FUTURE TIME
118. We have learned how to express present time and past time, by changes in the form of the verb. But we very often desire to make a statement in which we do not express either present or past time, thus we may say:
We shall enjoy our rights some day.
He will join us in the struggle.
We do not mean to say that we do enjoy our rights now, in the present, or that we did in the past, but that we shall enjoy our rights some time in the future. In the second sentence, will join expresses the same idea of future time. To indicate future time, we do not make a change in the verb form, but we use shall and will with the simple form of the verb.
119. We denote future time by use of a verb phrase made by placing shall or will before the simple form of the verb.
120. The rule of some grammarians is to use shall always in the first person, the person speaking, to denote future time, and will with the second person, the person spoken to, and with the third person, the person spoken of, to denote future time. But common usage does not always follow the rules of the grammarians, and, in the course of time, affects and changes these rules. So our common usage of today uses will in the first person to express future time, as well as shall.
This rule of grammarians marks a nicety of speech and conveys a distinction of meaning which it really seems worth while to retain. The idea of the grammarians is that when we use will with the first person and shall with the second or third person, we express a promise or determination. Thus if I say, I shall go, I simply mean that my going will be in the future. But if I say, I will go, I either mean that I am promising to go or that I am expressing my determination to go. So also if we use shall in the second and third persons. If we say, You will go or He will go, we are simply stating that the going will be in the future, but if we say, You shall go, or He shall go, we mean that we promise or are determined that you or he shall go.
To be technically correct this distinction should be observed. Shall in the first person, and will in the second and third express simple futurity. Will in the first person and shall in the second and third express promise or determination. But in every day conversation this distinction is not observed, and many of our best writers do not follow this rule.
Exercise 1
Mark the future time forms in the following sentences:
1. I shall speak of liberty.
2. I will never give up.
3. I shall write to him.
4. He shall not starve.
5. We shall expect you.
6. They shall suffer for this.
7. I shall go to New York.
8. He will call for me.
9. The hungry shall be fed.
10. You will soon see the reason.
11. You shall never want for a friend.
12. They shall some day see the truth.
13. We will not fight against our class.
14. We will stand together.
PERFECT TIME
121. Past, present and future, being the three divisions of time, one would naturally expect that when we had found how to express these three forms, we would be through, but if you stop to think, you will find that there are other verb phrases of which we have need.
When we wish to speak of action as completed at the present time, we do not say:
I study my lessons every day, but, I have studied my lessons every day.
Not, You work for him every day, but, You have worked for him every day.
Not, He sees her frequently, but, He has seen her frequently.
Can you not readily see the difference in the meaning expressed in I work every day, and I have worked every day? In the first sentence you express a general truth, I work every day, a truth which has been true in the past, is true in the present, and the implication is that it will continue to be true in the future. But when you say, I have worked every day, you are saying nothing as to the future, but you are describing an action which is completed at the present time. This is called the present complete or present perfect time.
122. Perfect means complete, and present perfect describes an action perfected or completed at the present time. So it is possible for us to express a necessary shade of meaning by the present perfect time form.
123. The present perfect time form describes an action completed at the present time, and is formed by using the present time form of have and the past participle of the verb.
124. Review in the last lesson how to form the past participle. Remember that it is one of the principal parts of the verb. In regular verbs the past participle is the same form as the past time form. In irregular verbs the past participle is quite often different from the past time form, as for example: go, went, gone; do, did, done, etc.
Watch closely your irregular verbs and see that you always use the past participle with have or had; never use the past time form with have or had.
PAST PERFECT
125. When you desire to express an action complete at some definite past time, you do not say:
We finished when they came, but, We had finished when they came.
Not, They went when we arrived, but, They had gone when we arrived.
Not, I worked six months when he began, but, I had worked six months when he began.
Can you see a difference in the meaning expressed in these sentences: I worked six months when he began; and I had worked six months when he began? This last sentence describes an action completed or perfected before some definite past time.
126. Past perfect time denotes an action perfected or completed at some definite past time. It is formed by using had and the past participle of the verb.
Remember always, with irregular verbs, to use the past participle. Never use the past time form with had.
Exercise 2
Correct the following sentences in which the past time form is used instead of the past participle. Look up the word in the list of irregular verbs and use the past participle instead of the past time form.
1. I have saw it often.
2. He had shook his fist.
3. She has sang for us.
4. The boat has sank here.
5. He has spoke the truth.
6. They had stole the books.
7. He has swore to the truth.
8. He had took the wrong road.
9. She has tore her dress.
10. He had threw the ball away.
11. The girl had wore the dress.
12. He had wrote the letters.
13. He had drank too much.
14. He had rode the horse.
15. The sun has rose.
16. He has bore his part.
17. They have began already.
18. The wind has blew all night.
19. It had broke when it fell.
20. He has chose the right.
21. You have did your duty.
22. He has ate his breakfast.
23. A heavy rain has fell.
24. They had gave it to me.
25. He has became rich.
26. It has grew rapidly.
27. He has knew it always.
28. He has mistook her for another.
FUTURE PERFECT TIME
127. We find also that we need a verb phrase to express time before some other future time, to describe an action that will be finished, perfected, or completed, before some other future action. Thus,
I shall have gone before you arrive.
