SLAY. 107.  David—­Goliath with a pebble. 108.  A brave man never boasts of having—­his thousands.

STEAL. 109.  He thinks the horse was—. 110.  Some one has—­my purse.

TAKE. 111.  I found upon inquiry that I had mis—­the house 112.  Yesterday she—­me home with her. 113.  You look as if you had—­root there.

THROW. 114.  He—­the ball to me and I—­it back. 115.  The Governor’s son was—­from his pony this morning.

WRITE. 116.  I think he should have—­and told us. 117.  He—­for the book two days ago. 118.  She has—­for samples.

* * * * *

DRINK. 119.  The toast was—­with great enthusiasm. 120.  Then they—­to the health of the President. 121.  He had once—­sour wine and slept in the secret chamber at
     Wolf’s Crag.

RING. 122.  The fire bell—­twice last night.  It had not—­for two months before. 123.  Has the last bell—?

SING.
124.  The choir boys—­the “Hallelujah Chorus” from “The Messiah.”  It seemed
     to me that they had never—­so well.

SINK. 125.  The steamer struck an iceberg and—­with all on board. 126.  They have—­two wells, but have got (gotten) no water.

SPRING. 127.  The grass—­up like magic last night. 128.  Homer describes a race of men who—­from the gods.

SWIM. 129.  I once—­three-quarters of a mile without stopping. 130.  Having—­the river, the fugitives plunged into the forest.

EXERCISE XLI.

Illustrate by original sentences the proper use of the past indicative and the past participle of each of the following verbs, thus:  A swallow FLEW into my room, but before I recovered from my surprise it had FLOWN out again.  Give to the sentences variety:—­

Awake, beat, begin, beseech, blow, bid (to order), bid (to offer), break, burst, choose, come, dive, do, drive, eat, flee, fly, flow, forget, freeze, get, go, hang, lay, lie (to recline), plead, prove, ride, rise, run, see, set, sit, shake, shoe, show, speak, slay, steal, take, throw, wake, write.

CONTRACTIONS.[71]—­Some writers hold that in careful writing contracted forms should be avoided; but all are agreed that in conversation some contractions, if correctly used, are natural and proper.  The conversation of a person who never said “can’t” for “can not,” “don’t” for “do not,” or “doesn’t” for “does not,” would seem stiff.  Care should, however, be taken not to use plural contractions for singular, or singular for plural. Don’t is a contraction of “do not,” doesn’t of “does not.”  The proper contraction of “is not” is isn’t; of “are not,” aren’t.  Daresn’t, if used at all, should be used only when “dares not” might be substituted. Ain’t is a gross vulgarism.

[71] “Foundations,” pp. 81-82.

EXERCISE XLII.

Insert the proper contraction (doesn’t, don’t) in each of the blank places:—­