  In the first list, only such verb forms are given as are indisputably correct in accordance with the best prose usage of the present day. The pupil may feel perfectly safe, therefore, in using the forms registered in this list.52 A few verbs (marked *) which are seldom or never used in ordinary language are included in this list. These have various irregularities. A few verbs are partly strong and partly weak. Weak verbs are printed in italics. For the modal auxiliaries, see page 299. I
Bear, break, drive, get (beget, forget), speak, spin, stink, swear, tear, have an archaic past tense in a: bare, brake, drave, gat, spake, etc. Beat, beget (forget), bite, break, forsake, hide, ride, shake, speak, weave, write, and some other verbs have archaic forms of the past participle like those of the past tense. The participles in en, however, are now the accepted forms. Chid and trod are common participial forms. Begin, drink, ring, shrink, sing, sink, spring, swim, often have in poetry a u-form (begun, sung, etc.) in the past tense as well as in the past participle. This form (though good old English)64 should be avoided in modern speech. Bend, beseech, bet, build, burst, catch, dwell, rend, split, wet, have archaic or less usual forms in ed: bended, beseeched, betted, etc. Builded is common in the proverbial “He builded better than he knew.” Bursted is common as an adjective: “a bursted bubble.” Bid, “to command,” has sometimes bid in both the past tense and the past participle; bid, “to offer money,” has these forms regularly. Blend, leap, lean, have usually blended, leaped, leaned; but blent, leapt, leant are not uncommon. Clothe has commonly clothed; but clad is common in literary use, and is regular in the adjectives well-clad, ill-clad (for which ordinary speech has substituted well-dressed, badly or poorly dressed). Dive has dived; but dove (an old form) is common in America. Plead has past tense and past participle pleaded. Plead (pronounced pled) is avoided by careful writers and speakers. Prove has past tense and past participle proved. The past participle proven should be avoided. Work has past tense and past participle worked. Wrought in the past tense and the past participle is archaic, but is also modern as an adjective (as in wrought iron). Some verbs have rare or archaic weak forms alongside of the strong forms; thus digged, shined, past tense and past participle of dig, shine; showed, past participle of show. Ate and eaten are preferred to eat (pronounced et). Quoth, “said,” is an old strong past tense. The compound bequeath has bequeathed only. Miscellaneous archaisms are the past tenses sate for sat, trode for trod, spat for spit; also writ for wrote and written, rid for rode and ridden, strewed and strown for strewn. IIThe following verbs vary between ed and t (d) in the past tense and the past participle. In some of them, this variation is a mere difference of spelling. In writing, the ed forms are preferred in most cases; in speaking, the t forms are very common.
IIIThe following verbs have regular ed forms in modern prose, but in poetry and the high style sometimes show archaic forms.
IVThe present tense of may, can, shall, is an old strong past. Hence the first and third persons singular are alike:—I may, he may. The actual past tenses of these verbs are weak forms:—might, could, should. Must is the weak past tense of an obsolete mot, and is almost always used as a present tense (§292). Dare and owe originally belonged to this class. Owe has become a regular weak verb, except for the peculiar past tense ought, which is used in a present sense (see §293); dare has in the third person dare or dares, and in the past dared, more rarely durst. The archaic wot “know,” past wist, also belongs to this class. Will is inflected like shall, having will in the first and third singular, wilt in the second singular, and would in the past. CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO BE
CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO STRIKE
USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS1. Every sentence begins with a capital letter. 2. Every line of poetry begins with a capital letter. 3. The first word of every direct quotation begins with a capital letter. Note. This rule does not apply to quoted fragments of sentences. 4. Every proper noun or abbreviation of a proper noun begins with a capital letter. 5. Most adjectives derived from proper nouns begin with capital letters; as,—American, Indian, Swedish, Spenserian. Note. Some adjectives derived from proper nouns have ceased to be closely associated in thought with the nouns from which they come, and therefore begin with small letters. Thus,—voltaic, galvanic, mesmeric, maudlin, stentorian. 6. Every title attached to the name of a person begins with a capital letter.
