Part 8
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I shall have seen. We shall have seen. 2. You will have seen. You will have seen. 3. He will have seen. They will have seen.
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.
Present Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I am seeing. We are seeing. 2d. You are seeing. You are seeing. 3d. He is seeing. They are seeing.
+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.+
Past Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I was seeing. We were seeing. 2d. You were seeing. You were seeing. 3d. He was seeing. They were seeing.
+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.+
Future Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing. 2d. You will be seeing. You will be seeing. 3d. He will be seeing. They will be seeing.
+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.+
Present Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I have been seeing. We have been seeing. 2d. You have been seeing. You have been seeing. 3d. He has been seeing. They have been seeing.
+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.+
Past Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I had been seeing. We had been seeing. 2d. You had been seeing. You had been seeing. 3d. He had been seeing. They had been seeing.
+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.+
Future Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I shall have been seeing. We shall have been seeing. 2d. You will have been seeing. You will have been seeing. 3d. He will have been seeing. They will have been seeing.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences mark all the progressive forms, and note whether they are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect or future perfect.
1. The old order is passing. 2. Men will be struggling for freedom so long as slavery exists. 3. The class struggle has been growing more intense as wealth has accumulated. 4. The workers are realizing their power. 5. He had been talking for an hour when we arrived. 6. Next Monday I shall have been working for one year. 7. The workers will be paying interest on war debts for generations to come unless they repudiate. 8. While Marx was writing his books, he lived in abject poverty. 9. The Industrial Relations Commission has been investigating industrial conditions. 10. Ferrer was martyred because the Modern Schools were educating the people. 11. The nations of Europe had been preparing for war for many years.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
+141.+ Notice carefully the following sentences; select the subjects in these sentences which show _who_ or _what_ performed the action; select the subjects that show _who_ or _what_ receives the action. Do you notice any difference in the meaning of these sentences? Do you notice any difference in their form?
The engine struck the man. The man was struck by the engine.
The system enslaves men. Men are enslaved by the system.
Leaders often betray the people. The people are often betrayed by leaders.
Let us look carefully at the first two sentences. You remember when we studied transitive verbs we found that every transitive verb had an _object_ which was the receiver of the action expressed in the verb. Now you notice in this first sentence, _The engine struck the man_, we have the transitive verb _struck_. _Engine_ is the subject of the verb and _man_ is the object of the verb, the receiver of the action expressed by the verb _struck_.
Now in the sentence, _The man was struck by the engine_, we have the same thought expressed but in a different manner. The word _man_, which was the object of the verb _struck_ in the first sentence, has now become the subject of the sentence, and we have changed our verb form from _struck_ to _was struck_. In the first sentence of the subject, _engine_ was the _actor_. In the second sentence, _The man was struck by the engine_, the subject of the sentence, _man_, is the _receiver_ of the action expressed in the verb.
+142.+ So we have thus changed the verb form from _struck_ to _was struck_ to indicate that the subject of the verb is the receiver of the action. _Struck_ is called the active form of the verb because the subject of the verb is the actor. _Was struck_ is called the passive form of the verb because the subject receives the action. Passive means _receiving_. In the passive form the subject is the receiver of the action expressed in the verb.
+143.+ You remember that complete verbs have no object or complement, therefore it would follow that they cannot be put in the passive form for there is no object to become the receiver of the action. Take the complete verb, _sleep_, for example. We do not _sleep_ anything, hence _sleep_ has no passive form for there is no object which can be used as the subject, the receiver of the action.
+Only transitive verbs can be put into the passive form.+ Remember that a transitive verb in the passive form is one that represents its subject as receiving the action.
The present, past, future and all the perfect time forms of transitive verbs can be changed from active to passive. The progressive time forms can be changed into the passive, but it makes an awkward construction and should be avoided as much as possible. Occasionally, however, we find it worth our while to use these forms, as for example:
The book is being written by the man.
This is the passive form of the present progressive, _The man is writing a book_.
The book was being written by the man.
This is the passive form of the past progressive, _The man was writing the book_.
+144.+ The future progressive passive is awkward, and the present and past progressive forms are the only forms we find used in the passive. The best writers use them sparingly for we can usually say the same thing by using the active form of the verb and have a sentence which sounds much better.
