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PRACTICE
MAKES
PERFECT ®
Basic English
PREMIUM THIRD EDITION
Julie Lachance
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This book is dedicated to my students because they have taught
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Contents
Introduction vii
1 To Be: Present Tense 1
2 To Be: Present Tense: Negative Form 5
3 To Be: Present Tense: Question Form 9
4 To Be: Past Tense 13
5 To Be: Past Tense: Negative Form 17
6 To Be: Past Tense: Question Form 21
7 Exceptional Uses with the Verb To Be 25
8 Adjectives 29
9 To Have: Present Tense 33
10 To Have: Present Tense: Negative Form 37
11 To Have: Present Tense: Question Form 41
12 The Simple Present Tense 45
13 The Simple Present Tense: Negative Form 49
14 The Simple Present Tense: Question Form 53
15 Possessive Adjectives 57
iii

16 The Simple Past Tense 61
17 The Simple Past Tense with Irregular Verbs: 1 65
20 The Simple Past Tense: Negative Form 77
21 The Simple Past Tense: Question Form 81
22 Prepositions: In and On 85
23 There Is and There Are: Present Tense 89
24 There Is and There Are: Present Tense: Negative Form 93
25 There Is and There Are: Present Tense: Question Form 97
26 There Is and There Are: Past Tense 101
27 There Is and There Are: Past Tense: Negative Form 106
28 There Is and There Are: Past Tense: Question Form 110
29 Prepositions: To and At 114
30 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense 118
31 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

Negative Form 122
32 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

Question Form 126
33 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense 130
34 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

Negative Form 134
35 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

Question Form 138
36 Prepositions: From and Of 142
iv Contents

37 Will: Future Tense 146
38 Will: Future Tense: Negative Form 150
39 Will: Future Tense: Question Form 154
40 Be Going To: Future Tense 158
41 Be Going To: Future Tense: Negative Form 162
42 Be Going To: Future Tense: Question Form 166
43 The Indefinite Articles: A and An 170
44 Irregular Verbs Table 174
45 The Present Perfect Tense 178
46 The Present Perfect Tense: Negative Form 182
47 The Present Perfect Tense: Question Form 186
48 The Past Perfect Tense 190
49 The Past Perfect Tense: Negative Form 194
50 The Past Perfect Tense: Question Form 198
51 The Future Perfect Tense 202
52 The Future Perfect Tense: Negative Form 206
53 The Future Perfect Tense: Question Form 210
REVIEW EXERCISES
54 Verb Tenses Review: 1 217
Contents v

58 Verb Tenses Practice: 1 233
59 Verb Tenses Practice: 2 238
60 Regular and Irregular Verbs Review 242
61 Grammar Review 245
62 Vocabulary Review 251
63 Word Search Puzzles 254
64 Scrambled Sentences 258
APPENDIX
Pronunciation Exercises 261
Answer Key 341
vi Contents

Introduction
Congratulations on choosing Practice Makes Perfect: Basic English for your first
year of English language learning.
There is really only one way to learn a new language, and that is to build your
vocabulary, learn the verb tenses and the mechanics of that language, and then
practice, practice, practice. This workbook was designed to help you do just that.
This workbook will help you to proficiently learn and effectively master the
strategies and methods needed to provide you with a solid foundation in English.
All the lessons are presented in a simple and progressive format designed to help
you retain the knowledge and gain confidence by applying and reinforcing the
skills acquired throughout the workbook.
You will learn the mechanics of English through user-friendly, interactive,
and well-constructed grammar exercises. These exercises are loaded with everyday
basic words intended to help you quickly and efficiently enrich your vocabulary
and give you a firm understanding of the lesson before moving on to the next.
Ample space is provided in each lesson for you to record your new vocabu-
lary words in a central location to allow you to study these words regularly and
refer back to them quickly when necessary. Be sure to learn these words by heart
as they are basic and useful English words.
The second section of Practice Makes Perfect: Basic English provides you with
a variety of review exercises specially designed to allow you to measure your com-
prehension and retention of the concepts covered in the lessons of this workbook.
Since these review exercises are directly related to the learning objectives of this
workbook, they will allow you to recognize your achievements and highlight your
progress. They will also provide you with the opportunity to strengthen your abil-
ities by serving as extra practice for the material previously studied. To assure a
fair and accurate self-evaluation of your progress, be sure to complete the entire
workbook before attempting these review exercises.
This Premium Third Edition is enhanced by 50 pronunciation exercises,
available as streaming audio through the McGraw-Hill Education Language Lab
app. These exercises provide extensive practice of the sounds that learners of Eng-
lish find particularly difficult—simply listen and repeat. The text of the thirty
example sentences for each exercise is provided in the appendix of this book, as
well as within the app.
Learning a new language is an interesting and exciting journey that is
enhanced when the learning material is presented in a stimulating and enjoyable
manner that encourages a learner to keep moving forward.
vii

