In Lesson 8, the predicates may be changed by adding or
dropping _s_, and other subjects may be found to correspond. In Lesson 9,
_s_ may be dropped from the plural subjects, and other predicates may be
found to agree.
At this stage of the work we should give no formal rules, and should avoid
such technical terms as _number, person, tense_, etc. The pupils may be led
to discover rules for themselves, and to state them informally. Exercises
and questions may be so directed that the pupils may draw some such
conclusion as the following:--
When a simple form of the verb is used to tell what one thing does, _s_ or
_es_ is added (unless the subject is _I_ or _you_).
Let the pupils see that the _s_-form of the verb is used only in telling
what one thing _does_, not what it _did_; as, "The boy _runs_," "The boy
_ran_"; and that its subject always stands for the one spoken of; as, "_He
runs_," "_I run_."
Before Lesson 12 is assigned, attention may be called to the use of _is,
was_, and _has_, in Lesson 11 and elsewhere. For the predicates introduced
by these words let the pupils find subjects which name more than one, that
they may note the change of _is_ to _are_, _was_ to _were_, and _has_ to
_have_.
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