VERBS
+51. Uses of Verbs.+—A verb is the word or word-group that makes an assertion or statement, and it is therefore the most important part of the whole sentence. It has been already shown that such a verb as speaks serves the double purpose of suggesting an activity and showing relation. The most purely relational verb is the verb to be, which is called the copula or linking verb, for the very reason that it joins predicate words to the subject: [The lake is beautiful]. To be, however, is not always a pure copula. In such a sentence as, "He that cometh to God must believe that He is," the word is means exists.Verbs that are like the copula, such as, appear, become, seem, etc., are called copulative verbs. Verbs that not only are relational but have descriptive power, such as sings, plays, runs, etc., are called attributive verbs. They attribute some quality or characteristic to the subject.
+52. Classes of Verbs.+—According to their uses in a sentence verbs are divided into two classes: transitive and intransitive.
A transitive verb is one that takes a following substantive, expressed or implied, called the object, to designate the receiver or the product of the action: [They seized the city. They built a city]. The transitive verb may sometimes be used absolutely:[The horse eats]. Here the object is implied.
An intransitive verb is one that does not take an object to complete its meaning; or, in other words, an intransitive verb is one that denotes an action, state, or feeling that involves the subject only: [He ran away. They were standing at the water's edge].
A few verbs in our language are always transitive, and a few others are always intransitive. The verbs lie and lay, rise and raise, sit and set, are so frequently misused that attention is here called to them. The verbs lie, rise, and sit (usually) are intransitive in meaning, while the verbs lay, raise, and set are transitive. The word sit may sometimes take a reflexive object: [They sat themselves down to rest].
The majority of verbs in our language are either transitive or intransitive, according to the sense in which they are used.
[The fire burns merrily (intransitive).
The fire burned the building (transitive).
The bird flew swiftly (intransitive).
The boy flew his kite (transitive).]
Some intransitive verbs take what is known as a cognate object: [He died a noble death.] Here the object repeats the meaning of the verb.
+53. Complete and Incomplete Verbs.+—Some intransitive verbs make a complete assertion or statement without the aid of any other words. Such verbs are said to be of complete predication: [The snow melts].
All transitive verbs and some intransitive verbs require one or more words to complete the meaning of the predicate. Such verbs are said to be incomplete. Whatever is added to complete the meaning of the predicate is termed a complement. The complement of a transitive verb is called the object complement, or simply the object: [She found the book]. Some transitive verbs, from the nature of their meaning, take also an indirect object: [I gave her the book]. When a word belonging to the subject is added to an intransitive verb in order to complete the predicate, it is termed an attribute complement. This complement may be either a noun or an adjective: [He is our treasurer (noun). This rose is fragrant (adjective)]. Among the incomplete intransitive verbs the most conspicuous are the copula and the copulative verbs.
+54. Auxiliary Verbs.+—English verbs have so few changes of form to express differences in meaning that it is often necessary to use the so-called auxiliary verbs. The most common are: do, be, have, may, must, might, can, shall, will, should, would, could, and ought. Some of these may be used as principal verbs. A few notes and cautions are added.
Can is used to denote the ability of the subject.
May is used to denote permission, possibility, purpose, or desire. Thus the request for permission should be, "May I?" not "Can I?"
Must indicates necessity.
Ought expresses obligation.
Had should never be used with ought. To express a moral obligation in past time, combine ought with the perfect infinitive: [I ought to have done it].
Should sometimes expresses duty: [You should not go].
Would sometimes denotes a custom: [He would sit there for hours]. Sometimes it expresses a wish: [Would he were here!]. For other uses of should and would, see Appendix 60.
+55. Principal Parts.+—The main forms of the verb—so important as to be called the principal parts because the other parts are formed from them— are the root infinitive, the preterite (past) indicative, and the past participle [move, moved, moved; sing, sang, sung; be, was, been]. The present participle is sometimes given with the principal parts.
+56. Inflection.+—As is evident from the preceding paragraph, verbs have certain changes of form to indicate change of meaning. Such a change or inflection, in the case of the noun, is called declension; in the case of the verb it is called conjugation. Nouns are declined; verbs are conjugated.
+57. Person and Number.+—In Latin, or any other highly inflected language, there are many terminations to indicate differences in person and number, but in English there is but one in common use, s in the third person singular: [He runs], St or est is used after thou in the second person singular: [Thou lovest].