We wish you much success and enjoyment throughout your learning process using this
workbook, and we are confident that you will gain from it exactly what was intended: a solid
comprehension of your first year of English language learning.
Good luck, and above all, have fun.
viii Contents

To Be: Present Tense ·1·
The verb to be describes the identity, qualities, or condition of a person or object.

Use the following to form the present tense of the verb to be.
I am → I am happy today.
you are → You are smart.
he is → He is my friend.
she is → She is busy.
it is → It is true.
we are → We are tired.
they are → They are here.
EXERCISE
1·1

Use your dictionary to find the meaning of the new vocabulary words
needed for this exercise before you begin. Write the words in your
language in the space provided.
flashlight happy

kitchen sick
girl flower
vacuum tent
counter toy
basement ribbon
closet dirty
today pink
nice pretty
smart yellow
microwave oven here
busy ready
small fridge
floor hair
tired twins
true friend

Rewrite the following sentences to create the present tense by choosing the correct form of the verb to be
in parentheses.
1. The girl (am, is, are) pretty.
2. I (am, is, are) ready.
3. She (am, is, are) my friend.
4. They (am, is, are) twins.
5. The flowers (am, is, are) yellow.
6. The flashlight (am, is, are) in the tent.
7. The fridge and counter in the kitchen (am, is, are) dirty.
8. I (am, is, are) tired today.
9. We (am, is, are) busy.
10. The toys (am, is, are) in the basement.
11. The ribbons in my hair (am, is, are) pink.
12. The kitchen (am, is, are) very small.
13. The vacuum (am, is, are) in the closet.
14. He (am, is, are) nice.
15. The microwave oven (am, is, are) in the kitchen.
2 practice makes perfect Basic English

16. The toy (am, is, are) on the floor.
17. I (am, is, are) sick today.
EXERCISE
1·2
Use your dictionary to find the meaning of the new vocabulary words needed for this
exercise before you begin. Write the words in your language in the space provided.
aunt cousin

cloud uncle
red bright
window blue
cold brother
teacher class
man tall
news hot
furniture upstairs
moon green
bug woman
bald student
open juice
sad lawyer
room grass
old lazy
Complete the following sentences using the correct form of the verb to be.
1. My aunt nice.

2. The clouds white.
3. Kathy sick.
4. The ribbons yellow.
5. We twins.
6. The windows open.
7. Colton and Cody brothers.
To Be: Present Tense 3

8. We teachers.
9. It a French book.
10. You very smart.
11. It sad news.
12. She my cousin.
13. You tired.
14. The grass green.
15. It in my room.
16. They lazy.
17. The flower yellow.
18. The bug on the counter.
19. I tall.
20. The man happy.
21. The vacuum red.
22. The tent blue.
23. The juice cold.
24. She a student.
25. They in my class.
26. The woman a lawyer.
27. She upstairs.
28. The teacher smart.
29. The ribbon blue.
30. The water hot.
31. My uncle bald.
32. The furniture old.
33. The fridge in the kitchen.
34. The moon bright.

To Be: Present Tense:
Negative Form
·2·
Place not after the verb to be to create the negative form of the present tense.
I am → I am not → I am not ready.
you are → you are not → You are not busy.
he is → he is not → He is not my friend.
she is → she is not → She is not tall.
it is → it is not → It is not true.
we are → we are not → We are not tired.
they are → they are not → They are not pink.
The negative form of the present tense of the verb to be can also be expressed
with the contraction isn’t or aren’t. There is no contraction for am not.
I am not → I am not → I am not sick.
you are not → you aren’t → You aren’t a teacher.
he is not → he isn’t → He isn’t a lawyer.
she is not → she isn’t → She isn’t ready.
it is not → it isn’t → It isn’t a toy.
we are not → we aren’t → We aren’t twins.
they are not → they aren’t → They aren’t yellow.
EXERCISE
2·1
table neighbor

city cheese
kid Italian
sister early
bus Spanish
sister-in-law drawer
sour empty
lime pregnant

Rewrite the following sentences to express the negative form. Write the sentence once using am not, is not,
or are not and once using the contraction isn’t or aren’t.
1. The cheese is on the table.
2. She is my sister.
3. My neighbors are Spanish.
4. My sister-in-law is Italian.
5. Diane is pregnant.
6. The limes are sour.
7. The bus is empty.
8. The kids are early for class today.
9. The drawers are empty.
10. It is a nice city.