You will have earned your money before you get it.
I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day comes.
Can you not see a difference in saying, I shall work thirty days when pay-day comes, and I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day comes? The first sentence expresses simple future time, or what you will do when pay-day comes; the second describes an action which will be completed or perfected before pay-day comes. So there is quite a difference in the meaning of the future and the future perfect time.
128. The future perfect time form expresses or describes an action that will be perfected or completed before some other future time. It is formed by using shall have or will have with the past participle.
Be careful to use the past participle. Never use the past time form with shall have or will have.
LET US SUM UP
129. We have three time forms, present, past, future.
Each of these three time forms has a perfect form; that is, a time form which expresses an action as completed or perfected at the present time, or before some definite past or future time.
130. It is wonderful how a knowledge of words and their uses enables us to express so many shades of meaning. It is like our development in observing colors. You know the savage always admires vivid reds and greens and blues. He does not yet see the beautiful shades and gradations of color. We enjoy the delicate pinks and blues and all the varying shades between the primal seven colors of the spectrum. And as we develop our artistic ability we see and enjoy all the beauties of color.
In music too, we observe the same development. The barbarian enjoys loud, crashing, discordant sounds which he calls music, but which to the educated ear are only harsh noises. The trained musician catches the delicate overtones and undertones and finds deepest ecstasy in sounds which the uneducated ear does not even catch. So as we study words and their uses, we find ourselves able to express shades of meaning, to paint our word pictures, not in gaudy, glaring chromo-tints, but in the wondrous blending of color that reveals the true artist.
Now get these modes of expressing time firmly fixed in your mind.
131. Let us get all we have learned about verbs into a summary and have it clearly in mind.
VERBS—SUMMARY
Two Classes
Inflection—Changes of Form
TIME FORMS
Present
Past
Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect
Exercise 3
Read carefully the following quotation. All of the verbs and verb phrases are written in italics. Study these carefully and decide whether they indicate present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect or future perfect time. The verb phrases—is seizing, is put, is praised, is defended, can see, must have, are owned, and are conducted, do not belong to any of these six forms. They are verb phrases used in ways which we shall study later. All of the other verbs or verb phrases belong to one of the six time forms which we have studied. Classify them.
The Working Class Must Strike the Blow
You remember Victor Hugo's story of the devil-fish; how the monster put forth one tentacle after another and coiled it around his victim; how the hero recalled that there was but one vulnerable spot in his brute enemy; how at the strategic moment he struck a blow at that spot, and the terrible demon of the deep shuddered, released his grasp and fell dead.
Capitalism is a monster which is seizing the body politic. One tentacle is put forth to grasp the major part of the earnings of the working class; another has seized the working-woman; another reaches forth to the child; another has fastened upon government and has made that the instrument of the powerful classes; still another has turned the pen of the journalist into a weapon by which the injustice of Capitalism is praised and is defended; and still another has seized the pulpit, has silenced those who profess to speak for God and man, or has turned their phrases into open apology and defense for the crimes of Capitalism!
But there is one vulnerable spot in Capitalism. If the working class of the world can see that spot and will strike, they shall be free.
The fundamental wrong, the basic injustice of the Capitalist System, is that the resources of land and machinery, to which all the people must have access, in order to live and labor, are owned by the few and are conducted by the few for their private profit.
This is the social tragedy, the monstrous wrong of our time.—J. Stitt Wilson.
Exercise 4
Select two verbs out of the following poem and write their six time forms, in the same manner as the time forms of the verb see are given in section 131.
A MAGIC WORD
There's a little word below, with letters three,
Which, if you only grasp its potency,
Will send you higher
Toward the goal where you aspire,
Which, without its precious aid, you'll never see—
NOW!
Success attends the man who views it right.
Its back and forward meanings differ quite;
For this is how it reads
To the man of ready deeds,
Who spells it backwards from achievement's height—
WON!
TENSE
The grammatical term for the time form of the verb is TENSE, which is derived from a Latin word meaning time. The present time-form of the verb is called the present tense; the past time-form, the past tense; the future time-form, the future tense; the present perfect time-form, the present perfect tense, etc.
Exercise 5
Write each of the following four sentences in the six time-forms, or tenses,—present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect and future perfect, as follows:
Present—Labor creates all wealth.
Past—Labor created all wealth.
Future—Labor will create all wealth.
Present Perfect—Labor has created all wealth.
Past Perfect—Labor had created all wealth.
Future Perfect—Labor will have created all wealth.
1. Hope stirs us to action.
2. Human progress is our business.
3. The majority demand justice.
4. The workers fight all the battles.
SPELLING
LESSON 7
The division of words into syllables is quite important as an aid to pronunciation. It is also a very important matter to understand in our written speech for it is often necessary to divide a word at the end of a line. If the word is not properly divided, it is much more difficult to read and understand. The hyphen is used to divide words into syllables when carrying a portion to the next line.
