Teacher: Who was Benjamin Franklin?
Pupil: Benjamin Franklin, he was a great American philosopher and statesman.
CHAPTER V.
OF VERBS
Correct and Incorrect Forms.[64]—It is not enough to learn by heart the "principal parts" of a verb; the habit of using them correctly should be acquired. The following verb-forms are often misused:—
| Present. | Past Indicative. | Past Participle. |
| awake (intransitive) | awoke | awaked |
| begin | began | begun |
| beseech | besought | besought |
| blow | blew | blown |
| bid ("to order," "to greet") | băde | bidden or bid |
| bid (at auction) | bid | bidden or bid |
| break | broke | broken[65] |
| burst | burst | burst |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| dive | dived | dived |
| do | did | done |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| flee | fled | fled |
| fly | flew | flown |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| get | got | got[66] |
| go | went | gone |
| hang | hung, hanged[67] | hung, hanged[67] |
| lay ("to cause to lie") | laid | laid |
| lie ("to recline") | lay | lain |
| plead | pleaded | pleaded |
| prove | proved | proved[68] |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| rise (intransitive) | rose | risen |
| raise (transitive) | raised | raised |
| run | ran | run |
| see | saw | seen |
| set ("to put"; of the sun, moon, etc., "to sink") | set | set |
| sit | sat | sat |
| shake | shook | shaken |
| shoe | shod | shod |
| show | showed | shown |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| slay | slew | slain |
| steal | stole | stolen |
| take | took | taken |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| wake (transitive) | woke | waked |
| write | wrote | written |
In using the verbs drink, ring, shrink, sing, sink, spring, swim, it seems better to confine the forms in "a" to the preterite tense, and the forms in "u" to the past participle: as, "The bell rang five minutes ago"; "Yes, the bell has rung."[69]
The following forms also should be distinguished:—
| Present. | Past. | Participle. |
| alight ("to get down from," to dismount") | alighted | alighted |
| light ("to ignite," "to shed light on") | lighted[70] | lighted[70] |
| light ("to settle down as a bird from flight," or "to come upon by chance") | lighted or lit | lighted or lit |
[64] "Foundations," pp.78-81, 91-93.
[65] "Broke," as a form of the past participle, is still found in verse.
[66] "Gotten" is an old form not sanctioned by the best modern usage.
[67] "Clothes are 'hung' on the line; men are 'hanged' on the gallows."—"Foundations," p. 79.
[68] "'Proven' is borrowed from the Scotch legal dialect."—"Foundations," p.92
[69] Ibid., p. 91.
[70] "'Lighted' seems preferable to 'lit'; but 'lit' is used by some writers of reputation."—Ibid., p. 92.