EXERCISE
2·2
boss wife

mall boy
far dragonfly
subway full
road white
eraser bowl
fair black
wide hand
husband pen
good expensive
idea late
store car
key garbage can
office garbage bag
work shelf
book pencil case
school shoe
ceiling doctor
Use am not or the contraction isn’t or aren’t to complete the following negative sentences.
1. The subway full.

2. The windows dirty.
3. It a dragonfly.
4. The keys in the car.
5. The microwave oven in the kitchen.
6. My boss at the office.
7. The boys in the tent.
8. We busy at work.
9. My hands dirty.
10. The eraser in the pencil case.
11. She a teacher in my school.
To Be: Present Tense: Negative Form 7

12. The ceiling white.
13. The bowls on the table.
14. The garbage bags in the drawer.
15. The garbage can full.
16. The store far.
17. It fair.
18. The roads in the city wide.
19. My husband a doctor.
20. The pens black.
21. The books on the shelf.
22. The vacuum in the basement.
23. They friends.
24. The ribbon red.
25. She late for class today.
26. It true.
27. I tired.
28. Barry a good student.
29. The juice cold.
30. My wife at the mall.
31. The shoes expensive.
32. The students tired today
33. The woman old.
34. It a good idea.

To Be: Present Tense:
Question Form
·3·
Place the verb to be before the subject to create the question form of the present
tense.
I am → am I → Am I late?
you are → are you → Are you my new boss?
he is → is he → Is he your teacher?
she is → is she → Is she your neighbor?
it is → is it → Is it expensive?
we are → are we → Are we early?
they are → are they → Are they in the basement?
EXERCISE
3·1
wheel pond

policeman bathroom
goldfish outside
sweet toothbrush
meeting toothpaste
serious bathing suit
English desk
orange coat
sharpener cow
clothesline box
garage calf
French frog
brown poor
downstairs very

Rewrite the following sentences to create questions by placing the verb to be before the subject.
Don’t forget to include a question mark (?) in your answer.
1. The wheels are in the garage.
2. The sharpener is on my desk.
3. The toothbrush and toothpaste are in the bathroom.
4. My bathing suit is on the clothesline.
5. I am in your English class.
6. It is cold outside.
7. He is a policeman in the city.
8. The coats are on the floor.
9. Johanne and Véronique are in a meeting.
10. The toys are in the box downstairs.
11. The cow and calf are brown.
12. The orange juice is sweet.
13. The frogs are in the pond.
14. The goldfish is in the bowl.
15. You are serious.
16. Marie is French.

EXERCISE
3·2
knife gate

dishwasher printer
fork nail polish
bill bird
correct skunk
living room pillow
clean accountant
real ink
sharp fence
lipstick thread
oven curtain
bed pen
funny Mrs.
pearl pot
sheet birdhouse
turkey pan
Chinese pig
Mr. garden
Scottish again
needle there
Complete the following questions using the correct form of the verb to be.
1. it cold in Canada?

2. the skunks in my garden again?
3. the needle and thread in the drawer?
4. he a good accountant?
5. they in the living room?
6. the ink in the printer?
7. the pots and pans clean?
8. she your sister-in-law?
9. the forks in the dishwasher?
To Be: Present Tense: Question Form 11

10. we ready?
11. it a black pen?
12. I nice?
13. you busy today?
14. the gate open?
15. the fridge empty?
16. Mr. and Mrs. Yee Chinese?
17. the pillows on the bed?
18. the fence white?
19. the books on the shelf?
20. the sheets on the clothesline?
21. the curtains blue?
22. the nail polish purple?
23. the pearls real?
24. Mrs. McMahon Scottish?
25. the turkey in the oven?
26. the birds in the birdhouse?
27. the pigs in the pen?
28. the knife sharp?
29. the bill correct?
30. the lipstick red or pink?
31. they there?
32. I funny?

