English Grammar Workbook for "dummies" - Geraldine Woods
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164 Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
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GMT Industries |
|
Incident Report |
Date: 8/29/05 |
Time: 1:10 a.m. |
Place: Loading dock |
Guard on duty: P. Samuels |
Proceeding from the locker room where Grammarian Idol Factor was on television,
I noticed smoke coming from a doorway that leads to the loading dock. Knowing
that no deliveries were scheduled, I immediately became suspicious and took out my two-way radio. I alerted the other guard on duty, M. Faulkner, that trouble might be brewing. Faulkner, not having turned off the television, couldn’t hear me. Upon
screaming into the radio that I needed him right away, I crept up to the door.
I noticed that the smoke was not hot. As I waited, touching the door to see
whether it was getting hot, I sincerely wished to find Faulkner and to strangle him
for not replying when I called. Arriving, Faulkner apologized and explained that
the adverb competition was his favorite. He also said that he had a clogged ear
that he had not been able to clean out, no matter how many toothpicks he used.
“Speaking of heating up,” I remarked, “I don’t sense any heat from this door.” I
reminded him that fire is hot, and where there’s smoke there is fire. Then Faulkner
and I, hearing a buzz from the other side of the door, ran for shelter. I told Faulkner
that the buzz was not from a bomb, but neither of us being in the mood to take
chances, we headed for the locker room. We did not put the television on again,
Grammarian Idol Factor having been over for more than ten minutes, but we did
plug in a CD as we waited for the police to arrive, having called them some time
before. Therefore we didn’t hear the director yell, “Cut!” In no way did we intend to disrupt the film crew’s work or to ruin the dry ice that caused the “smoke.”
Having respected Hollywood for many years, Faulkner and I wish Mr. Scorsese
only the best with his next film.
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UThe proceeding and the noticing took place at roughly the same time, so the plain form is the one you want here.
VThe noticing and the coming of the smoke were more or less simultaneous, so go for the plain form here. The perfect form would place one action earlier than another, which is contrary to the intended meaning.
Chapter 12: Traveling in Time: Tricky Verb-Tense Situations 165
WThe suspicions arose from the knowledge that no deliveries were scheduled, so the knowing and the act of suspecting are simultaneous, calling for the plain verbal.
XThis sentence emphasizes the order of events. Because the television was not turned off first, Faulkner couldn’t hear. The perfect form works to show an earlier action (not turning off the television).
Y The screaming and the creeping are simultaneous; go for the plain form.
zThe touching of the door and the waiting are simultaneous, calling for a plain (no sprinkles added) verbal.
ZThe narrator wished to find Faulkner (everyone’s looking for him, including his bookie), and the wishing and finding are more or less simultaneous. Plain form doesn’t set up any special order of events.
1The plain infinitive to strangle is appropriate because the narrator wished to find and to strangle Faulkner all at the same time. The actions are presented equally, not in time order.
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The calling and replying are presented as simultaneous acts, so go for plain, not perfect. |
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The apologizing and the arriving are going on at the same time; a plain form is therefore best. |
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This verb expresses summarized speech, so past tense is what you want. |
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Another speech summary is expressed by this verb, so go for past tense. |
6 |
In summarizing speech, always opt for past tense. |
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All these verbs fall into the category of summarized speech and thus take the past tense. |
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The I in the sentence is speaking now, so the plain form is needed. |
9 |
Fire is always hot, so present tense works here. |
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This unchangeable fact (fire is never without smoke) calls for present tense. |
!These two cowards took off at exactly the same time they heard a buzz — no time lag here! The perfect form would indicate two consecutive events, but these events were simultaneous and thus need the plain form.
@ Summarized speech, indicated by told, calls for past tense.
#Being keeps the speakers in the moment. The writer is not placing the mood before another action. Go for plain form.
$The perfect form is appropriate because the speaker is putting events in order. First, the show ends. Second, they put on a CD.
%In hopes of saving his job, the writer emphasizes the order of events, using the perfect form to place the calling of the police earlier on the timeline.
^
&
The intending and the disrupting are simultaneous, so plain form is best.
Plain form works here because the intending and the ruining occur at the same time.
*Here the writer is emphasizing a longstanding respect for the film world. The perfect form extends the respectful feeling into the past.
166 Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
Chapter 13
Are You and Your Verbs
in the Right Mood?