7. In titles of books, etc., the first word, as well as every important word that follows, begins with a capital letter. 8. The interjection O and the pronoun I are always written in capital letters. 9. Personal pronouns referring to the Deity are often capitalized. Note. Usage varies: the personal pronouns are commonly capitalized when they refer to the Deity, the relatives less frequently. The rule is often disregarded altogether when its observance would result in a multitude of capitals, as in the Bible and in many hymn books and works of theology. 10. Common nouns and adjectives often begin with capital letters when they designate the topics or main points of definitions or similar statements. Such capitals are called emphatic (or topical) capitals. Note. Emphatic (or topical) capitals are analogous to capitals in the titles of books (see Rule 7), but their use is not obligatory. They are especially common in text-books and other elementary manuals. RULES OF PUNCTUATION68The common marks of punctuation are the period, the interrogation point, the exclamation point, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, the dash, marks of parenthesis, and quotation marks. The hyphen and the apostrophe may be conveniently treated along with marks of punctuation. I1. The period, the interrogation point, and the exclamation point are used at the end of sentences. Every complete sentence must be followed by one of these three marks. The end of a declarative or an imperative sentence is marked by a period. But a declarative or an imperative sentence that is likewise exclamatory may be followed by an exclamation point instead of a period. The end of a direct question is marked by an interrogation point. An exclamatory sentence in the form of an indirect question is followed by an exclamation point; as,—“How absolute the knave is!” 2. A period is used after an abbreviation. 3. An exclamation point is used after an exclamatory word or phrase. Note. This rule is not absolute. Most interjections take the exclamation point. With other words and with phrases, usage differs; if strong feeling is expressed, the exclamation point is commonly used, but too many such marks deface the page. IIThe comma is used— 1. After a noun (or a phrase) of direct address (a vocative nominative). Thus,—
Note. If the noun is exclamatory, an exclamation point may be used instead of a comma.
Note. When the quotation is long or formal, a colon, or a colon and a dash, may be used instead of a comma, especially with the words as follows. 3. After a direct quotation when this is the subject or the object of a following verb. Thus,—
Note. If the quotation ends with an interrogation point or an exclamation point, no comma is used. 4. To separate words, or groups of words, arranged in a coÖrdinate series, when these are not connected by and, or, or nor. If the conjunction is used to connect the last two members of the series but omitted with the others, the comma may be used before the conjunction.
Note 1. Commas may be used even when conjunctions are expressed, if the members of the series consist of several words, or if the writer wishes to emphasize their distinctness. Note 2. Clauses in a series are commonly separated by semicolons unless they are short and simple (see pp.309–310). 5. To set off words and phrases out of their regular order. Thus,—
6. To separate a long subject from the verb of the predicate. Thus,—
7. To set off an appositive noun or an appositive adjective, with its modifiers. Thus,—
Note 1. Many participial and other adjective phrases come under this head. Thus,—
Note 2. If a noun and its appositive are so closely connected as to form one idea, no comma is used. Thus,—
Note 3. An intensive pronoun (myself, etc.) is not separated by a comma from the substantive which it emphasizes. Note 4. A series of words or phrases in apposition with a single substantive is sometimes set off, as a whole, by a comma and a dash. 8. To set off a subordinate clause, especially one introduced by a descriptive relative. Thus,—
Note. No comma is used before a restrictive relative. Thus,—
9. To set off a phrase containing a nominative absolute. Thus,—
10. To set off however, nevertheless, moreover, etc., and introductory phrases like in the first place, on the one hand, etc. 11. To set off a parenthetical expression. For this purpose commas, dashes, or marks of parenthesis may be used. When the parenthetical matter is brief or closely related to the rest of the sentence, it is generally set off by commas. Thus,—
When it is longer and more independent, it is generally marked off by dashes, or enclosed in marks of parenthesis. The latter are less frequently used at present than formerly.
Note. Brackets are used to indicate insertions that are not part of the text. IIIThe clauses of a compound sentence may be separated by colons, semicolons, or commas. 1. The colon is used— a. To show that the second of two clauses repeats the substance of the first in another form, or defines the first as an appositive defines a noun. Thus,—
b. To separate two groups of clauses one or both of which contain a semicolon. Thus,—
Note. The colon is less used now than formerly. The tendency is to use a semicolon or to begin a new sentence. 2. The semicolon is used when the clauses are of the same general nature and contribute to the same general effect, especially if one or more of them contain commas. Thus,—
3. The comma may be used when the clauses are short and simple (see p.307). Note. The choice between colon, semicolon, and comma is determined in many cases by the writer’s feeling of the closer or the looser connection of the ideas expressed by the several clauses, and is to some extent a matter of taste. IV1. In a complex sentence, the dependent clause is generally separated from the main clause by a comma. But when the dependent clause is short and the connection close, the comma may be omitted. Note. A descriptive relative clause is preceded by a comma, a restrictive relative clause is not (see p.70).