To Be: Past Tense · 4 ·
The past tense of the verb to be is created by using was or were in place of am, is,
and are.
I am → I was → I was tired at school today.
you are → you were → You were downstairs.
he is → he was → He was funny.
she is → she was → She was at work.
it is → it was → It was on the shelf.
we are → we were → We were upstairs.
they are → they were → They were here.
EXERCISE
4 ·1
snake farm

diaper minnow
sorry crust
beach grandmother
pencil hairdresser
bag exam
roommate thick
laundry room pool
bucket washer
pocket dryer
13

Rewrite the following sentences to create the past tense by changing the present tense form of the verb
to be to the past tense form.
1. He is my roommate.
2. It is in my pocket.
3. The snake is in the garden.
4. The diapers are in the bag.
5. Lisa is sick.
6. The kids are in the pool.
7. The bucket is full of minnows.
8. The washer and dryer are in the laundry room.
9. I am in my office.
10. The pencil is on the floor.
11. Sorry that I am late.
12. The flowers are for Jennifer.
13. My grandmother is in the hospital.
14. The exam is easy.
15. The crust is very thick.
16. The farm is very far.

EXERCISE
4 ·2
huge cupboard

ring asleep
crib skating rink
story slipper
fresh wedding
soft egg
spicy shower
baby awake
with vase
wine locker
cellar soup
rake whale
downtown bedroom
broken last night
godmother couch
yesterday both
candle library
nurse cafeteria
Complete the following past tense sentences using was or were.
1. The baby in the crib.

2. The candles on the table.
3. It a good story.
4. They awake.
5. My godmother asleep on the couch.
6. The wine in the cellar.
7. I ready.
8. He in the shower.
9. The bowls in the cupboard.
10. The girls at the skating rink.
11. The moon bright last night.
To Be: Past Tense 15

12. The juice fresh.
13. The eggs on the counter.
14. My sister outside.
15. The keys in the car.
16. The ring expensive.
17. You at the wedding.
18. The soup hot and spicy.
19. Both pillows soft.
20. Annie a nurse.
21. The flowers in the vase.
22. The rake in the garage.
23. My slippers in the bedroom.
24. The whale huge.
25. We downtown yesterday.
26. Chris in the cafeteria with Cory.
27. It in my locker.
28. We at the library.
29. The pool small.
30. The printer broken.
31. My pockets full.
32. The teachers in the office.

To Be: Past Tense:
Negative Form
·5·
Place not after the past tense form of the verb to be to create a negative sentence.
I was → I was not → I was not sick yesterday.
you were → you were not → You were not at the beach.
he was → he was not → He was not at the meeting.
she was → she was not → She was not very nice.
it was → it was not → It was not on my desk.
we were → we were not → We were not late.
they were → they were not → They were not ready.
The negative form of the past tense of the verb to be can also be expressed
with the contraction wasn’t or weren’t.
I was not → I wasn’t → I wasn’t tired last night.
you were not → you weren’t → You weren’t at work today.
he was not → he wasn’t → He wasn’t serious.
she was not → she wasn’t → She wasn’t here yesterday.
it was not → it wasn’t → It wasn’t true.
we were not → we weren’t → We weren’t at the library.
they were not → they weren’t → They weren’t busy last night.
EXERCISE
5·1
dress list

purple year
tree joke
raccoon plate
waitress play (n)
fast name
17

Rewrite the following sentences to express the negative form. Write the sentence once using was not or
were not and once using the contraction wasn’t or weren’t.
1. The dress was blue.
2. The couch in the living room was dirty.
3. They were very fast.
4. It was a good joke.
5. The raccoons were in the tree.
6. The slippers were purple.
7. We were at the play last night.
8. The plates were in the dishwasher.
9. Karen was a waitress for three years.
10. My name was on the list.

EXERCISE
5·2
phone stove

quiet cat
mark ugly
clever slide
landlord horn
butter sock
deep long
loud big
jam lake
off toolbox
binder ground
shaver stroller
nest rat
right answer movie
powder snowstorm
stain light
funeral hammer
Greek bread
polite museum
vegetable on
Use the contraction wasn’t or weren’t to complete the following negative sentences.
1. My marks good at school last year.

