Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Graded Lessons in English an Elementary English Grammar Consisting of One Hundred Practical Lessons, Carefully Graded and Adapted to the Class-Room by Alonzo Reed;Brainerd Kellogg
page 177 of 310 (57%)



LESSON 90.

MODE, TENSE, NUMBER, AND PERSON.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.--When I say, _James walks_, I assert the
walking as a _fact_. When I say, _James may walk_, I do not assert the
action as a fact, but as a _possible_ action. When I say, _If James walk
out, he will improve_, I assert the action, not as an actual fact, but as a
_condition_ of James's, improving. When I say to James, _Walk out_, I do
not assert that James actually does the act, I assert the action as a
_command_.

The action expressed by the verb _walk_ has been asserted in _four_
different _ways_, or +modes+. The first way is called the +Indicative
Mode+; the second, the +Potential Mode+; the third, the +Subjunctive Mode+;
the fourth, the +Imperative Mode+.

Let the teacher give other examples and require the pupils to repeat this
instruction.

For the two forms of the verb called the +Infinitive+ and the +Participle+,
see "Hints," Lessons 48 and 49.

_I walk. I walked. I shall walk_. In each of these three sentences, the
manner of asserting the action is the same. _I walk_ expresses the action
as _present_. _I walked_ expresses the action as _past_, and _I shall walk_
expresses the action as _future_. As +Tense+ means _time_, the first form
DigitalOcean Referral Badge