V1. A direct quotation is enclosed in quotation marks. Note. If the quotation stands by itself and is printed in different type, the marks may be omitted. 2. A quotation within a quotation is usually enclosed in single quotation marks. 3. In a quotation consisting of several paragraphs, quotation marks are put at the beginning of each paragraph and at the end of the last. Note. For the punctuation before a quotation, see p.307. 4. When a book, poem, or the like, is referred to, the title may be enclosed in quotation marks or italicized. VI1. Sudden changes in thought and feeling or breaks in speech are indicated by dashes. Thus,—
2. Parenthetical expressions may be set off by dashes (see p.308). 3. A colon, or colon and dash, may precede an enumeration, a direct quotation, or a statement formally introduced,—especially with as follows, namely, and the like. Before an enumeration a comma and a dash may be used. Thus,—
4. The dash is sometimes used to strengthen a comma (as in the last paragraph but one). VII1. The apostrophe is used—
2. The hyphen is used—
RULES OF SYNTAX1. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case (p.41). 2. A substantive standing in the predicate, but describing or defining the subject, agrees with the subject in case and is called a predicate nominative (p.41). 3. A substantive used for the purpose of addressing a person directly, and not connected with any verb, is called a vocative. A vocative is in the nominative case, and is often called a nominative by direct address or a vocative nominative (p.42). 4. A substantive used as an exclamation is called an exclamatory nominative or a nominative of exclamation (p.42). 5. A substantive, with a participle, may express the cause, time, or circumstances of an action. This is called the absolute construction. The substantive is in the nominative case and is called a nominative absolute (p.144). 6. The possessive case denotes ownership or possession (p.43). 7. The object of a verb or preposition is in the objective case (p.47). 8. A substantive that completes the meaning of a transitive verb is called its direct object, and is said to be in the objective case (p.48). 9. A verb of asking sometimes takes two direct objects, one denoting the person and the other the thing (p.50). 10. Verbs of choosing, calling, naming, making, and thinking may take two objects referring to the same person or thing. The first of these is the direct object, and the second, which completes the sense of the predicate, is called a predicate objective (pp.50, 111). 11. Some verbs of giving, telling, refusing, and the like, may take two objects, a direct object and an indirect object. The indirect object denotes the person or thing toward whom or toward which is directed the action expressed by the rest of the predicate (p.50). 12. A verb that is regularly intransitive sometimes takes as object a noun whose meaning closely resembles its own. A noun in this construction is called the cognate object of the verb and is in the objective case (p.52). 13. A noun, or a group of words consisting of a noun and its modifiers, may be used adverbially. Such a noun is called an adverbial objective (p.53). 14. An appositive is in the same case as the substantive which it limits (p.42). 15. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person (p.55). 16. Relative pronouns connect dependent clauses with main clauses by referring directly to a substantive in the main clause. This substantive is the antecedent of the relative (p.66). A relative pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person. The case of a relative pronoun has nothing to do with its antecedent, but depends on the construction of its own clause (p.68). 17. A relative pronoun in the objective case is often omitted (p.69). 18. The relative pronoun what is equivalent to that which, and has a double construction:—(1) the construction of the omitted or implied antecedent that; (2) the construction of the relative which (p.71). 19. The compound relative pronouns may include or imply their own antecedents and hence may have a double construction (p.72). The compound relatives are sometimes used without an antecedent expressed or implied (p.72). 20. An adjective is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits (pp.5, 75). 21. Adjectives may be classified, according to their position in the sentence, as attributive, appositive, and predicate adjectives (p.76). 1. An attributive adjective is closely attached to its noun and regularly precedes it. 2. An appositive adjective is added to its noun to explain it, like a noun in apposition. 3. A predicate adjective completes the meaning of the predicate verb, but describes or limits the subject. For the use of an adjective as predicate objective, see §488. 22. The comparative degree, not the superlative, is used in comparing two persons or things. The superlative is used in comparing one person or thing with two or more (p.88). 23. Relative adverbs introduce subordinate clauses and are similar in their use to relative pronouns (p.86). 24. A verb must agree with its subject in number and person (p.97). 25. A compound subject with and usually takes a verb in the plural number (p.100). 26. A compound subject with or or nor takes a verb in the singular number if the substantives are singular (p.100). 