2. It a raccoon; it was a skunk.
3. The stain on the floor big.
4. The vegetables fresh.
5. You very polite with the landlord.
6. It the right answer.
7. The horn in my car loud.
8. We at the funeral.
To Be: Past Tense: Negative Form 19

9. The kids quiet today in class.
10. The grass long.
11. She very clever.
12. The lake deep.
13. The baby in the stroller.
14. He on the slide.
15. My socks on the clothesline.
16. The shaver in the bathroom.
17. The bread and butter on the counter.
18. The museum very big.
19. The rats in the cellar.
20. The nest on the ground.
21. I on the phone.
22. It a big snowstorm.
23. The binders in my locker.
24. The man Greek; he was Italian.
25. The jam in the fridge.
26. It a good movie.
27. The lights on.
28. The stove off.
29. It ugly.
30. The cat black.
31. The hammer in the toolbox.
32. The powder on the shelf.

To Be: Past Tense:
Question Form
·6·
Place was or were before the subject to form questions in the past tense of the verb
to be.
I was → was I → Was I funny?
you were → were you → Were you awake?
he was → was he → Was he very tall?
she was → was she → Was she downtown?
it was → was it → Was it on the floor?
we were → were we → Were we fast?
they were → were they → Were they asleep?
EXERCISE
6·1
recipe easy

ship velvet
free enough
angry nail clippers
low kindergarten
door flight attendant
lady tablecloth
thin bitter
young seasick
crutches behind
ashtray together
sky airplane
21

Rewrite the following sentences to create questions in the past tense by placing was or were before the
subject. Don’t forget to include a question mark (?) in your answer.
1. It was free.
2. The airplane was very low in the sky.
3. The mall was empty.
4. They were in kindergarten together.
5. It was bitter.
6. You were angry at Susan.
7. The recipe was easy.
8. The nail clippers were in the drawer.
9. The curtains were velvet.
10. The tablecloth was dirty.
11. It was enough.
12. She was a flight attendant when she was young.
13. The ashtrays were full.
14. The lady was thin.
15. Claude was seasick on the ship.
16. The crutches were behind the door.

EXERCISE
6·2
plastic boring

rotten water
swan ripe
teller on fire
cashier driveway
after parking lot
jar laptop computer
rib hardware store
marker awful
result snowflake
snow every day
iron instructions
teddy bear new
grocery store report card
warm open
high school pumpkin
deodorant fruit
bank high chair
blanket president
weather brush
Complete the following sentences using was or were to form questions in the past tense.
1. the weather awful?

2. the snowflakes big?
3. he at school every day?
4. you a cashier at the grocery store?
5. the movie boring?
6. the vegetables fresh?
7. your report card good?
8. the jars on the shelf?
9. the laptop computer new?
To Be: Past Tense: Question Form 23

10. the teddy bear in the crib?
11. the fruit in the bowl ripe?
12. the baby in the high chair?
13. you in my class in high school?
14. the hardware store open?
15. the ribs good?
16. the swan white?
17. the blankets warm?
18. Sandra on the phone?
19. they at the museum?
20. the pumpkins rotten?
21. the brush in the bathroom?
22. the house on fire?
23. the results good?
24. the driveway full of snow?
25. the iron hot?
26. he the president?
27. the water cold?
28. the deodorant in the bathroom?
29. Linda a teller at the bank?
30. the parking lot full?
31. the instructions in the plastic bag?
32. the marker yellow?
33. I fast enough?
34. you at the funeral?
35. they in the garden?
36. she at the meeting?
37. it expensive?
38. we late for school yesterday?
39. he at the beach with Mary?

Exceptional Uses with
the Verb To Be
· 7·
The following are common expressions that use the verb to be.
to be cold to be hungry to be twenty-five years old
to be hot to be thirsty to be scared/afraid
to be right to be wrong to be ashamed
EXERCISE
7·1
because thunder

snowball please
mother father
behavior this morning
spider race
lightning son
all the time size
daughter guest
birthday last
breakfast dark
Rewrite the following sentences using the correct form of the verb to be. Use the
information in parentheses at the end of each sentence to help you determine the correct
tense and to know whether the sentence is affirmative or negative.
1. My daughter (to be) afraid of the dark. (present tense, affirmative)
2. (To be) Jason right? (present tense, affirmative)
25

