, rose, risen. Rive, rived, riven, rived. Run, ran, run. Saw, sawed, sawed, sawn. Say, said, said. See, saw, seen. Seek, sought, sought. Seethe, seethed, seethed, sod, sodden. Sell, sold, sold. Send, sent, sent. (Be)Set, set, set. Shake, shook, shaken. Shall, should, ––. Shape, shaped, shaped, shapen Shave, shaved, shaved, shaven. Shear, sheared, sheared, shore, shorn. Shed, shed, shed. Shine, shone, shone. Shoe, shod, shod. Shoot, shot, shot. Show, showed, shown, showed. Shred, shred, shred. Shrink, shrank, shrunk, shrunk, shrunken. Shut, shut, shut. Sing, sang, sung. sung, Sink, sank, sunk, sunk, sunken. Sit, sat, sat. Slay, slew, slain. Sleep, slept, slept. Slide, slid, slidden, slid. Sling, slung, slung. slang Slink, slunk, slunk. Slit, slit, slit, slitted, slitted. Smell, smelt, smelt, smelled, smelled. Smite, smote, smitten, smit. Sow, sowed, sown, sowed. Speak, spoke, spoken. spake, Speed, sped, sped. Spell, spelt, spelt, spelled, spelled. Spend, spent, spent. Spill, spilt, spilt, spilled, spilled. Spin, spun, spun. span, Spit, spit, spit, spat, spitten. Split, split, split. Spoil, spoilt, spoilt, spoiled, spoiled. Spread, spread, spread. Spring, sprang, sprung. sprung, Stand, stood, stood. Stave, stove, stove, staved, staved. Stay, staid, staid, stayed, stayed. Steal, stole, stolen. Stick, stuck, stuck. Sting, stung, stung. Stink, stunk, stunk. stank, Strew, strewed, strewn, strewed. Stride, strode, stridden. Strike, struck, struck, stricken. String, strung, strung, Strive, strove, striven. Strow, strowed, strown, strowed. Swear, swore, sworn sware, Sweat, sweat, sweat, sweated, sweated. Sweep, swept, swept. Swell, swelled, swelled, swollen. Swim, swam, swum. swum, Swing, swung, swung. Take, took, taken, Teach, taught, taught. Tear, tore, torn. tare, Tell, told, told. Think, thought, thought. Thrive, throve, thriven, thrived, thrived. Throw, threw, thrown. Thrust, thrust, thrust. Tread, trod, trodden, trod. Wake, waked, waked, woke, woke. Wax, waxed, waxed, waxen. Wear, wore, worn. Weave, wove, woven. Weep, wept, wept. Wet, wet, wet. Will, would, –-. Win, won, won. Wind, wound, wound. Work, wrought, wrought, worked, worked. (to)wit, wot, wist, –-. Wring, wrung, wrung. Write, wrote, written.

[Footnote 1: Lighted Is preferred to lit.]

[Footnote 2: Quoth, now nearly obsolete, is used only in the first and the third person of the past tense. Quoth I = said I. Other forms nearly obsolete are sometimes met in literature; as, “Methinks I scent the morning air”; “Woe worth the day.” Methinks (A. S. thincan, to seem, not thencan, to think) = seems to me. In the sentence above, I scent the morning air is the subject, thinks is the predicate, and me is a “dative,” or a pronoun used adverbially. Woe worth (A. S. weorthan, to be or become) the day = Woe be to the day, or Let woe be to the day, or May woe be to the day.]

 

NOTE.—Professor Lounsbury says, “Modern English has lost not a single one [irregular, or strong, verb] since the reign of Queen Elizabeth”; and adds, “The present disposition of the language is not only to hold firmly to the strong verbs it already possesses but … even to extend their number whenever possible.” And he instances a few which since 1600 have deserted from the regular conjugation to the irregular.

But it should be said that new English verbs, from whatever source derived, form their past tense and participle in ed. So that while the regular verbs are not increasing by desertions from the irregular, the regular verbs are slowly gaining in number.

 

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LESSON 134.

FORMS OF THE VERB—CONTINUED.

CONJUGATION [Footnote: We give the conjugation of the verb in the simplest form consistent with what is now demanded of a text-book. Much of this scheme might well be omitted.

Those who wish to reject the Potential Mode, and who prefer a more elaborate and technical classification of the mode and tense forms, are referred to pages 373, 374. ]—SIMPLEST FORM.

REMARK.—English verbs have few inflections compared with those of other languages. Some irregular verbs have seven forms—+see+, +saw+, +seeing+, +seen+, +sees+, +seest+, +sawest+; regular verbs have six—+walk+, +walked+, +walking+, +walks+, +walkest+, +walkedst+. As a substitute for other inflections we prefix auxiliary verbs, and make what are called compound, or periphrastic, forms.

+Direction+.—_Fill out the following forms, using the principal parts of the verb walk—present +walk+; past +walked+; past participle +walked+:_—

INDICATIVE MODE.

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. (I) Pres., 1. (We) Pres., 2. (You) Pres., 2. (You) Pres., (Thou) Pres.+est,[1], 3. (He) Pres.+s;[1] 3. (They) Pres..

PAST TENSE.

1. (I) Past, 1. (We) Past, 2. (You) Past, 2. (You) Past, (Thou) Past+st+, 3. (He) Past; 3. (They) Past.

FUTURE TENSE.

