VERB 



6057 



VERB 



verb is in the passive voice, as The story was 

 read by the teacher. For a detailed discussion 

 of this property see the article VOICE. 



Mode (or mood) is that property of a verb 

 by means of which we learn its manner of 

 asserting; that is, whether the thing is stated 

 as an actual fact, as doubtful, as a possibility, 

 etc. All grammarians recognize the indicative, 

 subjunctive and imperative modes, and some 

 include the potential. See MODE, page 3870. 



Tense. The time of an action or condition is 

 indicated by tense forms. There are six tenses 

 present, past, future, present perfect, pest 

 perfect and future perfect. See TENSE, page 



Person. A verb is said to be in the first, 

 second, or third person according as it expresses 

 the action or condition of a subject speaking, 

 spoken to or spoken of. Only pronouns are 

 fully inflected to express person; nouns have 

 no such inflections, and, except in case of the 

 verb to be and the forms used after the archaic 

 pronoun thou, the only verb form which shows 

 person is the third person singular of the pres- 

 ent tense. We say, for example, / call, You 

 call, He calls; We call, You call, They call. 

 See PERSON, subhead Person in Verbs, page 

 4597. 



Number. A verb used as the predicate of a 

 subject indicating one person or thing is said to 

 be in the singular number; if the subject repre- 

 sents more than one, the verb is in the plural 

 number. As in case of person, the only change 

 in verb form to denote number occurs in tin- 

 third person singular of the present tense. See 

 NUMBER, page 4310. 



The rule for the agreement of subject and 

 verb is as follows: A finite verb must agree 

 with its subject in person and number. 



Verbals are words which express action or 

 state of being in a general way, but which can- 

 not of themselves assert anything of a subject. 

 ;c are two kinds of verbals, / and 



infinitives. Some authorities include a third 

 'jcrund but others regard the genmd as a 

 form of participle. For full explanation see 

 PARTICIPLE, page 4517, and IMIMIIM page 

 2990. 



Conjugation. To conjugate a verb is to carry 

 illy through its different modes, 

 tenses, persons and numbers, in both \ 

 A full conjugation begins with the pnn 

 parts of the verb present indicative, past in- 

 dicative and past participle and concludes with 

 three participial forms present, past and 

 perfect. See CONJI ;\-ige 1539. 



Parsing the Verb. To purse a verb it is 

 necessary to state whether it is regular or ir- 

 regular; whether transitive or intransitive; its 

 voice, if transitive; the object, if it is in the 

 active voice; its mode, tense, person and num- 

 ber, and the subject with which it is in agree- 

 ment. The following is a type of verb parsing: 



The merchant opened his new store last week. 

 Opened is a regular transitive verb in the active 

 voice; its object is the noun store. It is in th- 

 indicative mode and past tense, and in the third 

 person, singular number, to agree with the sub- 

 ject merchant. 



Common Errors. The chief sources of error 

 in the use of verbs are the employment of one 

 verb for another which is similar to it in form 

 or meaning; the confusion of two parts of the 

 same verb; the violation of the rule for agree- 

 ment. Some of the typical errors are covered 

 in the following: 



You will find the book laying on the table for 

 you will find the book lying on the table. Lay 

 is transitive and lie intransitive. It is correct 

 to say, Lay the book on the table and Let the 

 book lie on the table. Set, a transitive verb, is 

 also frequently used for sit, which is intransi- 

 tive. 



Among the verbs similar in meaning, learn and 

 teach are very often confused. Learn means to 

 receive instruction and teach means to impart 

 instruction. Therefore we say. / /corned quickly 

 the lesson taught by the new mo.s 



The distinction between shall and will Is ex- 

 plained in the article TENSE. Confusion in tin- 

 use of may and can will be avoided if the stu- 

 dent remembers that may is used to express per- 

 mission, and can to express ability. In the sen- 

 tence John cannot go to the mountains with us 

 the idea conveyed is that John la unable to 

 make the journey for some physical reason, such 

 as lack of leisure or funds. John may not go 

 conveys the idea that he did not obtain permis- 

 sion from some one in authority. 



A very common error Is the use of the present 

 < or the past participle for the past tense. 

 as in the following: / come home yeato./m/ for 

 / came home yesterday, and He seen me for He 

 saw me. The principal parts of the following 

 verbs should be carefully lean 



.--. .- 



come 



run 



do 



give 





ran 



did 



pun 



. OHM 



run 

 dOM 



fft 'll 



The following sentences illustrate violations 

 of the rule for agreement: There come* the 

 general and his staff for There come the gen- 

 eral and his staff. He don't enjoy his work 

 f..r He doesn't enjoy his work. Don't Is the 

 contraction for do not, the plural form of the 

 third person, and cannot be used with a singular 



SUbj' B.M.W. 



