“Yes, sir,” replied Pronoun, “that is it exactly; I could not have explained it better myself. And whatever number the pronoun is, that the verb must be also.”
“You mean that when the pronoun only stands for one thing or person, then both it and the verb that comes after it are said to be in the singular number: is it not so?” said Serjeant Parsing.
“Quite so, Mr. Parsing,” said Pronoun, delighted; “the verb has to agree with the pronoun in number, just as it has to do in person. If my pronoun stands for only one, then it and the verb are called singular number; but if my pronoun stands for more than one thing, then it and the verb are said to be in the plural number. You quite understand me, I see, my dear Mr. Parsing, and I am sure you will take care to see that the verb always agrees with me in number and person.”
“Whenever it is proper that it should,” replied Serjeant Parsing, gravely.
“But it ought always to agree with my words when we are conjugating a verb together,” said Pronoun, eagerly; “that is the very reason why it is useful to conjugate verbs. In every tense you have the first person, second person, and third person in the singular number; and the first person, second person, and third person in the plural number; and then you see how the verb alters each time to agree with the pronoun.”
“It does not alter every time,” put in Dr. Verb; “in some tenses it hardly alters at all. Just listen,—‘I had, thou hadst, he had, we had, you had, they had; I lived, thou livedst, he lived, we lived, you lived, they lived; I sang, thou sangest, he sang, we sang, you sang, they sang; I rang, thou rangest, he rang, we rang, you rang, they rang.’”
“That will do, that will do, Dr. Verb,” cried the Judge. “We have had your talking in the past tense, we do not want it in the present tense, and if we should happen to require it in the future tense, we will let you know another time. Instead of talking here, you had much better go to Schoolroom-shire, and help the people there to write out the present, past, and future tenses of the verbs you have mentioned—to have, to live, to sing, to ring; and show them how the words alter, not only to mark the different times, but to agree with Mr. Pronoun’s words in number and person.”
“I shall be most happy, my lord,” said Dr. Verb; “but Mr. Pronoun must come too, to help me.”
“With great pleasure, my dear Doctor,” said Mr. Pronoun, gaily: “there is no one in Grammar-land I can work with so easily as you, because you agree with me so beautifully.”
Then, bowing to the Judge, he and Dr. Verb walked out of the court, arm-in-arm, humming the present tense of the verb to be, and the Schoolroom-shire people, with their help, easily wrote out the four verbs mentioned,—to have, to live, to sing, and to ring.