1. (I) shall Pres., 1. (We) shall Pres., 2. (You) will Pres., 2. (You) will Pres., (Thou) wil-+t+ Pres., 3. (He) will Pres.; 3. (They) will Pres..

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.

1. (I) have Past Par., 1. (We) have Past Par., 2. (You) have Past Par., 2. (You) have Past Par., (Thou) ha-+st+ Past Par., 3. (He) ha-+s+ Past Par.; 3. (They) have Past Par..

PAST PERFECT TENSE.

1. (I) had Past Par., 1. (We) had Past Par. 2. (You) had Past Par., 2. (You) had Past Par. (Thou) had-+st+ Past Par., 3. (He) had Past Par.; 3. (They) had Past Par.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE.

1. (I) shall have Past Par., 1. (We) shall have Past Par., 2. (You) will have Past Par., 2. (You) will have Past Par., (Thou) wil-+t+ have Past Par.,

3. (He)…will have….Past Par.; 3. (They) will have Past Par..

[Footnote 1: In the indicative present, second, singular, old style, st is sometimes added in stead of est; and in the third person, common style, es is added when s will not unite. In the third person, old style, eth is added.]

POTENTIAL MODE.[2]

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural.

1. (I) may Pres., 1. (We) may Pres., 2. (You) may Pres., 2. (You) may Pres., (Thou) may-+st+ Pres., 3. (He) may Pres.; 3. (They) may Pres..

PAST TENSE.

1. (I) might Pres., 1. (We) might Pres., 2. (You) might Pres., 2. (You) might Pres., (Thou) might-+st+ Pres., 3. (He) might Pres.; 3. (They) might Pres..

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.

1. (I) may have Past Par., 1. (We) may have Past Par., 2. (You) may have Past Par., 2. (You) may have Past Par., (Thou) may-+st+ have Past Par., 3. (He) may have Past Par.. 3. (They) may have Past Par..

PAST PERFECT TENSE.

1. (I) might have Past Par., 1. (We) might have Past Par., 2. (You) might have Past Par., 2. (You) might have Past Par., (Thou) might-+st+ have Past Par., 3. (He) might have Past Par.. 3. (They) might have Past Par..

Singular.

[Footnote 2: Those who do not wish to recognize a Potential Mode, but prefer the unsatisfactory task of determining when may, can, must, might, could, would, and should are independent verbs in the indicative, and when auxiliaries in the subjunctive, are referred to pages 370-374.]

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE.[3]

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular.

2. (If thou) Pres. 3. (If he) Pres.

[Footnote 3: The subjunctive as a form of the verb is fading out of the language. The only distinctive forms remaining (except for the verb be) are the second and the third person singular of the present, and even these ate giving way to the indicative. Such forms as If he have loved, etc. are exceptional. It is true that other forms, as, If he had known, Had he been, Should he fall, may be used in a true subjunctive sense, to assert what is a mere conception of the mind, i. e., what is merely thought of, without regard to its being or becoming a fact; but in these cases it is not the form of the verb but the connective or something in the construction of the sentence that determines the manner of assertion. In parsing, the verbs in such constructions may be treated as indicative or potential, with a subjunctive meaning.

The offices of the different mode and tense forms are constantly interchanging; a classification based strictly on meaning would be very difficult, and would confuse the learner.]

IMPERATIVE MODE.[4]

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural.

2. Pres. (you or thou); 2. Pres. (you or ye).

[Footnote 4: From such forms as Let us sing, Let them talk, some grammarians make a first and a third person imperative. But us is not the subject of the verb-phrase letsing, and let is not of the first person. Us is the object complement of let, and the infinitive sing is the objective complement, having us for its assumed subject.

Some would find a first and a third person imperative in such sentences as “Now tread we a measure”; “Perish the thought.” But these verbs express strong wish or desire and by some grammarians are called “optative subjunctives.” “Perish the thought” = “May the thought perish,” or “I desire that the thought may perish,” or “Let the thought perish.”]

INFINITIVES.

PRESENT TENSE. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.

(To)[5] Pres. (To) have Past Par.

[Footnote 5: To, as indicated by the (), is not treated as a part of the verb. Writers on language are generally agreed that when to introduces an infinitive phrase used as an adjective or an adverb, it performs its proper function as a preposition, meaning toward, for, etc.; as, I am inclined to believe; I came to hear. When the infinitive phrase is used as a noun, the to expresses no relation; it seems merely to introduce the phrase. When a word loses its proper function without taking on the function of some other part of speech, we do not see why it should change its name. In the expressions, For me to do this would be wrong; Over the fence is out of danger, few grammarians would hesitate to call for and over prepositions, though they have no antecedent term of relation.

We cannot see that to is a part of the verb, for it in no way affects the meaning, as does an auxiliary, or as does the to in He was spoken to. Those who call it a part of the verb confuse the learner by speaking of it as the “preposition to” (which, as they have said, is not a preposition) “placed before the infinitive,” i.e., placed before that of which it forms a part —placed before itself.

In the Anglo-Saxon, to was used with the infinitive only in the dative case, where it had its proper function as a preposition; as, nominative etan (to eat); dative to etanne; accusative e:tan. When the dative ending ne was dropped, making the three forms alike, the to came to be used before the nominative and the accusative, but without expressing relation.

This dative of the infinitive, with to, was used mainly to indicate purpose. When, after the dropping of the ne ending, the idea of purpose had to be conveyed by the infinitive, it became usual in Elizabethan literature to place for before the to, “And for to