Exercise 1.

Justify the use of the past or the present

perfect tense in each of these sentences:

1. I learned the poem last evening.

2. I have learned the poem already. 3. I bought my hat at Stone's.

4. I have bought a new spring hat. 5. I came home last Monday. 6. I have come to stay a week. 7. I tried my skates this afternoon. 8. I haven't tried my new skates. 9. I have walked ever since sunrise. 10. I walked from sunrise until noon.

11. I spoke to the President this morning.

12. I have never spoken to the President.

13. I spoke to him twice when I was in Washington.

14. I have spoken to him several times.

Exercise 2. Using the subject I, form the six tenses of the following verbs. Consult the dictionary for forms of which you are not sure.

Exercise 3. Select all the verbs in these sentences, and tell the tense of each:

1. Trees wave, flowers bloom, and bright-winged birds flit from palm to cedar.

2. The lynx turned to the right, along a well-worn trail, ran up a tree, descended hastily, and glided away among the thickets.

3. Tommy and I had played together till five o'clock that Saturday afternoon.

4. The children thought, "how long the vacation will be!" but the mother thought, "how soon it will have come and gone." 5. He who knows nothing fears nothing.

6. The duck had never seen a guinea egg before in all her life. 7. The boy comes nearer to perpetual motion than anything else in nature.

8. Nobody has yet discovered how many grasshoppers a turkey will hold.

9. I have made no addition to my cabinet since we met.

10. The big black pots swinging from the cranes had bubbled and gurgled and sent out puffs of appetizing steam.

11. "How many pieces shall I cut this pie into?" said she.

12. I have seen wild bees and butterflies feeding at a height of 13,000 feet above the sea.

13. You shall go to bed, and I will remain with you a few days until you get over this fever.

14. The daisies have shut up their sleepy red eyes.

Analyze sentences 2, 3, 6, 9, 14.

L. THE INDICATIVE MODE

190. Each of the six verb forms that we have been studying, I eat, I ate, I shall eat, I have eaten, I had eaten, I shall have eaten, is used in the statement of a fact, and is said to be in the indicative mode.

Mode is that property of a verb which denotes the manner of an assertion.

The indicative mode is used in the statement of a fact.

191. In some tenses there is a slight difference between the singular and the plural form of a verb, hence verbs are said to have the property of number. We should always use the verb form that agrees with the number of the subject. In the present tense, for example, we say in the singular, "The man goes;" and in the plural, "The men go."

192. In some tenses there is a slight difference in the form of the verb to denote person, hence verbs are said to have the property of person. In the present perfect tense, we say in the first person, "I have gone;" and in the third person, "He has gone."

193. When we give all the forms of a verb in the three persons and the two numbers of each tense, we are said to conjugate the verb.

194. Conjugation of the verb be in the indicative mode:

195. Conjugation of see in the indicative mode:

Exercise.

Plural

we shall have seen

you will have seen

they will have seen

Conjugate the verbs in Exercise 2, p. 126, in

the six tenses of the Indicative Mode.

LI. THE INTERROGATIVE FORM OF THE

INDICATIVE MODE

196. The indicative mode is used not only in stating facts, but also in asking questions. In interrogative sentences the order of the words that make up the verb is changed somewhat. In a simple statement we say, I have paid. In a question we say, Have I paid? putting the auxiliary before the subject. 197. Conjugation of be in the indicative mode, interrogative form:

198. When we use the present and past tenses of any verb except be for asking questions, we do not say sings she? or sang she? but does she sing? did she sing? that is, we use the auxiliaries do and did.

Conjugate the verb see in the indicative mode, interrogative form.

Exercise. Conjugate the verbs in Exercise 2, p. 126, in the indicative mode, interrogative form.

199. The use of the negative word not after a verb gives rise to many contractions which are permissible in familiar conversation. The contractions for which incorrect forms are often used are the following:

There is no contraction for am not; the word ain't is incorrect.

Contractions are oftenest misused in questions. Notice the following correct forms:

We should be careful never to say, you was or was you; for the pronoun you, even when it denotes one person, is followed by a verb in the plural form. We should say, "You were late," "Were you late?" "Weren't you late?"