Exercise 2
All the verbs in the following sentences are _transitive_ verbs in the _active_ form. Rewrite each sentence, putting the verb into the _passive_ form and making the _object_ of the _active_ verb the _subject_ of the _passive_ verb; as, for example, the first sentence should be rewritten as follows:
_War on Russia was declared by Germany on August 1, 1914._
1. Germany declared war on Russia, August 1, 1914. 2. Who will sign the Emancipation Proclamation of the Proletariat? 3. Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto. 4. Spain murdered Francisco Ferrer, October 13, 1909. 5. We celebrate the first of May as International Labor Day. 6. The people of Paris stormed the Bastille, July 14, 1789. 7. Wat Tyler was leading the English workers in rebellion against the King when the Mayor of London stabbed him in 1381. 8. The Inquisition burned Bruno at the stake for heresy in 1600. 9. The Paris Commune followed the German siege of Paris in 1871.
SUMMARY
+145.+ Now let us take the verb _see_ and name all the time forms which we can describe with the changes in the verb forms which we have learned to make and also with the verb phrases which we can construct with the help of the verbs, _be_, _have_, _shall_ and _will_.
First, we want to express the present, what is happening now, and we want to put it in both the active and passive forms, so we say:
+PRESENT TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I see. I am seen. You see. You are seen. He sees. He is seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We see. We are seen. You see. You are seen. They see. They are seen.
Note that the only change in the verb form in the present ACTIVE is the _s-form_ for the third person singular. In the present passive the only change is the special form of the verb _be_ for the first and third persons, singular.
When we want to tell what occurred yesterday or some time in the past, stated in the active and passive form, we say:
+PAST TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I saw. I was seen. You saw. You were seen. He saw. He was seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We saw. We were seen. You saw. You were seen. They saw. They were seen.
We have one other division of time which we must express--the future. Primitive man doubtless lived principally in the present, but with the development of memory and the means of recording events by a written language, he was able to make the deeds and achievements of the past a vital part of his life. But not until the faculty of thinking developed was the mind able to project itself into the future and make tomorrow the hope of today. Future time expresses hope, desire, growth.
+FUTURE TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I shall see. I shall be seen. You will see. You will be seen. He will see. He will be seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We shall see. We shall be seen. You will see. You will be seen. They will see. They will be seen.
Then you remember we had to devise a way of describing an action perfected or completed at the present or at some time in the past or at some time in the future--so we have present perfect, past perfect and future perfect.
+PRESENT PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I have seen. I have been seen. You have seen. You have been seen. He has seen. He has been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We have seen. We have been seen. You have seen. You have been seen. They have seen. They have been seen.
+PAST PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I had seen. I had been seen. You had seen. You had been seen. He had seen. He had been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We had seen. We had been seen. You had seen. You had been seen. They had seen. They had been seen.
+FUTURE PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I shall have seen. I shall have been seen. You will have seen. You will have been seen. He will have seen. He will have been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We shall have seen. We shall have been seen. You will have seen. You will have been seen. They will have seen. They will have been seen.
+146.+ But these are not all the phases of time which we can express. We have progressive, continuous action. So each of these six time forms has a progressive form.
+PRESENT PROGRESSIVE+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I am seeing. I am being seen. You are seeing. You are being seen. He is seeing. He is being seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We are seeing. We are being seen. You are seeing. You are being seen. They are seeing. They are being seen.
+PAST PROGRESSIVE+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I was seeing. I was being seen. You were seeing. You were being seen. He was seeing. He was being seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We were seeing. We were being seen. You were seeing. You were being seen. They were seeing. They were being seen.
Only the Present and Past Progressive forms have a passive form. The rest of the Progressive forms are expressed in the active forms only.
+FUTURE PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing. You will be seeing. You will be seeing. He will be seeing. They will be seeing.
+PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I have been seeing. We have been seeing. You have been seeing. You have been seeing. He has been seeing. They have been seeing.
+PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I had been seeing. We had been seeing. You had been seeing. You had been seeing. He had been seeing. They had been seeing.
+FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_