+58. Agreement.+—Verbs must agree with their subjects in person and number. The following suggestions concerning agreement may be helpful:—
1. A compound subject that expresses a single idea takes a singular verb: [Bread and milk is wholesome food].
2. When the members of a compound subject, connected by neither … nor, differ as regards person and number, the verb should agree with the nearer of the two: [Neither they nor I am to blame].
3. When the subject consists of singular nouns or pronouns connected by or, either … or, neither … nor, the verb is singular: [Either this book or that is mine].
4. Words joined to the subject by with, together with, as well as, etc., do not affect the number of the verb. The same is true of any modifier of the subject: [John, as well as the girls, is playing house. One of my books is lying on the table. Neither of us is to blame].
5. When the article the precedes the word number, used as a subject, the verb should be in the singular; otherwise the verb is plural: [The number of pupils in our schools is on the increase. A number of children have been playing in the sand pile].
6. The pronoun you always takes a plural verb, even if its meaning is singular: [You were here yesterday].
7. A collective noun takes a singular or plural verb, according as the collection is thought of as a whole or as composed of individuals.
+59. Tense.+—The power of the verb to show differences of time is called tense. Tense shows also the completeness or incompleteness of an act or condition at the time of speaking. There are three primary tenses: present, preterite (past), and future; and three secondary tenses for completed action:present perfect, past perfect (pluperfect), and future perfect.
English has only two simple tenses, the present and the preterite: I love, I loved. All other tenses are formed by the use of the auxiliary verbs. By combining the present and past tenses of will, shall, have, be, or do with those parts of the verb known as infinitives and participles, the various tenses of the complete conjugation of the verb are built up. The formation of the preterite tense, and the consequent division of verbs into strong and weak, will be discussed later.
+60. The Future Tense.+—The future tense is formed by combining shall or will with the root infinitive, without to.
The correct form of the future tense in assertions is here given:—
SINGULAR PLURAL
1. I shall fall 1. We shall fall 2. Thou wilt fall 2. You will fall 3. He will fall 3. They will fall
Will, in the first person, denotes not simple futurity, but determination: [I will (= am determined to) go].
Shall, in the second and third persons, is not simply the sign of the future tense in declarative sentences. It is used to denote the determination of the speaker with reference to others.
Notice:—
1. In clauses introduced by that, expressed or understood, if the noun clause and the principal clause have different subjects, the same auxiliary is used that would be used were the subordinate clause used independently: [I fear we shall be late. My friend is determined that her son shall not be left alone].
2. In all other subordinate clauses, shall, for all persons, denotes simple futurity; will, an expression of willingness or determination: [He thinks that he shall be there. He promises that he will be there].
3. In questions, shall is always used in the first person; in the second and third persons the same auxiliary is used which is expected in the answer.
(NOTE.—Should and would follow the rules for shall and will.)
+61. Tenses for the Completed Action.+
1. To represent an action as completed at the present time, the past participle is used with have (hast, has). This forms the present perfect tense: [I have finished].
2. To represent an action as completed in past time, the past participle is combined with had (hadst). This forms the past perfect, or pluperfect, tense: [I had finished].
3. To represent action that will be completed in future time, shall have or will have is combined with the past participle. This forms the future perfect tense: [I shall have finished].
+62. Sequence of Tenses.+—It is, in general, true that the tense of a subordinate clause changes when the tense of the main verb changes. This is known as the Law of the Sequence (or following) of Tenses: [I know he means well. I knew he meant well].
The verb in the main clause and the verb in the subordinate clause are not necessarily in the same tense.
[I think he is there. I thought he was there.
I think he was there. I thought he had been there.
I think he will be there. I thought he would be there.]
In general, the principle may be laid down that in a complex sentence the tense for both principal and subordinate clauses is that which the sense requires.
General truths and present facts should be expressed in the present tense, whatever the tense of the principal verb: [He believed that truth is unchangeable. Who did you say is president of your society?].
The perfect infinitive is used to denote action completed at the time of the main verb: [I am sorry to have wounded you].
+63. Mode.+—A statement may be regarded as the expression of a fact, of a doubt or supposition, or of a command. The power of the verb to show how an action should be regarded is called mode (mood). In our language there is but a slight change of form for this purpose. The distinction of mode which we must make is a distinction that has regard to the thought or attitude of mind of the speaker rather than to the form of the verb.
