Thursday, January 4, 2024

EXCURSUS ON THE ENGLISH PAST TENSE AND PERFECT PARTICIPLE

1.  The past tense in English denotes action performed previous to past tense utterance.

2.  English uses many ways of forming the past tense.
 
Exercise 1
Fill in the blank with the past tense of the indicated verb.
1.  bend:  He ____ the stick.
2.  build:  He ____ the house.
3.  have:  He ____ a cow.
4.  make:  He ____ the bed.
5.  cling:  He ____ to hope.
6.  keep:  He ____ talking.
7.  leave:  He ____ town.
8.  bet:  He ____ a lot of money.
9.  stand:  He ____ at attention.
10. grow:  The tree ____.
11.  lead:  He ____ them to the treasure.
 
3.  The perfect passive participle is an odder creature; native speakers of English sometimes struggle with it.  Latin is much easier.
 
Exercise 2
Form the perfect passive participle by filling in the blank.
1.  spin:  The top was ____.
2.  wind:  The toy had been ____ up.
3.  light:  A fire had been ____.
4.  cut:  The wood has been ____. 
5.  mow:  The lawn has been ____.
6.  sew:  The case had been ____ up.
7.  show:  He has been ____ the door.
8.  freeze:  The stream was ____.
9.  feed:  The cats were ____.
10.  throw:  He had been ____ a frisbee.
11.  do:  A lot has been ____.
12.  drink:  The water had been ____ up.

No comments:

Post a Comment