In This Chapter
Understanding the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods of verbs
Choosing verbs for statements, commands, and condition-contrary-to-fact sentences
No, they’re not pregnant or in the midst of midlife crises; nevertheless, verbs do have mood swings. One minute they’re indicative, the regular, plain-vanilla, just-the-facts
sort of verb. (The dishes are dirty. No one has washed them. Little colonies of mold established themselves all over the sink a couple of days ago.) Suddenly they’re issuing orders in imperative mood. (Wash the dishes. Stop whining. Don’t think your allowance is off limits!) And when you least expect a change, subjunctive pops up. (If I were rich enough to hire a maid, I wouldn’t ask for your dishwashing help. I’m not a millionaire, so I request that 7 p.m. be the official dishwashing hour.)
Got the idea? Of the three verb moods, you’re probably the most familiar with indicative. Every statement of fact is in indicative mood, as are nearly all the sentences in this book. The imperative mood gives commands, usually to an understood you who doesn’t appear in the sentence. The subjunctive, the one designed to give you a headache, shows up in condition- contrary-to-fact and in certain command/wish sentences. In this chapter I take you through all three, with a little extra attention on the hard one, also known as the subjunctive.
Stating the Obvious: Indicative Mood
Just about everything I say about verbs in this book actually applies to indicative verbs, which, as the name implies, indicate facts. Indicative mood is the one you use automatically, stating action or being in any tense and for any person. Do you want to see some samples of indicative verbs? No problem. Every verb in this paragraph is in indicative mood. I have placed all the verbs in italics so you can locate them easily.
Indicative verbs change according to the time period you’re talking about (the tense) and, at times, according to the person doing the action. I cover these issues in Chapters 1 and 2.
If you’re in the mood, circle the indicative verb that works best in each of the following sentences. The verb choices are in parentheses.
Q. Mr. Adams (holds/held) a performance review every June.
A. holds. Both choices are indicative, but the present tense works better. The clue is the expression every June.
168 Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
1.Each employee (is/was) summoned to Adams’ office for what he calls “a little chat.”
2.All the workers (know/will know) that the “chat” is all on Adams’ side.
3.Adams (likes/like) to discuss baseball, the economy, and the reasons no one (will/would) receive a raise.
4.“(Is/Was) business good these days?” he always says.
5.He always (mentions/will mention) that he may have to make personal sacrifices to save the company.
6.Sacrifices! He (means/meant) that he (earns/will earn) only a million instead of two million next year!
7.Maybe he (replaced/will replace) the linen napkins in the executive dining room with paper.
8.After the chat, the employees always (go/will go) out for some conversation of their own.
9.(Does/Do) they review Adams’ performance in the most candid way?
10.Everyone (believe/believes) that the company needs new leadership.
Taking Command: Imperative Mood
I studied a couple of foreign languages in college, and I remember a major headache arriving right around the time I tried to learn the imperative mood. Each verb had a bunch of rules on how to form commands — plus irregulars! English is much kinder than those other languages. In English, the command, also known as the imperative mood, is the same whether you’re talking to one person or 20, to a peasant or to a queen. The English command form is the infinitive minus the to. In other words, the unchanged, plain form of the verb. Negative commands are slightly different. They take the infinitive-minus-to and add do not, as in do not snivel, do not blink, and do not blubber.
Some examples, with the imperative verb italicized:
Stop sniveling, Henry.
Pull yourself together and meet your new in-laws.
Do not mention our engagement.
Prepare to die if they find out we’re getting married!
Fill in the blanks with commands for poor Henry, who is meeting his prospective in-laws. The base verb you’re working with appears in parentheses at the end of each sentence.
Q. _______________ quietly on the couch, Henry, while I fetch Daddy. (to sit)
A. Sit. The command is formed by dropping the to from the infinitive.
11.Henry, _______________ my lead during the conversation. (to follow)
12.If Mom talks about Paris, _______________ your head and _______________ interested.
(to nod/to look)
Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood? 169
13.Dad hates bad accents, so _______________ French. (to speak, negative command)
14._______________ them to show you slides of last year’s trip to Normandy. (to ask)
15._______________ asleep during the slide show, if you can help it! (to fall, negative command)
16._______________ some of Mom’s potato salad, even if it’s warm. (to eat)
17._______________ about unrefrigerated mayonnaise and the risk of food poisoning. (to talk, negative command)
18.When she ignores you and serves the potato salad anyway, just _______________ an appointment with your doctor and _______________ quiet. (to make/to keep)
19._______________ them good night and _______________ them for a lovely evening. (to wish/ to thank)
20._______________ that we won’t visit them very often after the wedding. (to remember)
Telling Lies or Being Passive:
Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive is a very big deal in some languages; whole terms were devoted to it in my college Spanish class. Fortunately for you, in English the subjunctive pops up only rarely, in two situations: condition-contrary-to-fact and indirect commands.