27. Nouns that are plural in form but singular in sense commonly take a verb in the singular number (p.101). 28. Collective nouns take sometimes a singular and sometimes a plural verb. When the persons or things denoted are thought of as individuals, the plural should be used. When the collection is regarded as a unit, the singular should be used (p.101). 29. A verb is in the active voice when it represents the subject as the doer of an act (p.107). 30. A verb is in the passive voice when it represents the subject as the receiver or the product of an action (p.107). The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive, and the subject of the active verb becomes in the passive an adverbial phrase modifying the predicate verb (p.110). 31. When a verb takes both a direct and an indirect object, one of the two is often retained after the passive, the other becoming the subject (p.112). 32. The indicative is the mood of simple assertion or interrogation, but it is used in other constructions also (p.115). 33. The imperative is the mood of command or request (p.115). 34. The subject of an imperative is seldom expressed unless it is emphatic. The subject, when expressed, may precede the imperative: as,—You go, You read (p.117). 35. The subjunctive mood is used in certain special constructions of wish, condition, and the like (pp.115, 118). For particulars and examples, see pp.119–123. For modal auxiliaries, see pp.124–132. 36. An infinitive, with or without a complement or modifiers, may be used as the subject of a sentence, as a predicate nominative, or as an appositive (pp.134, 135). 37. An infinitive may be used as the object of the prepositions but, except, about, (p.135). 38. The infinitive may be used as a nominative of exclamation (p.136). 39. An infinitive may modify a verb by completing its meaning, or by expressing the purpose of the action (p.137). 40. An infinitive may be used as an adjective modifier of a noun or as an adverbial modifier of an adjective. In this use the infinitive is said to depend on the word which it modifies (p.136). 41. A kind of clause, consisting of a substantive in the objective case followed by an infinitive, may be used as the object of certain verbs. Such clauses are called infinitive clauses, and the substantive is said to be the subject of the infinitive. The subject of an infinitive is in the objective case. Infinitive clauses are used (1) after verbs of wishing, commanding, advising, and the like, and (2) after some verbs of believing, declaring, and perceiving (p.138). An infinitive clause may be the object of the preposition for. An infinitive clause with for may be used as a subject, as a predicate nominative, or as the object of a preposition (pp.138–139). 42. The participle is a verb-form which has no subject, but which partakes of the nature of an adjective and expresses action or state in such a way as to describe or limit a substantive (pp.12, 140). 43. A participle is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits (pp.12, 142). 44. A participle should not be used without some substantive to which it may belong (p.142). 45. An infinitive or a participle, like any other verb-form, may take an object if its meaning allows (pp.134, 143). 46. Infinitives and participles, like other verb-forms, may be modified by adverbs, adverbial phrases, or adverbial clauses (pp.134, 142). 47. Verbal (or participial) nouns in -ing have the form of present participles, but the construction of nouns (p.145). 48. Verbal nouns in -ing have certain properties of the verb (p.146). 1. Verbal nouns in -ing may take a direct or an indirect object if their meaning allows. 2. A verbal noun in -ing may take an adverbial modifier. But verbal nouns in -ing, like other nouns, may be modified by adjectives.49. A noun in -ing may be used as an adjective, or as the adjective element in a compound noun (p.146). 50. The substantive which follows a preposition is called its object and is in the objective case (p.148). 51. A coÖrdinate conjunction connects words or groups of words that are independent of each other (p.151). 52. A subordinate conjunction connects a subordinate clause with the clause on which it depends (p.151). 53. Interjections usually have no grammatical connection with the phrases or sentences in which they stand. Sometimes, however, a substantive is connected with an interjection by means of a preposition (p.155). THE ENGLISH LANGUAGEEnglish is a member of the great Indo-European Family of languages, which is so called because it includes well-nigh all the languages of Europe and the most important of those found in India. Within this family, English belongs to the Teutonic (or Germanic) Group, which contains also German, Dutch, the Scandinavian tongues (Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish), and some others. English of the oldest period is called either Anglo-Saxon or Old English. This was the speech of certain piratical tribes whose home was in northern Germany, on the eastern and southern shores of the North Sea, but who invaded Britain about A.D. 450, and subdued the Celtic inhabitants of the island in a series of fierce wars. The most considerable of the invading tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. Their dominion was well assured by the beginning of the seventh century, and their language, which they usually called “English” (that is, “the