The Blue Book of English Verbs [antikvár]

PREFACEAs we all know, it is impossible to speak or write English or any other language, without using the verb. It is the part of speech that places every-thing we say in time: that is, whether we mean the past, the present or the future. The very word tense as applied to the verb means time.This is a book of irregular verb conjugations. The verbs conjugated here have been carefully chosen as representative of those most commonly used in the English language. All the various conjugations of these irregular verbs are given. Every possible difficulty has been foreseen and dealt with.As to the conjugations of regular verbs: One regular verbthe verb to workhas been induded as a model. It is given here in all its forms and moods, as well as its use in contracted forms and in model sentences.For the student who may ask: how is one to know when a verb is regular or irregular, I mention this quite basic rule: If a verb does not end in ed in the past or the past participle (Ex.: to work, work-ed, have work-ed), then it can be safely assumed that it is irregular (Ex.: to write, wrote, have written).A word about the use of shall and should: In the future and future perfect tenses of the Indicative Mood, and the present and past tenses of the Condi-tional Mood, these appear in parentheses. This was done to suggest their use as alternatives since, in the United States, would is in more general use.The graphic, yet simple, chart arrangement of the verbs conjugated is de-signed to give the student a full and immediate view of the various forms,- to make it easy to study, refer to, learn and master. To broaden the usefulness of this book, an Appendix has been added. This consists of: a Complete List of Irregular Verbs; a List of the Personal Pronouns, included for reference; Spelling Rules for Verbs; the various uses of the Auxiliary Verb, the Detective Verb, the Impersonal Verb, the Reflexive Verb. And of course, there is a com-prehensive cross-index that both teacher and student will find especially con-venient.The verb is the only part of speech that needs to be conjugated. Without the proper use of the verb no sentence is correct, and communication is faulty. There is, however, no mystery about conjugating verbs. They can be learned; and this book is intended to help in the learning process.I have long feit the need for this book, having, for many years, taught not only students to whom English is native, but also those to whom it is a foreign language. I hope, therefore, that the Blue Book of English Verbs will have a long and useful life and that those who study with it will learn as much as I did in writing it.C.van N.