Condition-contrary-to-fact means that you’re talking about something that isn’t true.
If I were famous, I would wear sunglasses to hide my identity. (The verb were is subjunctive.)
Had I known the secret password, I would have passed the bouncer’s test and entered the club.
If I had not punched the police office, I would have avoided jail.
Notice that the subjunctive changes some of the usual forms. In indicative, the pronoun I is paired with was (see the section on indicative mood earlier in this chapter for more detail). The switch to were in the first sample sentence tells you that you’re in fantasy land. Referring to the first sample sentence, I must confess that I’m not famous, though I do wear sunglasses. In the second and third sample sentences, the had does more than its usual
indicative job, which is to place events earlier in the past than other past-tense events. (See Chapter 1 for more details on this use of had.) Instead, in a subjunctive sentence the had also means that I didn’t know the secret password, the bouncer muttered something about “getting in when it snows in July,” and I was forced to go the 19th Precinct instead of dancing with sports stars and supermodels.
Condition-contrary-to-fact sentences always feature a would form of the verb. In standard English, the would form never appears in the part of the sentence that is untrue.
Subjunctive verbs also express commands indirectly, as in these sentences, in which the subjunctive verb is italicized:
The bouncer requested that he remove himself from the line as soon as possible.
The club owner declared that guests wearing unfashionable clothes be denied entry.
170 Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
Subjunctive, indirect commands are formed by dropping the to from the infinitive. In the first sample sentence, the pronoun he normally (that is, in indicative mood) pairs with removes. In subjunctive, the infinitive to remove loses the to and becomes remove. In the second sample, guests pairs with be, which is created by dropping to from the infinitive to be. The indicative form would be guests are.
Write the correct verb in the blank for each exercise in this section. The verb you’re working with appears in parentheses after each sentence. Just to keep you honest, I tucked in a few sentences that don’t require subjunctive. Keep your eyes open.
Q. If Ellen _______________ for her turn at the wheel, she wouldn’t have wrapped her car around that telephone pole. (to prepare)
A. had prepared. The had creates a subjunctive here, because Ellen didn’t prepare for her road test. Instead, she went to a drive-in movie, as a passenger.
21.The motor vehicle tester asked that Ellen _______________ ready for her exam at 9 a.m.
(to be)
22.The test would have gone better if Ellen _______________ a morning person. (to be)
23.“If it _______________,” explained the instructor, “you will be required to take the test as soon as the roads are plowed.” (to snow)
24.If the snow plow _______________ the entire route, Ellen would have passed. (to cover)
25.Unfortunately, the supervisor of the snow-removal crew declared that the highways
_______________ cleaned first. (to be)
26.Terrified of ice, Ellen requested that the examiner _______________ her test. (to postpone)
27.If he _______________, Ellen would have taken the test on a sunny, warm day. (to refuse, negative form)
28.If Ellen _______________ about the examiner, the motor vehicle department would have investigated. (to complain)
29.If an examiner _______________ unfair, the motor vehicle department schedules another test. (to be)
30.The department policy is that if there _______________ a valid complaint, they dismiss the examiner promptly. (to be)
31.If Ellen _______________ the test fives times already, she would have been more cheerful about her grade. (to take, negative form)
32.If in the future Ellen _______________ to another district, she may have more luck. (to go)
33.Not every county, for example, cares if the driver _______________ into a tree. (to skid)
34.If only Ellen _______________ to Smithsburg, she would have a license already. (to travel)
35.Smithsburg requires that a driver _______________ “reasonable competency” and nothing more. (to demonstrate)
Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood? 171
Calling All Overachievers: Extra
Practice with Moody Verbs
Figure 13-1:
This progress report contains some verbs that are in the wrong mood.
If you master the three moods (cranky, irritable, ready to bite someone’s head off), try your hand at this exercise. The progress report in Figure 13-1 has some serious mood problems. Check out the underlined verbs, circle the ones that are correct, and cross out and correct the ones that are in the wrong mood.
