“Had been conquered is an adverb,” said Peter, hesitatingly.
“You surely cannot mean that!” said Walter.
“I thought it was an adverb.”
“It is a verb. Go on and parse it.”
The whole sentence read thus: “If the Americans had been conquered in their struggle for independence, the cause of political liberty and human progress would have been retarded by at least a century.”
“It is a common active passive verb,” said Peter, “masculine gender, objective case, and governed by Americans.”
This was so evidently absurd that the entire class burst into a shout of laughter, in which Walter had great difficulty in not joining.
“I am afraid you spoke without reflecting, Peter,” he said. “The verb could not be both active and passive, and the rest of your description applies properly to nouns.” He went on to correct Peter’s mistakes, and tried to draw out of him what he ought to say, but with only partial success. Peter’s ideas of grammar were very far from clear. He was not well grounded in the fundamental principles of this branch of study, and was not even qualified to keep up with the second class.
At the end of the recitation, Walter said: “You may remain in this class, Peter. You are not qualified to enter the first class.”
“Why not?” demanded Peter, in a surly tone.