The indicative mode is used to state a fact or to ask questions of fact:
[I shall write a letter. Shall I write a letter?].
The subjunctive mode indicates uncertainty, unreality, and some forms of condition: [If she were here, I should be glad].
The imperative mode expresses a command or entreaty: [Come here].
+64. The Subjunctive Mode.+—The subjunctive is disappearing from colloquial speech, and the indicative form is used almost entirely.
The verb to be has the following indicative and subjunctive forms in the present and preterite:—
IND. SUBJ. IND. SUBJ.
{ I am I be { I was I were
{ Thou art Thou be { Thou wast Thou were
PRESENT { He is He be PRETERITE { He was He were
{ We are We be { We were We were
{ You are You be { You were You were
{ They are They be { They were They were
In other verbs the indicative and subjunctive forms are the same, except that the second and third persons singular subjunctive have no personal endings.
INDICATIVE Thou learnest He learns
SUBJUNCTIVE Thou learn He learn
The subjunctive idea is sometimes expressed by verb phrases, containing the auxiliary verbs may (might), would, or should. May, would, and should are not, however, always subjunctive. In "I may go" (may = am allowed to), may is indicative. In "you should go" (= ought to), should is indicative.
The subjunctive mode is used most frequently to express:—
1. A wish: [The Lord be with you].
2. A condition regarded as doubtful: [If it be true, what shall we think?], or a condition regarded as untrue: [If I were you, I should go]. When condition is expressed by the subjunctive without if, the verb precedes the subject: [Were my brother here, he could go with me].
3. A purpose: [He studies that he may learn].
4. Exhortations: [Sing we the song of freedom].
5. A concession,—supposed, not given as a fact: [Though he be my enemy, I shall pity him].
6. A possibility: [We fear lest he be too late].
The tenses of the subjunctive require especial notice. In conditional clauses, the present refers either to present or future time: [Though the earth be removed, we shall not fear].
The preterite refers to present time. It implies that the supposed case is not a fact: [If he were here, I should be much pleased].
The pluperfect subjunctive expresses a false supposition in past time:
[If you had been here, this would not have happened].
The phrases with may, might, can, must, could, would, and should are sometimes called the potential mode, but the constructions all fall within either the indicative or the subjunctive uses, and a fourth mode is only an incumbrance.
+65. The Imperative Mode.+—The imperative is the mode of command and entreaty. It has but one form for both singular and plural, and but one tense,—the present. It has but one person,—the second. The subject is usually omitted. The case of direct address, frequently used with the imperative, should not be confused with the subject. In, "John, hold my books," the subject is you, understood. Were John the subject, the verb must be holds. John is, here, a compellative, or vocative.
+66. Voice.+—Verbs are said to be in the active voice when they represent the subject as acting, and in the passive voice when they represent the subject as being acted upon. Intransitive verbs, from their very nature, have no passive voice. Transitive verbs may have both voices, for they may represent the subject either as acting or as being acted upon.
The direct object in the active voice generally becomes the subject in the passive; if the subject of the active appears in the passive, it is the object of the preposition by: [My dog loves me (active). I am loved by my dog (passive)].
Verbs of calling, naming, making, and thinking may take two objects referring to the same person or thing. The first of these is the direct object and the second is called the objective complement: [John called him a coward]. The objective complement becomes an attribute complement when the verb is changed from the active to the passive voice: [He was called a coward by John].
Certain verbs take both a direct and an indirect object in the active:
[John paid him nine dollars]. If the indirect object becomes the subject
in the passive voice, the direct object is known as the retained object:
[He was paid nine dollars by John].
+67. Infinitives.+—The infinitive form of the verb is often called a verbal noun, because it partakes of the nature both of the verb and of the noun. It is distinguished from the finite, or true, verb because it does not make an assertion, and yet it assumes one. While it has the modifiers and complements of a verb, it at the same time has the uses of a noun.
There are two infinitives: the root infinitive (commonly preceded by to, the so-called sign of the infinitive), and the gerund, or infinitive in -ing.
1. Root infinitive: [To write a theme requires practice].
2. Gerund: [Riding rapidly is dangerous]. In each of these sentences the infinitive, in its capacity as noun, stands as the subject of the sentence. In 1, to write shows its verb nature by governing the object theme; in 2, riding shows its verb nature by taking as a modifier the adverb rapidly.
