Higher Lessons in English Part 76

LESSON 139

PARSING.

+Direction+.--_Select and pa.r.s.e, according to the Model below, the verbs in the sentences of Lesson_ 42. _For the agreement of verbs, see Lesson_ 142.

+Model for Written Parsing--_Verbs_+.--_The Yankee, selling his farm, wanders away to seek new lands_.

CLa.s.sIFICATION. | MODIFICATIONS.

---------------------------|------------------------------| Verbs. | Kind. |Voice.|Mode.|Tense.|Num. |Per.| *selling|Pr. Par., Ir., Tr.| Act. | -- | -- | -- | -- | wanders |Reg., Int. | -- |Ind. |Pres. |Sing.| 3d.| *seek |Inf., Ir., Tr. | Act. | -- | " | -- | | | | | | | | |

| SYNTAX --------|--------- Verbs. | selling |Mod. of _Yankee_.

wanders |Pred. of _Yankee_.

seek |Prin. word in phrase | Mod. of _wanders_.

[Footnote: Participles and infinitives have neither person nor number.]

(See Model for Written Parsing on opposite page.)

LESSON 140.

CONSTRUCTION OF MODE AND TENSE FORMS.

+Caution+.--Be careful to give every verb its proper form and meaning.

+Direction+.--_Correct the following errors, and give your reasons_:--

1. I done it myself.

2. He throwed it into the river, for I seen him when he done it.

3. She sets by the open window enjoying the scene that lays before her.

+Explanation+.--_Lay_ (to place) is transitive, _lie_ (to rest) is intransitive; _set_ (to place) is transitive, _sit_ (to rest) is intransitive. _Set_ in some of its meanings is intransitive.

4. The tide sits in.

5. Go and lay down.

6. The sun sits in the west.

7. I remember when the corner stone was lain.

8. Sit the plates on the table.

9. He sat out for London yesterday.

10. Your dress sets well.

11. The bird is setting on its eggs.

12. I laid there an hour.

13. Set down and talk a little while.

14. He has laid there an hour.

15. I am setting by the river.

16. He has went and done it without my permission.

17. He flew from justice.

18. Some valuable land was overflown.

19. She come just after you left.

20. They sung a new tune which they had not sang before.

21. The water I drunk there was better than any that I had drank before.

22. The leaves had fell.

23. I had rode a short distance when the storm begun to gather.

24. I found the water froze.

25. He raised up.

26. He run till he became so weary that he was forced to lay down.

27. I knowed that it was so, for I seen him when he done it.

28. I had began to think that you had forsook us.

29. I am afraid that I cannot learn him to do it.

30. I guess that I will stop.

31. I expect that he has gone to Boston.

32. There ain't any use of trying.

33. I have got no mother.

34. Can I speak to you?

35. He had ought to see him.

+Explanation+.--As _ought_ is never a participle, it cannot be used after _had_ to form a compound tense.

+Caution+.--A conditional or a concessive clause takes a verb in the indicative mode when the action or being is a.s.sumed as a fact, or when the uncertainty lies merely in the speaker's knowledge of the fact. But when the action or being in such a clause is merely thought of as a contingency, or in such a clause the speaker prefers to put hypothetically something of whose truth or untruth he has no doubt, the subjunctive is used. The subjunctive is frequently used in indirect questions, in expressing a wish for that which it is impossible to attain at once or at all, and instead of the potential mode in independent clauses.

+Examples+.-- 1. If (= _since_) it rains, why do you go?

2. If it _rains_ (now), I cannot go out.

3. If it _rain_, the work will be delayed.

4. Though it _rain_ to-morrow, we must march.

5. If there _be_ mountains, there must be valleys between.

6. Though honey _be_ sweet, one can't make a meal of it.

7. If my friend _were_ here, he would enjoy this.

8. Though immortality _were_ improbable, we should still believe in it.

9. One may doubt whether the best men _be known_.

10. I wish the lad _were_ taller.

11. Oh! that I _were_ a Samson in strength.

12. It _were_ better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck.

+Explanation+.--In (1) the raining is a.s.sumed as a fact. In (2) the speaker is uncertain of the fact. In the conditional clause of (3) and in the concessive clause of (4) the raining is thought of as a mere contingency.

The speaker is certain of the truth of what is hypothetically expressed in the conditional clause of (5) and in the concessive clause of (6), and is certain of the untruth of what is hypothetically expressed in the conditional clause of (7) and in the concessive clause of (8). There is an indirect question in (9), a wish in (10) for something not at once attainable and in (11) for something forever unattainable, and in (12) the subjunctive mode is used in place of the potential.

+Remarks+.--When there is doubt as to whether the indicative or the subjunctive mode is required, use the indicative.

The present subjunctive forms may be treated as infinitives used to complete omitted auxiliaries; as, If it (_should_) _rain_, the work will be delayed; Till one greater man (_shall_) _restore_ us, etc. This will often serve as a guide in distinguishing the indicative from the subjunctive mode.

_If, though, lest, unless_, etc. are usually spoken of as signs of the subjunctive mode, but these words are now more frequently followed by the indicative than by the subjunctive.

+Direction+.--_Justify the mode of the italicized verbs in the following sentences_:--

1. If this _were_ so, the difficulty would vanish.

2. If he _was_ there, I did not see him.