Practical Grammar and Composition Part 14

2. BID. The proprietor ---- us a pleasant good day. No matter how much he ---- the auctioneer will not hear him. We were ---- to enter.

3. BLOW. The cornetist ---- with all his might. The ship was ---- about all day. The wind does ---- terrifically sometimes.

It may ---- to-night. The wind ---- all last night.

4. BREAK. He fell and ---- his leg. It is well that his neck was not ----.

5. BURST. During the battle the sh.e.l.ls frequently ---- right over us. Oaken casks have often ----.

6. CHIDE. He ---- us frequently about our actions. He was never ---- himself.

7. CHOOSE. They ---- him president. They have ---- wisely.

8. COME. He ---- at nine to-day. He has always ---- earlier heretofore. Let him ---- when he wishes.

9. DEAL. Before explaining the game, he ---- out the cards.

10. DIVE. Twice last summer he ---- off the bridge.

11. DO. Thou canst not say I ---- it. He often ---- it.

12. DRAW. The picture was ---- by a famous artist. He formerly ---- very well, but I think that now he ---- very poorly.

13. DRIVE. The horse was ---- twenty miles. He almost ---- it to death.

14. EAT. He ---- everything which the others had not ----.

How can he ---- that?

15. FLEE. Since the cashier has ----, they think that a warrant would be useless.

16. FLY. The air-ship ---- three hundred miles on its first trip.

That it has ---- so far is sufficient proof of its success.

17. FORSAKE. He ---- his new friends just as he had ---- all the others.

18. FREEZE. The man was ---- stiff. He evidently ---- to death so easily because he had been so long without food.

19. GIVE. She was not ---- as much as her sisters. Her father ---- her less because of her extravagance. But, he now ---- her enough to make it up.

20. GO. She ---- to school to-day. She ---- yesterday. She has ---- every day this month.

21. KNOW. He ---- that he cannot live. As long as I have ---- him, this is the first time I ever ---- he was married.

22. MEAN. He ---- to do right, and has always ---- to do so.

23. RIDE. They ---- as if they had ---- a long distance. They say that they ---- from Larimer this morning.

24. PLEAD. The mother ---- an hour for her son's life.

25. PROVE. They ---- him a thief in the eyes of the people, even if he was not ---- so to the satisfaction of the jury.

26. RUN. John ---- the race as though he had ---- races all his life. The race was ---- very rapidly. Soon after that race, he ---- in another race.

27. SEE. Smith, who has just arrived, says he ---- two men skulking along the road. He was not ---- by them. That play is the best I ever ----.

28. SEEK. The detectives ---- all through the slums for him.

Now they ---- him in the better parts of the city. No criminal was ever more eagerly ----.

29. SHAKE. During the day his hand was ---- five hundred times. He ---- hands with all who came.

30. SHOE. The entire army was ---- with Blank's shoes.

31. SING. The choir ---- the anthem as they had never ---- it before.

They always ---- it well.

32. SINK. The stone ---- as soon as it is in the water. The ship was ---- in forty fathoms of water. They ---- the ship in 1861.

33. SPEAK. Though they claimed that they always ---- to her, she was really never ---- to by any member of the family.

34. STEAL. The money was ----; whether or not he ---- it I do not know. Everyone believes that he has frequently ---- goods from the store.

35. TAKE. I was ---- for him several times that day. No one ever ---- me for him before.

36. TEACH. John ---- school every day. He has ---- for ten years.

He first ---- when he was eighteen years old.

37. TEAR. The dog ---- at the paper until it was ---- entirely to pieces. He ---- up everything he finds.

38. THROW. He was ---- by a horse which never before ---- anyone.

39. WEAR. The trousers were ---- entirely out in a month, but I ---- the coat and vest for six months.

40. WEAVE. This carpet was ---- at Philadelphia. The manufacturers say they never ---- a better one, and they ---- the best in the country.

41. WRITE. Although he has ---- several times, he has never ---- anything about that. He ---- to me just last week. He ---- at least once a month.

EXERCISE 32

_Correct the errors in the use of verbs in the following sentences:_

1. He plead all day to be released.

2. The horse was rode to death.

3. The letter was wrote before he knowed the truth.

4. He was immediately threw out of the room.

5. She run around all day and then was sick the next day.

6. I never seen anything like it.

7. He was very much shook by the news.

8. The matter was took up by the committee.

9. The horse has been stole from the owner.

10. Goliath was slew by David.

11. The words have been spoke in anger.

12. I have went to church every day.

13. Was the river froze enough for skating?

14. He begun to take notice immediately.

15. The umbrella was blew to pieces.

16. I have broke my ruler.

17. Jones was chose as leader of the cla.s.s.

18. He said he come as soon as he could.

19. I done it.

20. I have never did anything so foolish.

21. I have ate all that was in the lunch-box.

22. The horse was drove ten miles.

EXERCISE 33

_Write sentences in which the following verb forms are properly used:_

begun, blew, broke, chose, come, came, done, did, drew, drunk, drove, ate, flew, forsook, froze, forgot, gave, give, went, hang, hung, knew, rode, run, shook, sung, slew, spoke, stole, took, tore, threw, wore, wrote.

55. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS. A TRANSITIVE VERB is one in which the action of the verb goes over to a receiver; as, _He KILLED the horse, I KEEP my word_. In both these sentences, the verb serves to transfer the action from the subject to the object or receiver of the action. The verbs in these sentences, and all similar verbs, are transitive verbs. All others, in which the action does not go to a receiver, are called INTRANSITIVE VERBS.

56. ACTIVE AND Pa.s.sIVE VOICE. The ACTIVE VOICE represents the subject as the doer of the action; as, _I tell, I see, He makes chairs_.

The Pa.s.sIVE VOICE represents the subject as the receiver of the action; as, _I am told, I am seen, I have been seen, Chairs are made by me_. Since only transitive verbs can have a receiver of the action, only transitive verbs can have both active and pa.s.sive voice.

57. There are a few special verbs in which the failure to distinguish between the transitive and the intransitive verbs leads to frequent error. The most important of these verbs are the following: _sit, set, awake, wake, lie, lay, rise, arise, raise, fell_, and _fall_.

Note again the princ.i.p.al parts of these verbs:

wake (to rouse another) woke, waked woke, waked awake (to cease to sleep) awoke, awaked awaked

fell (to strike down) felled felled fall (to topple over) fell fallen

lay (to place) laid laid lie (to recline) lay lain

raise (to cause to ascend) raised raised (a)rise (to ascend) (a)rose (a)risen

set (to place) set set sit (to rest) sat sat

The first of each pair of the above verbs is transitive, and the second is intransitive. Only the first, then, of each pair can have an object or can be used in the pa.s.sive voice.