3. She (to be) hungry for breakfast this morning. (past tense, negative)
4. Please open the windows. I (to be) very hot. (present tense, affirmative)
5. I (to be) ashamed of the size of my shoes. (present tense, negative)
6. Cathy (to be) thirty-three years old on her last birthday. (past tense, affirmative)
7. We (to be) very thirsty after the race. (past tense, affirmative)
8. You (to be) wrong again. (present tense, affirmative)
9. I (to be) right all the time. (present tense, negative)
10. (To be) you scared of thunder? (present tense, affirmative)
11. He (to be) afraid of the lightning. (past tense, negative)
12. I (to be) cold this morning. (past tense, affirmative)
13. (To be) the guests hungry? (present tense, affirmative)
14. My mother and father (to be) ashamed of my behavior. (past tense, affirmative)
15. (To be) your son scared of spiders? (present tense, affirmative)
16. I (to be) eighteen years old. (present tense, negative)

17. Bill is happy because he (to be) right. (present tense, affirmative)
18. I (to be) cold because of the snowballs in my pocket. (present tense, affirmative)
EXERCISE
7·2
needle jellyfish

never frequently
crow summer
shark usually
Complete the following sentences using the correct form of the verb to be.
1. He ashamed of you. (past tense, negative)

2. they cold at the beach? (past tense, affirmative)
3. She right. (present tense, negative)
4. We wrong. (past tense, affirmative)
5. Sharon twenty-two years old today. (present tense, affirmative)
6. It hot last summer. (past tense, affirmative)
7. Mark afraid of needles. (present tense, negative)
8. I hungry all the time. (present tense, affirmative)
9. The baby thirsty. (present tense, negative)
10. He wrong. (present tense, affirmative)
11. she right? (past tense, affirmative)
12. It cold in Canada in the winter. (present tense, affirmative)
13. you scared of sharks? (present tense, affirmative)
14. it hot in your class yesterday? (past tense, affirmative)
15. it cold outside? (past tense, affirmative)
16. They wrong. (past tense, negative)
17. She ashamed of her son. (present tense, negative)
18. you cold? (past tense, affirmative)
Exceptional Uses with the Verb To Be 27

19. I twenty-two years old. (past tense, negative)
20. They ashamed of her. (present tense, negative)
21. Marcel right. (present tense, affirmative)
22. Ben thirsty? (past tense, affirmative)
23. The boys hungry. (present tense, negative)
24. I scared of jellyfish. (present tense, affirmative)
25. The girls thirsty. (present tense, affirmative)
26. they ashamed of me? (past tense, affirmative)
27. It afraid of you. (past tense, negative)
28. Lucy usually right. (present tense, affirmative)
29. He scared of crows. (present tense, negative)
30. It cold downstairs. (past tense, affirmative)
31. She frequently wrong. (present tense, affirmative)
32. Peter hungry? (present tense, affirmative)
33. I afraid of the frog. (past tense, negative)
34. We very hungry. (present tense, affirmative)

Adjectives ·8·
Adjectives are used to describe nouns. They are placed before the noun.
a little dog a clean house a nice neighbor a good friend
a pink flower a busy man a good recipe a blue bucket
Adjectives never take -s even if the noun is plural.
brown cows big snowflakes expensive cars clean floors
young girls pretty ribbons dirty shoes soft pillows
EXERCISE
8·1
Use your dictionary to find the meaning of the following verbs and
vocabulary words needed for this exercise before you begin. Write the
words in your language in the space provided.
to drink to see

to want to look
hard leather

little hairy
test for sale
cute beautiful
prune country
handsome windy
Rewrite the following sentences, and include the adjective(s) in the correct place in each
sentence.
1. The house is for sale. (cute, little)
2. It is a knife. (very, sharp)
29

3. He is a man. (tall, handsome)
4. It was a day yesterday. (cold, windy)
5. I want a jacket. (black, leather)
6. They drink juice every morning. (prune)
7. The bug is in my shoe. (big, green)
8. Elizabeth is a teacher. (French)
9. The spider is in the kitchen. (ugly, hairy)
10. Canada is a country. (big, beautiful)
11. The test was hard. (English)
12. He was a policeman. (nice)
13. Look at the snow. (beautiful, white)
14. The frog is in the pond. (little, green)
15. It was a whale. (huge)

