LESSON TWO

In this Lesson you will continue studying the most important  part of speech in the English language -- verbs. You will learn about verb  fathers and the names of their children. You will also learn a little about  subjects of verbs, pronouns in particular.  

Review: In Lesson 1 you learned that verbs tell time. You also learned  three tenses. They are called Simple Tenses. The three Simple Tenses are  Present, Past, and Future. You learned the formulas for forming the three  Simple Tenses, and you also learned the two columns (infinitive form plus  Present and Past columns) of verbs on the Principal Parts of Verbs Chart.  It may not make much sense right now for you to be saying 1st column and  2nd column as part of the formulas you learned; but as you learn new verb  tenses that are more complicated, using the term columns will make it  much easier for you.  

In Lesson 1 you also learned more information about infinitives (to + a  verb). You learned that infinitives are going to be called fathers. To enjoy, to  sing, to stop, to jump, to go are all examples of fathers. 

Now you will see in Lesson 2 why it is helpful to call infinitives fathers. Every  human being has a father. Many fathers have several children. Verb  fathers can have many children, too. In fact you already learned five  children of the father to enjoy in Lesson 1. Can you name them? (enjoy,  enjoys, enjoyed, shall enjoy, will enjoy) These five children look  somewhat like their father, to enjoy, don't they? Some of you look like your  fathers; others do not. Some of the verb children look like their fathers;  other verb forms do not. 

One reason it helps to call infinitives fathers is that it helps you compare verb children to people's names. Let's consider a boy named John Smith.  John is the boy's first name; Smith is his last name. In many cases, a  person's last name is the same name as his/her father's last name. John  Smith's father's last name is Smith. When you look at the name John  Smith, you automatically assume that John is in the Smith family and that  his father's name is Smith. 

The same thing holds true about verb children. Look at the verb form shall  enjoy. Let's look at the verb shall enjoy; this is the child's name. Look at the  last word in the child's name -- enjoy. Who do you think the father is? The  

father is to enjoy. In Lesson 1 you learned that the father, to enjoy, has five  children -- enjoy, enjoys, enjoyed, shall enjoy, will enjoy. All these  children happen to look like the father to enjoy.  

Let's take another verb. For instance, let's talk about to begin. The  Present tense is begin, begins. The Past tense is began. The Future  tense is shall begin and will begin. The father is to begin. How many  children does he have? He has five: begin, begins, began, shall begin,  will begin. Who is the father of will begin? Look at the last word in the  child's name -- begin. Will begin is a child of the father, to begin. Now do  you see how it works? 

In a complete sentence, a verb has a subject or subjects. These subjects will  be nouns or pronouns. (A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.) Yes, the verb is king of the English sentence. Most everything else in the sentence has to follow the king's orders. However, there is one exception: subjects. A subject(s) tells  the verb what to do. If the subject is singular (one person, place, or thing),  then the verb has to be singular, too. If the subject is plural (two or more  persons, places, or things), then the verb has to be plural, too. Look at the following sentences.

Example: Lawanda sings well. Lawanda is one person and is a singular  subject. The subject tells the verb to be singular, too. Therefore, the verb  sings is singular. 

Example: Felipa and Jorge climb the stairs. Felipa and Jorge are two  subjects. Therefore, the subjects tell the verb to be plural; climb is plural. 

You are probably wondering how you are going to tell whether a verb is  singular or plural. You are going to learn how to conjugate. Conjugation  will help you find all the children of a verb father and will also help you know  which children to use in your sentences.  

Before you can learn how to conjugate, you need to start by learning the  Pronoun Chart. Notice that there is a Singular side and a Plural side to the  Pronoun Chart. Next notice that instead of listing nouns (e.g., house, cat,  Mark, Nathan, car), the chart shows pronouns. Pronouns take the place of  nouns and are much easier for you to use on this chart than nouns would be.  Sandra is a noun and could be a subject of a verb. What word could take  the place of Sandra and be a subject of a verb? She could take the place of  Sandra, couldn't it?  

Notice the pronouns listed in the Pronoun Chart: I, you, he, she, it, we,  you, they. Those are pretty simple, aren't they? Now let's see where these  pronouns are placed on the chart: 

TELL ME MORE! Click the PLAY button to hear additional  information. 

As you read down the Singular column, you see the pronouns I, you, he,  she, it. Those all seem singular, don't they? You wouldn't use the pronoun he to refer to several boys, would you? 

As you read down the Plural column, you see the pronouns we, you, they.  Those also seem simple. The word they definitely seems plural because you would use the pronoun they when talking about several persons, places, or  things. 

Please notice that the word you can be either singular or plural. When you say  the word you and you are talking to a whole group of people, the word you would be plural. If you are talking to one person and say the word you, then it  is singular.  

You are probably wondering what 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person mean. 1st person means I am the speaker. 2nd person means you are  the speaker. 3rd person is when you talk about someone or something.  Don't let this person information bother you because you will understand it  better as you go along. The main thing is that you have to learn the  pronouns listed in the Pronoun Chart.  

1st person = the person speaking 

 2nd person = the person being spoken to 

                            3rd person = the person/place/thing being talked about 

Now look at the Pronoun Chart below. Take your fingers and follow these  directions. Put one finger on the pronoun that is 1st person. Put another  finger on the pronoun that is Singular. What pronoun is written at the place  where the 1st person and Singular intersect? (I) Following the same  directions, what pronouns are written at the place where Singular and 3rd  person intersect? (he, she, it) Now why don't you see how you do on  Practice Quiz 3?  

You now understand which pronouns are singular and which are plural. You  also know where each pronoun is written (1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd  person). 

In Lesson 3 you will learn how this Pronoun Chart which gives you subjects can be used to help you learn how to conjugate. Conjugation is the process  that will help you learn which verbs are correct to use.