When you must divide a word at the end of a line divide it only between syllables. Never divide a word of one syllable, no matter how long it may be. If you cannot get all of it on the line, write it all on the next line. Do not divide a short word of two syllables if you can avoid it and never divide such a word when it leaves only one letter on the line or only one letter to be carried over to the next line, as for example: luck-y, a-loud, etc.
When two or more vowels are used together to make one sound they should never be separated by the hyphen, as for example, joy-ous, anx-ious, trail, dis-course, de-feat, boor-ish.
When two or more vowels placed together are not used to form one sound then these vowels may be divided, as for example, tri-al, co-or-di-nate, he-ro-ic.
Look up the words in this week's lesson in the dictionary carefully and divide into syllables. Notice specially the division of words into syllables where the word contains a diphthong and where it contains two vowels written together which are not diphthongs. Notice also the words which have a single vowel as the first or last syllable.
Monday
Museum
Creatures
Peaceable
Accruing
Already
Tuesday
Persuade
Trivial
Plague
Alert
Inquiry
Wednesday
Piteous
Patriot
Poetry
Evil
Business
Thursday
Obey
Breathe
Society
Ether
Sociable
Friday
Idealism
Pledge
Ache
Acre
Pronunciation
Saturday
Idle
Idol
Mutual
Wealthy
Neighbors
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 8
Dear Comrade:
You have often read the words organic and inorganic but did you ever stop to think of the meaning of these words? We say a body is organic—a rock is inorganic; one grows from within, the other is built from without. A tree is organic; it grows. A house is inorganic; it is built. The house was never a baby house, growing from a tiny house to a large one. But the tree was once a baby tree, a sapling, and grew branch by branch to its present height. So we have two classes of things—those which grow and those which are made.
Language belongs to the class of things which grows. It is organic. We have even used the same terms in speaking about language that we use in talking of a tree. We use the words ROOT, STEM and BRANCH to describe its growth.
Language, too, has its different terms of life like a tree, its youth, its maturity, its old age, its death.
So we have dead languages like Latin and Greek—languages which are no longer living,—no longer serving mankind. But these dead languages have left living children, languages that have descended from them.
The Italian language for example is the child, the descendant of the classical Latin. We have many words in our English language from these dead languages. About five-sevenths of the words in our English are from these classical languages. The remaining two-sevenths are from the Anglo-Saxon. We use the Anglo-Saxon words more frequently, however, in our every day speech.
And it is interesting to note that our best poetry—that which stirs our blood and touches our hearts—is written in the strong forceful Anglo-Saxon words.
These words we are studying have been through some interesting experiences as they have passed from race to race down to us and the history of life is mirrored in their changes. How much more interesting they seem when we know something of their sources, just as we are more interested in a man when we know something of his boyhood and youth and the experiences through which he has passed.
You may think that the study of verbs is rather difficult and involved, but it is more simple in English than in any other language. There are fewer changes in the verb form in order to express time and person. Do not rely on the memorizing of the rules. Rules never made one a fluent speaker. Write sentences in which the correct form is used. Read aloud from the best authors until the sound of the words is familiar and they come readily to the tongue. We have used for the exercises in these lessons excerpts from the best authors.
Study these exercises carefully and note the use of the different verbs especially, this week. Verbs, like all else, are yours to command. Command them.
Yours for Education,THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
PROGRESSIVE VERB PHRASES
132. We have learned how to form the three principal time forms, present, past and future and the perfect or completed form of each of the three, present perfect, past perfect and future perfect. And still we have such a wonderful language that we can express other shades of meaning in time.
133. There is still another phase of action which we must have a verb phrase to express. Suppose you want to describe something you are now doing and are continuing to do, something not yet completed. To say, I do it now, is not satisfactory. Instead we say, I am doing it now.
You have by the verb phrase, am doing, described a progressive action, an action going on in the present. You may also want to describe what you were doing yesterday, an action that continued or progressed in the past. You would not say, I built the house yesterday but, I was building the house yesterday. Again you may want to describe an action which will be progressing or going on in the future. You do not say, I shall build the house next week but, I shall be building the house next week.
So we have progressive verb phrases.
134. The present progressive describes an action as continuing or progressing in the present.
It is formed by using the present time form of the verb be and the present participle.
You remember that the present participle is formed by adding ing to the simple form of the verb.
135. The past progressive time form describes an action which was continuing or progressing in the past. It is formed by using the past time form of the verb be and the present participle.
136. The future progressive describes an action which will be progressing or going on in the future. It is formed by using the future time form of the verb be and the present participle.
137. The perfect time forms also have a progressive form. There is a difference of meaning in the present perfect and its progressive form. You say for instance, I have tried all my life to be free. You mean you have tried until the present time and the inference is that now you have ceased to try. But, if you say, I have been trying all my life to be free, we understand that you have tried and are still trying.
138. So we have the present perfect progressive which describes an action which progressed in the past and continued up to the present time. It is formed by using the present perfect form of the verb be and the present participle.
139. The past perfect progressive describes an action which was continuing or progressing at some past time. It is formed by using the past perfect time form of the verb be and the present participle.
140. The future perfect progressive describes an action which will be progressing at some future time. It is formed by using the future perfect time form of the verb be and the present participle.
