Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (small books to read TXT) 📖

emphasize the element of choice, or will, in the matter; but in all ordinary cases ‘I had rather not go’ has the merit of being idiomatic and easily and universally understood.

“If for ‘You had better stay at home’ we substitute ‘You should better stay at home,’ an entirely different meaning is expressed, the idea of expediency giving place to that of obligation.”

In the analysis of “I had rather go,” had is the predicate verb, the infinitive go is the object complement, and the adjective rather completes had and belongs to go, i.e., is objective complement. Had (= should hold or regard) is treated as a past subjunctive. Rather is the comparative of the old adjective rathe = early, from which comes the idea of preference. The expression means, “I should hold going preferable.”

The expressions “You had better stay,” “I had as lief not be,” are similar in construction to “I had rather go.” “I had sooner go” is condemned by grammarians because sooner is never an adjective. If sooner is here allowed as an idiom, it is a modifier of had. The expression equals, “I should more willingly have going.”]

Compounds of more than two words may be analyzed thus: +May have been written+ is composed of the compound auxiliary +may have been+ and the participle +written; may have been+ is composed of the compound auxiliary +may have+ and the participle +been+; and +may have+ is composed of the auxiliary +may+ and the infinitive +have+. May is the asserting word—the first auxiliary is always the asserting word.

+Direction+.—_Study what has been said above and analyze the following verbal forms, distinguishing carefully between participles that may be considered as part of the verb and words that must be treated as attribute complements_:—

1. I may be mistaken. 2. The farm was sold. 3. I shall be contented. 4. Has it been decided? 5. You should have been working. 6. The danger might have been avoided. 7. He may have been tired and sleepy. 8. She is singing. 9. I shall be satisfied. 10. The rule has not been observed. 11. Stars have disappeared. 12. Times will surely change.

TENSE FORMS—MEANING.

The +Present Tense+ is used to express (1) what is actually present, (2) what is true at all times, (3) what frequently or habitually takes place, (4) what is to take place in the future, and it is used (5) in describing past or future events as if occurring at the time of the speaking.

+Examples+.—I hear a voice (action as present). The sun gives light (true at all times). He writes for the newspapers (habitual). Phillips speaks in Boston to-morrow night (future). He mounts the scaffold; the executioners approach to bind him; he struggles, resists, etc. (past events pictured to the imagination as present). The clans of Culloden are scattered in fight; they rally, they bleed, etc. (future events now seen in vision).

The +Past Tense+ may express (1) simply past action or being, (2) a past habit or custom, (3) a future event, and (4) it may refer to present time.

+Examples+.—The birds sang (simply past action). He wrote for the newspapers (past habit). If I should go, you would miss me (future events). If he were here, he would enjoy this (refers to present time).

The +Future Tense+ may express (1) simply future action or being, (2) a habit or custom as future or as indefinite in time.

+Examples+.—I shall write soon (simply future action). He will sit there by the hour (indefinite in time).

The +Present Perfect Tense+ expresses (1) action or being as completed in present time (i.e., a period of time—an hour, a year, an age—of which the present forms a part), and (2) action or being to be completed in a future period.

+Examples+.—Homer has written poems (the period of time affected by this completed action embraces the present). When I have finished this, you shall have it (action to be completed in a future period).

The +Past Perfect Tense+ expresses (1) action or being as completed at some specified past time, and (2) in a conditional or hypothetical clause it may express past time.

+Examples+.—I had seen him when I met you (action completed at a specified past time). If I had had time, I should have written (I had not time—I did not write.)

The +Future Perfect Tense+ expresses action to be completed at some specified future time.

+Example+.—I shall have seen him by to-morrow noon.

+Direction+.—_Study what has been said above about the meaning of the tense forms, and describe carefully the time expressed by each of the following verbs_:—

1. I go to the city to-morrow. 2. The village master taught his little school. 3. Plato reasons well. 4. A triangle has three sides. 5. To-morrow is the day appointed. 6. Moses has told many important facts. 7. The ship sails next week. 8. She sings well. 9. Cicero has written orations. 10. He would sit for hours and watch the smoke curl from his pipe. 11. You may hear when the next mail arrives, 12. Had I known this before, I could have saved you much trouble. 13. He will occasionally lose his temper. 14. At the end of this week I shall have been in school four years. 15. If I were you, I would try that. 16. He will become discouraged before he has thoroughly tried it. 17. She starts, she moves, she seems to feel the thrill of life along her keel.

+Model for Written Parsing adapted to all Parts of Speech+. Oh! it has a voice for those who on their sick beds lie and waste away.

