Graded Lessons in English - Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (classic reads txt) 📗

frightfully. We had an awfully good time. This is a tremendously hard lesson. Harry is a mighty nice boy.

+_Remember_+ that adjectives whose meaning does not admit of different degrees cannot be compared; as, every, universal.

Use in the three different degrees such of the following adjectives as admit of comparison.

All, serene, excellent, immortal, first, two, total, infinite, three-legged, bright.

+_Adverbs_+ are compared in the same manner as adjectives. The following are compared regularly. Compare them.

Fast, often, soon, late, early.

In the preceding and in the following list, find words that may be used as adjectives.

The following are compared irregularly. Learn them.

Pos. Comp. Sup.

–––— –––- ––—

Badly, Ill, worse, worst. Well, better, best. Little, less, least. Much, more, most. Far, farther, farthest.

Adverbs ending in ly are generally compared by prefixing more and most. Compare the following.

Firmly, gracefully, actively, easily.

+To the Teacher+.—Let the pupils select and parse all the adjectives and adverbs in Lesson 27. For forms, see p. 189. Select other exercises, and continue the work as long as it is profitable. See “Schemes” for review, p.

188.

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

How is a noun parsed? What modification have adjectives? What is comparison? How many degrees of comparison are there? Define each. How are adjectives regularly compared? Distinguish the uses of the comparative and the superlative degree. Give the directions for using adjectives and adverbs (Lesson 88). Illustrate. What adjectives cannot be compared? How are adverbs compared?

 

LESSON 89.

MODIFICATION OF VERBS.

VOICE.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—_I picked the rose_. I will tell the same thing in another way. The rose was picked by me. The first verb picked shows that the subject I represents the actor, and the second form of the verb, was picked, shows that the subject names the thing acted upon. This change in the form of the verb is called +Voice+. The first form is called the +Active Voice+; and the second, the +Passive Voice+.

The passive form is very convenient when we wish to assert an action without naming any actor. Money is coined is better than somebody coins money.

DEFINITIONS.

+Voice is that modification of the transitive verb which shows whether the subject names the actor or the thing acted upon+.

+The Active Voice shows that the subject names the actor+.

+The Passive Voice shows that the subject names the thing acted upon+.

In each of the following sentences, change the voice of the verb without changing the meaning of the sentence. Note the other changes that occur in the sentence.

The industrious bees gather honey from the flowers. The storm drove the vessel against the rock. Our words should be carefully chosen. Death separates the dearest friends. His vices have weakened his mind and destroyed his health. True valor protects the feeble and humbles the oppressor. The Duke of Wellington, who commanded the English armies in the Peninsula, never lost a battle. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Dr. Livingstone explored a large part of Africa. The English were conquered by the Normans.

Name all the transitive verbs in Lessons 20 and 22, and give, their voice.

 

LESSON 90.

MODE, TENSE, NUMBER, AND PERSON.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—When I say, James walks, I assert the walking as a fact. When I say, James may walk, I do not assert the action as a fact, but as a possible action. When I say, If James walk out, he will improve, I assert the action, not as an actual fact, but as a condition of James’s, improving. When I say to James, Walk out, I do not assert that James actually does the act, I assert the action as a command.

The action expressed by the verb walk has been asserted in four different ways, or +modes+. The first way is called the +Indicative Mode+; the second, the +Potential Mode+; the third, the +Subjunctive Mode+; the fourth, the +Imperative Mode+.

Let the teacher give other examples and require the pupils to repeat this instruction.

For the two forms of the verb called the +Infinitive+ and the +Participle+, see “Hints,” Lessons 48 and 49.

I walk. I walked. I shall walk. In each of these three sentences, the manner of asserting the action is the same. I walk expresses the action as present. I walked expresses the action as past, and I shall walk expresses the action as future. As +Tense+ means time, the first form is called the +Present Tense+; the second, the +Past Tense+; and the third, the +Future Tense+.

We have three other forms of the verb, expressing the action as completed in the present, the past, or the future.

I have walked out to-day. I had walked out when he called. I shall have walked out by to-morrow. The form, have walked, expressing the action as completed in the present, is called the +Present Perfect Tense+. The form, had walked, expressing the action as completed in the past, is called the +Past Perfect Tense+. The form, shall have walked, expressing an action to be completed in the future, is called the +Future Perfect Tense+.

Let the teacher give other verbs, and require the pupils to name and explain the different tenses.

I walk. Thou walkest. He walks. They walk.

In the second sentence, the verb walk was changed by adding est; and in the third, it was changed by adding s. These changes are for the sake of agreement with the person of the subject. The verb ending in est agrees with the subject thou in the second person, and the verb ending in s agrees with he in the third person. In the fourth sentence, the subject is in the third person; but it is plural, and so the verb drops the s to agree with they in the plural.

Verbs are said to agree in +Person+ and +Number+ with their subjects. The person and number forms will be found in Lessons 93, 94.

