be certain. 24.  Is he very sick?  I should say he is (was). 25.  Who first asserted that virtue is (was) its own reward? 26.  We have done no more than it was our duty to do (to have done). 27.  What building is (was) that which we just passed? 28.  He impressed on us the truth that honesty is (was) the best policy. 29.  He expected to see (to have seen) you to-morrow. 30.  He expected to win (to have won) the suit, and was astonished at
    the decision of the court.
31.  The result of such constant reading by poor light would have been to
    destroy (to have destroyed) his sight.
32.  It would have given me great satisfaction to relieve (to have
    relieved) him from his distress.
33.  Who would have thought it possible to receive (to have received) a
    reply from India so soon?
34.  It would have been better to wait (to have waited). 35.  I should like to hear (to have heard) the speeches of Hayne and
    Webster.
36.  The furniture was to be (to have been) sold at auction. 37.  It was a pity I was the only child, for my mother had fondness of
    heart enough to spoil (to have spoiled) a dozen children.
38.  I am writing to him so that he may (might) be ready for us. 39.  I have written to him so that he may (might) be ready for us. 40.  I wrote to him so that he may (might) be ready for us.

EXERCISE XLIX.

Examine the tenses in the following sentences, explain any errors which you find, and correct them:—­

1.  I knew him since boyhood. 2.  It was a superstition among the Mexicans that a bullet will not kill a
   man unless it has his name stamped on it.
3.  Being absent from the last recitation, I am unable to write on the
   subject assigned this morning.
4.  Soon after Oliver reached home a servant announces the presence of
   Charles.
5. “‘Got any luck?’ says I.  ‘No,’ says he.  ‘Well,’ says I, ’I’ve got the
   finest string of trout ever was seen.’”
6.  Be virtuous and you would be happy. 7.  Stackhouse believed that he solved the problem he had so long studied
   over, and yesterday afternoon he started from his house, No. 2446 North
   Tenth Street, to make a test.
8.  This beautiful little bird that appears to the king and tries to warn
   him, was not an ordinary bird.
9.  Next September I shall be at school three years. 10.  I know very little about the “Arabian Nights,” for I have never read
    any of the stories before I came to this school.
11.  If he received your instructions he would have obeyed them. 12.  Before he was going to have the sign printed he submitted it to his
    friends for corrections.