Exercise 4

Study carefully the following quotation. You will find in it all five of the form changes of the verb—the present time form, the s-form, the past time form, the present participle and the past participle. In the verb phrases had been filled, has survived, has gone, has proved and be dismayed, you will find the past participle used in forming the verb phrase. We will study these verb phrases in later lessons.

In the verb phrases, was stumbling, was groping, is conquering, are carrying, the present participle is used in forming the verb phrases. Could reconcile is also a verb phrase. We will study these verb phrases also in later lessons.

The present participles, struggling, persevering and regaining are used as adjectives. Study them carefully and find the words which they describe. The present participles imagining, learning and suffering are used as nouns. Note their use.

The past participles rebuffed, self-reproached, discouraged and promised are used as adjectives. Find the words which they modify. There are several present time forms, several past time forms, and several s-forms. Find them and study carefully their usage.

OUT OF THE DARK

By Helen Keller

America's famous blind girl, who has come to see more than most people with normal eyes

Step by step my investigation of blindness led me into the industrial world. And what a world it is. I faced unflinchingly a world of facts—a world of misery and degradation, of blindness, crookedness, and sin, a world struggling against the elements, against the unknown, against itself. How could I reconcile this world of fact with the bright world of my imagining? My darkness had been filled with the light of intelligence, and, behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling, was groping in social blindness. At first, I was most unhappy, but deeper study restored my confidence. By learning the suffering and burdens of men, I became aware as never before of the life-power which has survived the forces of darkness—the power which, though never completely victorious, is continuously conquering. The very fact that we are still carrying on the contest against the hosts of annihilation proves that on the whole the battle has gone for humanity. The world's great heart has proved equal to the prodigious undertaking which God set it. Rebuffed, but always persevering; self-reproached, but ever regaining faith; undaunted, tenacious, the heart of man labors towards immeasurably distant goals. Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that whispers: "Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised Land."

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