Beginners' Book in Language. A Book for the Third Grade

by Harry Jewett Jeschke

28. Correct Usage—Rang, Sang, Drank

The story about Peter does not tell us the words with which some of the fairies had trouble. If some fairies are like some pupils, then they need to learn how to use the words rang, sang, and drank correctly.

Oral Exercise. 1. As you read the following sentences, notice that rang, sang, and drank are not used with have or has or had. Are rung, sung, and drunk used with have or has or had?

1. I rang the bell for the teacher.

2. Have you ever rung it?

3. I sang the Christmas song.

4. Have you ever sung it?

5. I drank the grape juice.

6. Have you ever drunk apple juice?

7. The fairies danced and sang, and drank nectar.

8. They had rung the bell.

9. They had sung that song before.

10. He has never drunk nectar.

2. Which of the six words that you have been studying in this lesson are used with have or has or had? Which are not used with them? Make these two lists. Would it be right to make the following rule?

Never use rang or sang or drank with have or has or had.

3. Using what you have just learned, fill the blanks in the following sentences with the right words, rang or rung, sang or sung, drank or drunk:

1. The strange little old man had already —— his morning coffee.

2. He —— an old song that he had —— many times before.

3. When he had —— a silver bell, a troop of fairies appeared.

4. Peter is not a fairy. He has never —— nectar.

5. But he has often —— the song he heard the fairies sing.

6. He has never —— a silver bell.

7. Have you ever —— the school bell?

8. Have you ever —— spring water?

Game. Let the girls of the class, working together in a group, write on the board six sentences in which rang, sang, and drank are used correctly. Let the boys in the same way write six sentences in which rung, sung, and drunk are used correctly. The boys will correct the girls' sentences, and the girls the boys'. The teacher will decide whether the boys or the girls made fewer mistakes, and which group wrote the more interesting sentences. Then all the sentences may be read aloud by several groups of pupils in turn, each trying to read the most clearly.