[Transcriber’s Note: The following two tables have been split to fit within Project Gutenberg line-width requirements. The first column of each table has been repeated for easier reference.]

|CLASSIFICATION. | MODIFICATIONS. –––|–––––—|–––––––––––––––| Sentence.|Class. |Sub-C. |Voice.|Mode.|Tense.|Num. |Per.| Gen. |Case.| | | | | | | | | | | Oh! |Int. | | | | | | | | | it |Pro. |Per. | | | |Sing.| ad.| Neut. |Nom. | has |Vb. |Ir., Tr. | Act. | Ind.|Pres. | ” | ” | | | a |Adj. |Def. | | | | | | | | voice |N. |Com. | | | | ” | ” | ” |Obj. | for |Prep. | | | | | | | | | those |Pro. |Adj. | | | |Plu. | ” |M. or F.| ” | who |Pro. |Rel. | | | | ” | ” | ” |Nom. | on |Prep. | | | | | | | | | their |Pro. |Per. | | | | ” | ” | ” |Pos. | sick |Adj. |Des. | | | | | | | | beds |N. |Com. | | | | ” | ” | Neut. |Obj. | lie |Vb. |Ir.,Int. | — | Ind.|Pres. | ” | ” | | | and |Conj. |Co-or. | | | | | | | | waste |Vb. |Reg.,Int.| — | ” | ” | ” | ” | | | away. |Adv. |Place. | | | | | | | |

––––––––––––––––––––––––—

| | SYNTAX. –––|––-|–––––––––––— Sentence.|Deg. of| | Comp.| Oh! | |Independent. it | |Subject of has. has | |Predicate of it. a | — |Modifier of voice. voice | |Object comp of has. for | |Shows Rel. of has to those. those | |Prin. word in Prep. phrase. who | |Subject of lie and waste. on | |Shows Rel. of lie to beds. their | |Possessive Mod. of beds. sick | Pos. |Modifier of beds. beds | |Prin. word in Prep. phrase. lie | |Predicate of who. and | |Connects lie and waste. waste | |Predicate of who. away. | — |Modifier of waste.

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TO THE TEACHER.—For further exercises in parsing the verb and for exercises in general parsing, select from the preceding Lessons on Analysis.

 

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LESSON 139

PARSING.

+Direction+.—_Select and parse, according to the Model below, the verbs in the sentences of Lesson_ 42. For the agreement of verbs, see Lesson 142.

+Model for Written Parsing—_Verbs_+.—_The Yankee, selling his farm, wanders away to seek new lands_.

CLASSIFICATION. | MODIFICATIONS. –––––––––|––––––––––| Verbs. | Kind. |Voice.|Mode.|Tense.|Num. |Per.| selling|Pr. Par., Ir., Tr.| Act. | — | — | — | — | wanders |Reg., Int. | — |Ind. |Pres. |Sing.| 3d.| seek |Inf., Ir., Tr. | Act. | — | ” | — | | | | | | | | |

| SYNTAX ––—|––– Verbs. | selling |Mod. of Yankee. wanders |Pred. of Yankee. seek |Prin. word in phrase | Mod. of wanders.

[Footnote: Participles and infinitives have neither person nor number.]

(See Model for Written Parsing on opposite page.)

 

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LESSON 140.

CONSTRUCTION OF MODE AND TENSE FORMS.

+Caution+.—Be careful to give every verb its proper form and meaning.

+Direction+.—_Correct the following errors, and give your reasons_:—

1. I done it myself. 2. He throwed it into the river, for I seen him when he done it. 3. She sets by the open window enjoying the scene that lays before her.

+Explanation+.—Lay (to place) is transitive, lie (to rest) is intransitive; set (to place) is transitive, sit (to rest) is intransitive. Set in some of its meanings is intransitive.

4. The tide sits in. 5. Go and lay down. 6. The sun sits in the west. 7. I remember when the corner stone was lain. 8. Sit the plates on the table. 9. He sat out for London yesterday. 10. Your dress sets well. 11. The bird is setting on its eggs. 12. I laid there an hour. 13. Set down and talk a little while. 14. He has laid there an hour. 15. I am setting by the river. 16. He has went and done it without my permission. 17. He flew from justice. 18. Some valuable land was overflown. 19. She come just after you left. 20. They sung a new tune which they had not sang before. 21. The water I drunk there was better than any that I had drank before. 22. The leaves had fell. 23. I had rode a short distance when the storm begun to gather. 24. I found the water froze. 25. He raised up. 26. He run till he became so weary that he was forced to lay down. 27. I knowed that it was so, for I seen him when he done it. 28. I had began to think that you had forsook us. 29. I am afraid that I cannot learn him to do it. 30. I guess that I will stop. 31. I expect that he has gone to Boston. 32. There ain’t any use of trying. 33. I have got no mother. 34. Can I speak to you? 35. He had ought to see him.

+Explanation+.—As ought is never a participle, it cannot be used after had to form a compound tense.

+Caution+.—A conditional or a concessive clause takes a verb in the indicative mode when the action or being is assumed as a fact, or when the uncertainty lies merely in the speaker’s knowledge of the fact. But when the action or being in such a clause is merely thought of as a contingency, or in such a clause the speaker prefers to put hypothetically something of whose truth or untruth he has no doubt, the subjunctive is