A LESSON IN GRAMMAR.
What! verbs the hardest.in grammar ? They are hardly worth a thought; That is, pray note the exception— If they are properly taught. Theory confuses beginners, Abstractions puzzle at best; The way I begin is with practice, Time will take "care of the rest.
How I would teach conjunctions Is something nearly like this : *' I kiss,.thou kissest"—don't start now Indicative plural, " we kiss." Clearly to fix these examples, Once more o'er the tense let us go : "I kiss"—dear me, how imprudent!— I kiss and you answer with—" Oh! "
Now, just at the moment of action, Present gives way to the past; You kissed, and the verb is imperfect, So short does your kissing act last. "If I kiss," is present subjunctive, I doubt if a kiss is my due— " May I kiss ? "I ask in potential; You answer, imperative, " Do !"
Pluperfect " had " has no int'rest; Future with " shall" is for fools ; Perfect " I have " is prosaic, [rules. While " shall I have kissed " doubts all I kiss, thou kissest, we Iciss, dear, Now, as we sit, seems so true, That I really think that the " present " Is the best time at present—don't you ?
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18780726.2.17
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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 211, 26 July 1878, Page 2
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195A LESSON IN GRAMMAR. Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 211, 26 July 1878, Page 2
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