tongue of the Angles”), gradually spread through England and most of Scotland. In Wales, however, the native Britons have maintained their own Celtic speech to the present day; and in the Scottish Highlands, Gaelic—which is akin to Welsh and practically identical with the native language of Ireland—is still extensively used. At the time of the invasion, the Angles and Saxons were heathen, and the Britons, who had been for four centuries under the sway of the Roman Empire, were Christians, and much more highly civilized than their conquerors. Indeed, they had adopted many features of Roman culture, and Latin was spoken to some extent, at least in the larger towns. By the end of the seventh century, however, the Anglo-Saxons also had embraced Christianity and had made remarkable advances in literature and learning. The language of the Britons exerted but slight influence upon that of the Anglo-Saxons. The Celtic words in English are few in number, and most of them were borrowed in comparatively recent times. The Norman Conquest (1066) marks a highly significant date in the history of our language. The Normans were a Scandinavian tribe who had been in possession of Normandy (in northern France) for about a hundred and fifty years. They had abandoned their Still, the Norman conquest had a profound influence upon English. It is not true—though often asserted—that the multitude of French words which our language contains were derived from the Norman dialect. Comparatively few of them came into English until after 1300, when Normandy had been lost to the English crown for a hundred years. Since 1300 we have borrowed freely—not from Norman, however, but from Central (or Parisian) French, which had become the standard to which the English descendants of the Normans endeavored to conform. The effect of the Conquest, then, was not to fill English with Norman terms. It was rather to bring England into close social and literary relations with France, and thus to facilitate the adoption of words and constructions from Central French. Further, since literature was in the middle ages dependent in the main upon private patronage, the existence of a ruling class whose interest was in French, discouraged the maintenance of any national or general standard of English composition. Every English writer had recourse to his local dialect, and one dialect was felt to be as good as another. By 1350, however, the dialect of London and the vicinity had come, apparently, to be regarded as somewhat more elegant and polished than the others. All that was needed was the appearance of some writer of supreme genius to whom this dialect should be native. Chaucer was such a writer, for he was born in London. To be sure, Chaucer did not “make modern English.” None the less, he was a powerful agent in settling the language. Since his time, at all events, the fact of a “standard of literary usage” has been Meantime, however, the English of the Anglo-Saxons had undergone many changes before Chaucer was born. Most of its inflections had been lost, and still others have been discarded since. Further, there had been extensive borrowing from French and Latin, and this continued throughout the fourteenth century. The habit, once formed, has proved lasting. Our vocabulary has received contributions from many languages, and is still receiving them. Greek may be mentioned in particular as the source of many words, especially in the various departments of science. But French and Latin remain the chief foreign elements in English. In the following extract from Scott, most of the words printed in Roman type are of Anglo-Saxon origin, whereas the italicized words are derived from Latin or French.
English has also adopted a good many Scandinavian words, though they form no such proportion of its vocabulary as French or Latin. Danish and Norwegian pirates began to harry the coast in the eighth century. Permanent settlements followed, as well as wars of conquest, and for about thirty years (1013–1042) a Danish family occupied the English throne. These events explain the Scandinavian element in our language. The Anglo-Saxon or Old English Period comes down to about a century, or a century and a half, after the Norman Conquest. Its extreme limit may be set at 1200. The period from 1200 to 1500 is usually known as the Middle English Period. From 1500 to the present time may be regarded as the Modern Period, though within these boundaries English has changed enormously in pronunciation and in vocabulary, very largely in syntax, and to some extent in inflection. The almost complete abandonment of the subjunctive in common speech is one of the latest of these changes. This, too, is in the direction of simplicity. The people of Great Britain have long been famous as travellers, explorers, and colonizers. Their language, once the dialect (or dialects) of a handful of Germanic adventurers, has spread to all parts of the world, so that now it is not merely the language of England, but, to a considerable extent, that of Scotland, Ireland, North America, India, Australasia, and South Africa. In this vast area, numerous varieties of pronunciation and of idiom of course occur, but, on the whole, the uniformity of the language is surprisingly well preserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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