Each form of the infinitive is found as the subject of a verb, as its object, as an attribute complement, and as the object of a preposition. The root infinitive, together with its subject in the objective case, is used as the object of verbs of knowing, telling, etc.: [I know him to be a good boy]. See also Appendix 85 for adjective and adverbial uses.
The infinitive has two tenses: the present and the perfect. The present tense denotes action which is not completed at the time of the principal verb: [He tries to write. He tried to write. He will try to write]. The perfect infinitive denotes action complete with reference to the time of the principal verb: [I am glad to have known her].
+68. Participles.+—Participles are verbal adjectives: [The girl playing the piano is my cousin]. Playing, as an adjective, modifies the noun girl; it shows its verbal nature by taking the object piano.
The present participle ends in -ing. When the past participle has an ending, it is either -d, -ed, -t, or -en. The perfect participle is formed by combining having with a past participle; as, having gone.
There is danger of confusing the present participle with the gerund, or infinitive in -ing, unless the adjective character of the one and the noun character of the other are clearly distinguished: [The boy, driving the cows to pasture, was performing his daily task (participle). Driving the cows to pasture was his daily task (gerund)].
Participles are used to form verb-phrases. The present participle is used for the formation of the progressive conjugation; the past participle, for the formation of the compound or perfect tenses. Participles are also used in all the adjective constructions.
One especial construction requires notice,—the absolute construction, or the nominative absolute, as it is called: [The ceremony having been finished, the people dispersed]. The construction here is equivalent to a clause denoting time or cause or some circumstance attendant on the main action of the sentence. The participle is sometimes omitted, but the substantive must not be, lest the participle be left apparently belonging to the nearest substantive; as, Walking home, the rain began to fall. As the sentence stands, walking modifies rain.
+69. Conjugation.+—The complete and orderly arrangement of the various forms of a verb is termed its conjugation. Complete conjugations will be found in any text-book on English grammar.
The passive voice must not be confused with such a form as the progressive conjugation of the verb. The passive consists of a form of to be and a past participle: [I am instructed]. The progressive tenses combine some form of to be with a present participle: [I am instructing].
It may be well to distinguish here between the passive voice and a past participle used as an attribute complement of the verb be. Both have the same form, but there is a difference of meaning. The passive voice always shows action received by the subject, while the participle is used only as an adjective denoting condition: [James was tired by his day's work (passive voice). James was tired (attribute complement)].
+70. Weak and Strong Conjugations.+—Verbs are divided into two classes as regards their conjugations. It has been the custom to call all verbs which form the preterite and past participle by adding -d or -ed to the present, regular verbs [love, loved, loved], and to call all others irregular. A better classification, based on more careful study of the history of the English verb, divides verbs into those of the weak and those of the strong conjugations.
The weak verbs are those which form the preterite by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the present: love, loved. There is also infrequently a change of vowel: sell, sold; teach, taught.
All verbs which form the preterite without the addition of an ending are strong verbs. There is usually a change of vowel. The termination of the past participle in -n or -en is a sure indication that a verb is strong. Some verbs show forms of both conjugations.
A complete list of strong verbs cannot be given here, but a few of the most common will be given, together with a few weak verbs, in the use of which mistakes occur.
PRESENT PRETERITE PAST PARTICIPLE am was been arise rose arisen bear bore borne, born[1] begin began begun bid (command) bade bidden bite bit bitten blow blew blown break broke broken bring brought brought burst burst burst catch caught caught choose chose chosen climb climbed climbed come came come do did done drink drank drunk[2] drive drove driven drown drowned drowned eat ate eaten fall fell fallen fly flew flown freeze froze frozen get got got give gave given go went gone grow grew grown have had had hide hid hidden hurt hurt hurt know knew known lay laid laid lie (recline) lay lain lead led led read read read ride rode ridden ring rang rung run ran run see saw seen shake shook shaken show showed shown sing sang sung sink sank sunk sit sat sat slay slew slain speak spoke spoken spring sprang sprung steal stole stolen swell swell { swelled { swollen swim swam swum take took taken tear tore torn throw threw thrown wear wore worn wish wished wished write wrote written
[Footnote 1: Used only in the passive sense of "born into the world.">[
[Footnote 2: Drunken is an adjective.]
CAUTION.—Do not confuse the preterite with the past participle. Always use the past participle form in the compound tenses.