How to parse. ...

60

TENSES AND

[Par. 76, 77.

76 Common Mistakes in Tenses.
The Tenses and Participles of Irregular Verbs will be
best learned by practice. But the pupil may be cautioned
against confusing:I. "Lay," "lie," "lie."
LAY (Transitive) "to place or put down."
Present. Past. Passive Participle.
(I) lay (I) laid (I have) laid
LIE (Intransitive) = "to recline."
(I) lie (I) lay (I have) lain
LIE (Intransitive) = " to tell a falsehood."
(I) lie (I) lied (I have) lied
II. The Past Indefinite, and Passive Participle of " ring,"
" sing," &c.; often confused by Milton and Pope, but to be
kept distinct in Modern English: -
(I) sing (I) sang (I have) sung
(I) ring (I) rang (I have) rung
See Dr. Morris's Historical Outlines, &c. In E.E., sang was used
in the Singular, sung in the Plural, of the Past Tense. " Lay " is
the Causative form of " lie," as "raise " of " rise," " set" of L sit,"
" fell" of " fall," " drench " of" drink."
The Negative, or Interrogative Form.
In questions and denials we prefer a different
form of the Indefinite Present and Past. Instead
of "I came not;" "Why speak you?" we say
"I did not come;" "Why do you speak?" The
advantage of this form of the Verb is, that it
enables us to put the Verb at the end, while the