212. Most verbs form their past tense and past participle by adding d or ed to the present tense. The past tense and the past participle of move are moved and moved; of plow are plowed and plowed; of lift are lifted and lifted. Such verbs are called regular verbs.

213. Many verbs in very common use form their past tense or past participle, not by the addition of a suffix, but by some change within the word, such as a change in the vowel. The past tense and past participle of sing are sang and sung respectively; of leave are left and left; of write are wrote and written. These verbs are called irregular verbs.

214. Some verbs, like put and set, have the same form for each of their principal parts. These also are irregular verbs.

215, The verb be is very irregular. Its principal parts are: present tense am, past tense was, past participle been.

216. If we know the proper auxiliaries for the different tenses, we can conjugate any verb correctly by first ascertaining its principal parts. These can always be found in a dictionary.

Summary. The principal parts of a verb are the present tense, the past tense, and the past participle.

A regular verb is one that forms its past tense and past participle by adding d or ed to the present tense.

o An irregular verb is one whose past tense or past participle is formed in some other way than by adding d or ed to the present tense.

NOTE. Webster's New International Dictionary gives the present tense form of every verb. If the verb is irregular, the dictionary gives also the past tense form preceded by pret., and the past participle preceded by p.p. The abbreviation pret. stands for preterit, which means past tense. If the verb is regular, the abbreviations are omitted, and the form in d or ed is printed but once.

Exercise.

Find in the dictionary the past tense and the past participle of each of the following verbs. Use the three forms of each verb correctly in sentences.

217. Many errors are made in using the different forms of irregular verbs.

Certain verbs, the meaning and principal parts of which are somewhat alike, occasion a good deal of trouble to some persons. The most important of these are lie and lay, sit and set, and rise and raise. The first word of each pair, lie, sit, and rise is an intransitive verb. The second verb of each pair, lay, set, and raise, is a transitive verb.

Exercise 1.

- Supply the correct form of lie or lay in each of these sentences, and give your reason in each case. Lie means to be at rest in a reclining position.

Lay means to place a thing down in a reclining position.

1.

2. Phiz

down, Phiz, and be a good dog.

nearest window.

3. After he had

on the street.

at the foot of my couch and gazed out of the

there an hour or more, he whined to go out

it at my feet.

4. Phiz brought in a notebook and
5. Go and it on your master's chair, Phiz.
on the damp ground?
too low for grain fields.

6. Did the soldiers 7. This land

8. How long has my fan been 9. Grant

on the window sill ?

in bed dictating his Memoirs.

here in the wet and are rusted.

10. The tools have

Exercise 2.

Supply the correct form of sit or set in each

of these sentences, and give your reason in each case. Sit means to be in a sitting position.

Set means to place a thing down in a position of rest.

1. By and by we looked in, and there

2. Have you 3. I will

Miss Eugene.
here long, or did you just come?
my suit case here, and then in your seat.
there so long without speaking?

4. Why did you 5. Father

three weeks.

the white hen to-day, so she will be

for about

6. The little bird

7. Who has been

Exercise 3.

and sings at his door in the sun.
in my chair?

Supply the correct form of rise and raise in

each of these sentences, and give your reason in each case. Rise means to move from a lower to a higher position. Raise means to cause to rise.

1. The bread

2. Bread

very slowly that cold day.

because of the yeast in it.

3. After the bread had

4. They

we set the pans in the oven.

the old house so as to put a furnace in the cellar. sixteen inches yesterday.

5. The Black River

6. If the river continues to

7. Shall we

the dam will go out.

the flag at sunrise?

The present tense form of some verbs is misused for the past tense. We should say, "The tailor came (not come) last night," "I ran (not run) a mile yesterday," "And then he said (not says), Hurry up.' The verbs oftenest misused in this way are come, give, run, say, and see.

Study the following correct sentences:

He came last night.
She came to meet me.
It came without warning.
I ran a mile yesterday.
He ran in front of me.
She ran out of sugar.

66

At last he said, I will go."
John said, "The schoolhouse is

on fire."

I said, "Ring the bells."

He gave me a dollar

I gave the child a penny.
She gave it to me.

They ran up a bill.

The dog ran behind.

The baby ran to his mother.
I saw the parade yesterday.
He saw me go out.

She saw them at the window.
I came, I saw, I conquered.

Some persons make a wrong past tense for certain verbs, and use such forms as blowed and drawed, when they should use blew and drew.

Some persons use the past participle of see and do for the We should say, "I saw (not seen) my duty, and

past tense.

I did (not done) it.”

Study these correct sentences:

I saw the boat go down.

Who saw the star first?

He did his own work.
She did it too fast.

We saw the elephant dance.

Everybody did what he could.

Another common error is the use of the past tense of a verb for the past participle, as in the expressions is broke and had froze.

Exercise 5.

sentences:

- Supply the correct form in each of these

1. Begin. First we must finish what we have

we

218. When we say, The fish swallowed the worm,' have a sentence made up of a subject, a verb, and an object complement. The subject names the doer of the action, while the object names the receiver of the action. The verb swallowed could have nothing for subject but some word that indicates the doer of the action. How is it with the verbs broke, struck, whittled? A verb that requires for its subject the name of the doer of an action is said to be in the active voice.

219. When we say, "The worm was swallowed by the fish," we have a sentence made up of a subject, a verb, and a prepositional phrase. The subject names the receiver of the action, and the phrase tells by whom the action was performed. The verb was swallowed could have nothing for subject but some word that indicates the receiver of the action. How is it with the verbs was swept, has been eaten, will be cut? A verb that requires for its subject the name of the receiver of the action is said to be in the passive voice.

220. When a verb is changed from the active to the passive voice, the object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. Hence it is evident that only transitive verbs can have the passive voice.

221. A verb is conjugated in the passive voice by adding the past participle of the verb to the conjugation of the verb be.