Contractions. The following contractions are permissible; the plural forms will suggest themselves: Agreement of Predicate with Following Subject. When a simple subject (Chapter XLVII) follows its predicate, care must be taken to make the predicate plural if the subject is plural. Persons who would not say, "More than ten boys is here already," will often say, "There's more than ten boys here already "; but the two sentences are equally incorrect: are should replace is. "Won't" and "Don't." Both forms are correct, but contractions should be sparingly used in writing. There was a time when one could say either "I wil not" or "won't," as 66 22 shan't "I wol not." came from is either singular or plural, From "wol not" came shall not." "Won't" 66 "Don't" is from "do not " and must never be used for "doesn't." The following forms are correct: SINGULAR I. I don't 2. you don't 3. he, she, it doesn't Cautions. PLURAL I. we don't 2. you don't 3. they don't (a) Do not confuse " with," "in addition to," 66 as well as," with "and": 1. Pharaoh, with all of his followers, was drowned in the Red Sea. 2. Hard work, in addition to rigid economy, is necessary to achieve success. 3. The captain, as well as the soldiers under him, was taken prisoner. (b) Remember that such expressions as "Henry or William," "Either Henry or William," "Neither Henry nor William," require a singular predicate: 1. Henry or William has left his slate in my desk. 2. Either the mayor or the sheriff is bound to attend the meeting. 3. Neither the one nor the other was present. (c) If the subject is singular, do not let the predicate be attracted into the plural by the influence of plural nouns standing between the subject and the predicate: 1. The costliness of her dress and jewels was evident at a glance. 2. Each of the candidates was allowed to speak in the courthouse. 3. He thought that the display of apples and pears was unsurpassed. (d) If the subject is plural, do not let the predicate be attracted into the singular by the influence of singular nouns standing between the subject and the predicate: 1. Three centuries of the New England climate have made him quick-witted. 2. The persecutions of the old college bell, which summoned him every morning from a warm bed to a chilly classroom, interrupt his slumbers no longer. 3. The bearing and expression of the man, though I had never seen him before, were strangely familiar. EXERCISES I 1. How many different forms has the verb to be to express present time in the singular number? 2. How does it compare in this respect with other verbs? 3. How many different forms has it to express past time in the singular number? 4. How does it compare in this respect with other verbs? 5. What are the interrogative forms of the contractions given in Chapter LXXI? II I. Write five sentences using are with a compound subject. 2. Write five sentences using were with the relative pronoun that as the subject. 4. There's 5. There were —. 6. At almost every crisis in American history there have appeared —. Write five sentences beginning "He doesn't," five beginning "She doesn't," and five beginning "It doesn't." Compare the time denoted by the verbs in these sentences: 1. I know where he is. (Present) 2. I saw him yesterday. (Past) 3. He will decide to-morrow. (Future) 4. She has finished the task. (Present Perfect) 5. She had finished it before you came. (Past Perfect) 6. If you don't hurry, he will have died before you get there. (Future Perfect) Of these six sentences it will be seen that only the present and the past are denoted by one word; the others are phrasal or compound tenses. The words finished and died, coming after forms of the verb to have, are the past participles of finish and die. The past participle of a verb may be found by placing in front of the verb some tense of have. The past participle of speak must be spoken, because we say I have spoken, I had spoken, etc. The time denoted by a verb is called its tense. The present tense denotes present time. The past tense denotes past time. The future tense denotes future time. The present perfect tense denotes that the action of the verb is completed in present time. The past perfect or pluperfect tense denotes that the action of the verb was completed at some past time. The future perfect tense 1 denotes that the action of the verb will have been completed at some future time. The past participle of a verb is the form used after have. To conjugate a verb means to name all of its forms and combinations. The present tense is often used for the future: I leave to-morrow at 6 A.M. I am going home in a few days. 1 This tense is becoming obsolete. The future tense is supplanting it. |