+DEFINITIONS+.

+Mode is that modification of the verb which denotes the manner of asserting the action or being+.

+The Indicative Mode asserts the action or being as a fact+.

+The Potential Mode asserts the power, liberty, possibility, or necessity of acting or being+.

+The Subjunctive Mode asserts the action or being as a mere condition, supposition, or wish+.

+The Imperative Mode asserts the action or being as a command or an entreaty+.

 

+The Infinitive is a form of the verb which names the action or being in a general way, without asserting it of anything+.

+The Participle is a form of the verb partaking of the nature of an adjective or of a noun, and expressing the action or being as assumed+.

+The Present Participle denotes action or being as continuing at the time indicated by the predicate+.

+The Past Participle denotes action or being as past or completed at the time indicated by the predicate+.

+The Past Perfect Participle denotes action or being as completed at a time previous to that indicated by the predicate+.

 

+Tense is that modification of the verb which expresses the time of the action or being+.

+The Present Tense expresses action or being as present+.

+The Past Tense expresses action or being as past+.

+The Future Tense expresses action or being as yet to come+.

+The Present Perfect Tense expresses action or being as completed at the present time+.

+The Past Perfect Tense expresses action or being as completed at some past time+.

+The Future Perfect Tense expresses action or being to be completed at some future time+.

 

+Number and Person of a verb are those modifications that show its agreement with the number and person of its subject+.

 

LESSON 91.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB.

+DEFINITIONS+.

+_Conjugation_ is the regular arrangement of all the forms of the verb+.

+_Synopsis_ is the regular arrangement of the forms of one number and person in all the modes and tenses+.

+_Auxiliary Verbs_ are those that help in the conjugation of other verbs+.

The auxiliaries are do, be, have, shall, will, may, can, and must.

+The Principal Parts of a verb are the present indicative or the present infinitive, the past indicative, and the past participle+.

These are called principal parts, because all the other forms of the verb are derived from them.

We give, below, the principal parts of some of the most important irregular verbs. Learn them.

Present. Past. Past. Par. Be or am, was, been. Begin, began, begun. Blow, blew, blown. Break, broke, broken. Choose, chose, chosen. Come, came, come. Do, did, done. Draw, drew, drawn. Drink, drank, drunk. Drive, drove, driven. Eat, ate, eaten. Fall, fell, fallen. Fly, flew, flown. Freeze, froze, frozen. Go, went, gone. Get, got, got or gotten. Give, gave, given. Grow, grew, grown. Have, had, had. Know, knew, known. Lay, laid, laid. Lie, (to rest) lay, lain. Ride, rode, ridden. Ring, rang or rung, rung. Rise, rose, risen. Run, ran, run. See, saw, seen. Set, set, set. Sit, sat, sat. Shake, shook, shaken. Sing, sang or sung, sung. Slay, slew, slain. Speak, spoke, spoken. Steal, stole, stolen. Swim, swam or swum, swum. Take, took, taken. Tear, tore, torn. Throw, threw, thrown. Wear, wore, worn. Write, wrote, written.

The following irregular verbs are called +_Defective_,+ because some of their parts are wanting.

Present. Past. | Present. Past. ––––––—|––––––– Can, could. | Will, would. May, might. | Must, –- Shall, should. | Ought, –-

 

LESSON 92.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB +SEE+ IN THE SIMPLE FORM.

+PRINCIPAL PARTS+.

Pres. Past. Past Par. See, saw, seen.

INDICATIVE MODE. PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. I see, 1. We see, 2. You see, or 2. You see, Thou seest, 3. He sees; 3. They see.

PAST TENSE.

1. I saw, 1. We saw, 2. You saw, or 2. You saw, Thou sawest, 3. He saw; 3. They saw.

FUTURE TENSE.

1. I shall see, 1. We shall see, 2. You will see, or 2. You will see, Thou wilt see, 3. He will see; 3. They will see.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.

1. I have seen, 1. We have seen, 2. You have seen, or 2. You have seen, Thou hast seen 3. He has seen; 3. They have seen.

PAST PERFECT TENSE.

1. I had seen, 1. We had seen, 2. You had seen, or 2. You had seen, Thou hadst seen, 3. He had seen; 3. They had seen.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE.

1. I shall have seen, 1. We shall have seen, 2. You will have seen, or 2. You will have seen, Thou wilt have seen, 3. He will have seen; 3. They will have seen.

POTENTIAL MODE.

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. I may see, 1. We may see, 2. You may see, or 2. You may see, Thou mayst see, 3. He may see; 3. They may see.

PAST TENSE.

1. I might see, 1. We might see, 2. You might see, or Thou mightst see, 2. You might see, 3. He might see; 3. They might see.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.

1. I may have seen, 1. We may have seen, 2. You may have seen, or 2. You may have seen Thou mayst have seen, 3. He may have seen; 3. They may have seen.

PAST PERFECT TENSE.

Singular.