An English Grammar

NOTE. Some of these also have weak forms, which are in parentheses

Remarks on Certain Verb Forms.

246. Several of the perfect participles are seldom used except as adjectives: as, "his bounden duty," "the cloven hoof," "a drunken wretch," "a sunken snag." Stricken is used mostly of diseases; as, "stricken with paralysis."

The verb bear (to bring forth) is peculiar in having one participle (borne) for the active, and another (born) for the passive. When it means to carry or to endure, borne is also a passive.

The form clomb is not used in prose, but is much used in vulgar English, and sometimes occurs in poetry; as,—

Crew is seldom found in present-day English.

Historically, drunk is the one correct past participle of the verb drink. But drunk is very much used as an adjective, instead of drunken (meaning intoxicated); and, probably to avoid confusion with this, drank is a good deal used as a past participle: thus,—

Sometimes in literary English, especially in that of an earlier period, it is found that the verb eat has the past tense and past participle eat (ĕt), instead of ate and eaten; as, for example,—

The form gotten is little used, got being the preferred form of past participle as well as past tense. One example out of many is,—

Hung and hanged both are used as the past tense and past participle of hang; but hanged is the preferred form when we speak of execution by hanging; as,

The verb sat is sometimes spelled sate; for example,—

Usually shear is a weak verb. Shorn and shore are not commonly used: indeed, shore is rare, even in poetry.

Shorn is used sometimes as a participial adjective, as "a shorn lamb," but not much as a participle. We usually say, "The sheep were sheared" instead of "The sheep were shorn."

Went is borrowed as the past tense of go from the old verb wend, which is seldom used except in poetry; for example,—

(a) From the table (Sec. 245), make out lists of verbs having the same vowel changes as each of the following:—

• 1. Fall, fell, fallen.
• 2. Begin, began, begun.
• 3. Find, found, found.
• 4. Give, gave, given.
• 5. Drive, drove, driven.
• 6. Throw, threw, thrown.
• 7. Fling, flung, flung.
• 8. Break, broke, broken.
• 9. Shake, shook, shaken.
• 10. Freeze, froze, frozen.

(b) Find sentences using ten past-tense forms of strong verbs.

(c) Find sentences using ten past participles of strong verbs.

[To the Teacher,—These exercises should be continued for several lessons, for full drill on the forms.]

DEFECTIVE STRONG VERBS.

247. There are several verbs which are lacking in one or more principal parts. They are as follows:—

248. May is used as either indicative or subjunctive, as it has two meanings. It is indicative when it expresses permission, or, as it sometimes does, ability, like the word can: it is subjunctive when it expresses doubt as to the reality of an action, or when it expresses wish, purpose, etc.

249. Can is used in the indicative only. The l in could did not belong there originally, but came through analogy with should and would. Could may be subjunctive, as in Sec. 220.

250. Must is historically a past-tense form, from the obsolete verb motan, which survives in the sentence, "So mote it be." Must is present or past tense, according to the infinitive used.

251. The same remarks apply to ought, which is historically the past tense of the verb owe. Like must, it is used only in the indicative mood; as,

It will be noticed that all the other defective verbs take the pure infinitive without to, while ought always has to.

252. The principal trouble in the use of shall and will is the disposition, especially in the United States, to use will and would, to the neglect of shall and should, with pronouns of the first person; as, "I think I will go."

The following distinctions must be observed:—

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, shall and should are used,—

(a) In making simple statements or predictions about future time; as,—

(b) In questions asking for orders, or implying obligation or authority resting upon the subject; as,—

(2) With the SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, shall and should are used,—

(a) To express authority, in the form of command, promise, or confident prediction. The following are examples:—

(c) With direct questions of the second person, when the answer expected would express simple futurity; thus,—

(3) With ALL THREE PERSONS,—

(a) Should is used with the meaning of obligation, and is equivalent to ought.

(b) Shall and should are both used in dependent clauses of condition, time, purpose, etc.; for example,—

253. Will and would are used as follows:—

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, will and would are used to express determination as to the future, or a promise; as, for example,—

(2) With the SECOND PERSON, will is used to express command. This puts the order more mildly, as if it were merely expected action; as,—

(3) With both SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, will and would are used to express simple futurity, action merely expected to occur; for example,—

(4) With FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD PERSONS, would is used to express a wish,—the original meaning of the word will; for example,—

(5) With the THIRD PERSON, will and would often denote an action as customary, without regard to future time; as,

Conjugation of Shall and Will as Auxiliaries (with Choose).

254. To express simply expected action:—

Exercises on Shall and Will.

(a) From Secs. 252 and 253, write out a summary or outline of the various uses of shall and will.

(b) Examine the following sentences, and justify the use of shall and will, or correct them if wrongly used:—

255. Those weak verbs which add -d or -ed to form the past tense and past participle, and have no change of vowel, are so easily recognized as to need no special treatment. Some of them are already given as secondary forms of the strong verbs.

But the rest, which may be called irregular weak verbs, need some attention and explanation.

256. The irregular weak verbs are divided into two classes,—

(1) Those which retain the -d or -t in the past tense, with some change of form for the past tense and past participle.

(2) Those which end in -d or -t, and have lost the ending which formerly was added to this.

The old ending to verbs of Class II. was -de or -te; as,—

This ending has now dropped off, leaving some weak verbs with the same form throughout: as set, set, set; put, put, put.

257. Irregular Weak Verbs.—Class I.

258. Irregular Weak Verbs.—Class II.

Some Troublesome Verbs.

260. Some sets of verbs are often confused by young students, weak forms being substituted for correct, strong forms.

Lie and lay need close attention. These are the forms:—

The distinctions to be observed are as follows:—

(1) Lie, with its forms, is regularly intransitive as to use. As to meaning, lie means to rest, to recline, to place one's self in a recumbent position; as, "There lies the ruin."

(2) Lay, with its forms, is always transitive as to use. As to meaning, lay means to put, to place a person or thing in position; as, "Slowly and sadly we laid him down." Also lay may be used without any object expressed, but there is still a transitive meaning; as in the expressions, "to lay up for future use," "to lay on with the rod," "to lay about him lustily."

261. Sit and set have principal parts as follows:—

(1) Sit, with its forms, is always intransitive in use. In meaning, sit signifies (a) to place one's self on a seat, to rest; (b) to be adjusted, to fit; (c) to cover and warm eggs for hatching, as, "The hen sits."

(2) Set, with its forms, is always transitive in use when it has the following meanings: (a) to put or place a thing or person in position, as "He set down the book;" (b) to fix or establish, as, "He sets a good example."

Set is intransitive when it means (a) to go down, to decline, as, "The sun has set;" (b) to become fixed or rigid, as, "His eyes set in his head because of the disease;" (c) in certain idiomatic expressions, as, for example, "to set out," "to set up in business," "to set about a thing," "to set to work," "to set forward," "the tide sets in," "a strong wind set in," etc.

Exercise.

Examine the forms of lie, lay, sit and set in these sentences; give the meaning of each, and correct those used wrongly.

262. Verbals are words that express action in a general way, without limiting the action to any time, or asserting it of any subject.