Progress Report: Coffee Break Control
From: Ms. Bell, Coffee Break Coordinator
To: Ms. Schwartz, Department Head
Re: Coffee Break Control
July 31, 2006
As you know, I were now in charge of implementing the new directive that every employee submits to a coffee-residue test. If a test were given at a time when coffeesipping were not authorized and the results were positive, the policy require that the worker “donates” a pound of coffee to the break room.
Do not asked me to describe the union’s reaction to this directive. If I would tell you what the shop steward would have said, you had blushed. All I would say is that the steward were not happy.
Would you have known about the reaction before issuing the directive, you would have had reconsidered. One more thing: the coffee stains on my shirt, if they were to come out, should not make you thought that I were drinking coffee outside of the official break time. These stains result from coffee being thrown at me.
172 Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
Answers to Verb Mood Problems
a is. The sentence speaks of an on-going situation, so present tense is best.
bknow. The workers have been through this “chat” many times, so the act of knowing isn’t in the future but in the present.
clikes, will. The present-tense form for talking about someone (Adams, in this sentence) is likes. The future-tense verb will explains that in the coming year, as always, employees will be shopping in the bargain basement.
dIs. The expression these days is a clue that you want a present-tense verb that talks about something or someone.
e mentions. If an action always occurs, present tense is the best choice.
fmeans, will earn. The boss is talking about the future (the clue is next year). The talking takes place in the present (so you want means), but the earning is in the future (hence, will earn).
gwill replace. The maybe creates a hypothetical situation, wondering what the boss will do in the future.
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go. An on-going situation calls for present tense.
Do. The subject they calls for the plural form.
jbelieves. Although everyone sounds like a plural, it’s actually a singular pronoun requiring a singular verb.
k follow. The command is formed by stripping the to from the infinitive.
lnod, look. Drop the to and you’re in charge, commanding poor Henry to act interested even if he’s ready to call off the engagement rather than listen to one more story about French wine.
m don’t speak or do not speak. The negative command relies on do. n Ask. Poor Henry! He has to ask, which in command form is ask.
o Do not fall. Take to from the infinitive and add one do and you have a negative command.
pEat. Henry’s in for a long evening, given the command Eat, which is created by dropping to from the infinitive.
q
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Don’t talk or Do not talk. The negative command needs do or it dies.
make, keep. Drop the to from each infinitive and you’re in imperative mood.
Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood? 173
s Wish, thank. The imperative verbs are created by subtracting to from the infinitives.
tRemember. Somehow I doubt that Henry will forget this fact, but to order him, take to from the infinitive.
u be. The subjunctive is needed for this indirect command, expressed by the verb asked.
vwere. Ellen likes to sleep until mid-afternoon. As she’s not a morning person, the subjunctive verb were expresses condition-contrary-to-fact. The verb were is better than had been because Ellen still is not a morning person, and had been brings in the past.
wsnows. Surprise! This one isn’t subjunctive. The instructor is talking about a possibility, not a condition that didn’t occur. The normal indicative form, snows, is what you want.
xhad covered. The plow didn’t finish (the clue here is would have passed), so subjunctive is needed.
y be. An indirect command is created by the verb declared. The subjunctive be fits nicely.
Apostpone. The indicative (the normal, everyday form) of to postpone is postpones, when the verb is paired with examiner. Here the indirect command created by requested calls for the subjunctive postpone.
Bhad not refused. The examiner stood firm: Take the test or die. Thus the first part of this sentence is condition-contrary-to-fact and calls for the subjunctive.
Chad complained. Ellen said nothing, as revealed by the conditional would have investigated in the second part of the sentence. Subjunctive is the way to go!
Dis. Did I get you here? The possibility expressed in the if portion of the sentence calls for a normal, indicative verb (is). Stay away from subjunctive if the statement may be true.
Eis. The first part of this sentence is not condition-contrary-to-fact. It expresses a possibility and thus calls for the normal, indicative verb (is).
F had not taken. She has taken it five times, so the statement isn’t true and needs a subjunctive.
Ggoes. Here the sentence expresses a possibility. She may go and she may have more luck. Stay away from subjunctive if the sentence may be true.
Hskids. As in sentence 32, this one talks about something that is true (or may be true). Go for the normal indicative and give the subjunctive a rest.
Ihad traveled. She didn’t travel, and she (thank goodness) doesn’t have a license. This condi- tion-contrary-to-fact sentence needs the subjunctive.
Jdemonstrate. The verb requires tips you off to the fact that subjunctive is appropriate for the indirect command.