9. When Mary (write) her letter, she (go) back to her work. 10. The boys (build) a hut of logs and (cover) it with sail-cloth by the time the men (return). 11. We (fulfil) our contract and now we expect our wages. 12. The man cautiously (close) the door, (turn) the key, and (go) up the stairs. 13. While we were at the farm we (drink) several glasses of milk each day; before that time we rarely (drink) any. 14. The clothes (bring) in and the shutters (close) before the storm broke. 15. When the air grew cooler we (do) our work much more quickly. 134. OTHER VERB FORMS TIME OR TENSE Many students have formed the habit of using the words run, give, come, and says when they mean ran, gave, came, and said. I Read the following selection, using the correct forms of run, give, come, and say: My uncle to visit us. He me a half dollar to spend as I pleased. I had my eye on a certain knife in a hardware store window. Now I could buy it. As I rushed down the street to the store, a short, heavy-set fellow around a corner and knocked the half dollar from my hand. It rolled along the edge of the gutter and down the sewer. "Never mind, old man," the big boy have or I'd make good your loss." He then turned away. "Wait," I I and "this is all I me a quarter after him. "It was an accident," the money back. His clothes were thin and worn and I knew that he was poor but he of a gentleman. up to the standard II Tell the following anecdote, using the correct forms of come, say, tell, go, see, and write: A doctor up to a patient in an insane asylum, slapped him on the back, and You run along and “Well, old man, you're all right. your folks that you'll be back home in two weeks as good as new." the cockroach. What he did was his The patient off gaily to write his letter. He had it finished and sealed, but when he was licking the stamp it slipped through his fingers to the floor, lighted on the back of a cockroach that was passing, and stuck. The patient hadn't escaped postage stamp zig-zagging aimlessly across the floor to the baseboard, wavering up over the baseboard, and following a crooked track up the wall and across the ceiling. In depressed silence he tore up the letter he had just and dropped the pieces on the floor. "Two weeks!" he said. years." "I won't be out of here in three 135. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS 1. The old bellman rang the Liberty Bell. 2. The girl laughed heartily. In this sentence rang is the verb and expresses action. The old bellman is the actor or the one who causes the action and the Liberty Bell is the object that is affected by this action. The action of the bellman passes over to the bell and the word that shows this action is the verb rang. Words like the verb rang must have some object or objects to complete their meaning. If we should say, "The old bellman rang," we should immediately say to ourselves, "Rang what?" There must be some receiver of the act. When the receiver of the action of a verb is named in the sentence the verb is transitive. I THE TRANSITIVE VERB The word transitive comes from two Latin words which mean "to go over." The verb's action goes over from a doer to a receiver. You might say that a transitive verb is a verb which expresses action carried over to an object. Transitive means "passing over.' A transitive verb really does pass over the action that it expresses to some other word in the sentence. The word that receives the action of the transitive verb is called the direct object. In the sentence “The old bellman rang the Liberty Bell," Liberty Bell becomes the receiver of the action. Hence Liberty Bell is the direct object. The direct object of a transitive verb is in the objective case. A direct object answers the question what. You can test your sentences as to whether verbs are transitive as follows: The old bellman rang what? The old bellman rang the Liberty Bell. A transitive verb is a verb that represents the action as passing over from a doer to a receiver. Select the transitive verbs in these sentences and tell why they are transitive. 1. Washington crossed the Delaware. 2. The carpenters built the house. 3. The dog lost his collar. 4. The man sold potatoes. 7. The storm destroyed the bridge. II THE INTRANSITIVE VERB You have just been studying the fact that some action verbs express action that is received by some word in the sentence, and that such verbs are called transitive verbs. Read the following sentences and tell whether they are complete: What is the subject of each? What is the predicate of each? Is the meaning of each complete? Are there any objects? You will see that the name of the person or thing which receives the action of the verb is not named in the sentence. Action verbs, as a whole, are divided into two classes: 1. Transitive, or those whose action is received by some word in the sentence. 2. Intransitive, or those verbs whose action is not received by some word in the sentence. The verb in a sentence that does not contain the name of the person or thing which receives the action of the verb is called an intransitive verb. Intransitive means "not going across.' Tell which verbs are intransitive in these sentences. Show why they are intransitive. 1. The flowers shiver. 2. The snow falls softly. 3. The winds moan and groan. 4. The children run and hide. 5. The trees rock in the blast. 6. The flowers bloom in the sun. 8. The rain falls in torrents. 9. The fire crackles. 10. The ashes drop on to the hearth. 11. Bread rises in the pan. 12. The kettle boils. 13. The water bubbles. 14. The moon rises early. 15. The sun shines through the clouds. 136. VOICE I 1. The old bellman rang the Liberty Bell. 2. The Liberty Bell was rung by the old bellman. In the first sentence the Liberty Bell is a part of the predicate (direct object). In the second sentence the Liberty Bell is the subject and The old bellman is a part of the predicate (principal word of a prepositional phrase). Is The old bellman still the one who is acting and is the Liberty Bell still the receiver of the action? Notice that the form of the |