EXERCISE
8·2
Use your dictionary to find the meaning of the following verbs and vocabulary words
needed for this exercise before you begin. Write the words in your language in the space
provided.
to make to wear

to hate to need
to like to watch
to love to draw
pie right

silver cake
star BBQ
watch knee
junk wealthy
sore dessert
food swollen
balloon left
rhubarb strawberry
Mexican yogurt
picture round
identical chocolate
Rewrite the following sentences and include the adjective(s) in the correct place in the sentence.
1. It was a winter. (long, hard)
2. I need a watch. (new, silver)
3. My hand is sore. (right)
4. I want the balloons. (round)
5. We like to watch movies. (old)
6. Look at the stars in the sky. (bright)
Adjectives 31

7. I like chips. (BBQ)
8. They want cake for dessert. (chocolate)
9. I love food. (Mexican)
10. He is a lawyer. (wealthy)
11. You draw pictures. (funny)
12. It was a meeting. (long, boring)
13. My knee is swollen. (left)
14. The kids like food. (junk)
15. We like to make pies. (rhubarb)
16. I hate yogurt. (strawberry)
17. We wear shoes to school. (white)
18. They are twins. (identical)

To Have: Present Tense ·9·
Use the following to express the present tense of the verb to have.
I have → I have a red sharpener.
you have → You have a beautiful living room.
he has → He has a nice wife.
she has → She has a blue toothbrush.
it has → It has a small baby.
we have → We have a swimming pool.
they have → They have a new car.
EXERCISE
9·1
skill week

bad attitude
roof terrible
skirt smile
headache milk
dandruff short
sandwich next
day off taste
eye shadow paw
tail sleeping bag
lunch housekeeper
weird peanut butter
33

Rewrite the following sentences using has or have to form the present tense of the verb to have.
1. He (have, has) a bad attitude.
2. The cat (have, has) white paws.
3. I (have, has) a peanut butter sandwich for lunch today.
4. Maria (have, has) a red velvet skirt.
5. We (have, has) a nice landlord.
6. Jessica (have, has) a terrible headache.
7. We (have, has) a good housekeeper.
8. She (have, has) a lot of dandruff.
9. Tony (have, has) very good skills.
10. The milk (have, has) a weird taste.
11. The house (have, has) a green roof.
12. It (have, has) a short tail.
13. We (have, has) a day off next week.
14. I (have, has) a warm sleeping bag.
15. My sister (have, has) purple eye shadow.
16. You (have, has) a nice smile.

EXERCISE
9·2
moose motorcycle

heartburn shorts
nail puppy
education monkey
kitten kettle
mailman licorice
same seat
banana bedroom
antlers cold (n)
letter rocking chair
parakeet skate
scary girlfriend
duck duckling
helmet luggage
area code braid
purse mirror
sunflower clock radio
boyfriend skipping rope
Complete the following sentences using has or have to form the present tense of the verb to have.
1. I heartburn.
2. He a black helmet.
3. Karina long braids.
4. We rats in the basement.
5. The monkey a banana.
6. I a mirror in my purse.
7. Jay a fast motorcycle.
8. My cat two orange kittens.
9. My sister a boyfriend.
10. I a clock radio in my bedroom.
11. It leather seats.
To Have: Present Tense 35

12. My aunt a cold.
13. Naomi a skipping rope.
14. Derek and Joe black licorice.
15. We a white fridge.
16. He a bad report card this year.
17. The moose big antlers.
18. Billy blue shorts.
19. We sunflowers in the garden.
20. I a new kettle.
21. The mailman a letter for you.
22. They a new puppy.
23. She white skates.
24. You long nails.
25. The duck seven ducklings.
26. We the same area code.
27. My brother a new girlfriend.
28. She a lot of luggage.
29. He a good education.
30. I a rocking chair in my living room.
31. Nathan a scary movie.
32. Jason a blue parakeet.

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VI.
On the 17th of the following March, at the Hôtel de Chimay, now

connected with the École des Beaux Arts, the exhibition of the works
of him whom we have surnamed the “Primitif” was opened. All the
works of Bastien, with the exception of the Jeanne d’Arc, were
collected there.
On visiting this exhibition the most prejudiced minds were struck
with the suppleness, the fecundity, and power of the talent of this
painter, carried off at the age of thirty-six. For the first time his varied
and original work could be judged as a whole.
One could study in detail these productions of a thoroughly
conscientious artist, and follow the growth of each composition as
one follows the development of a beautiful plant—first in the
drawings, so pure, so sober, and expressive; then in the sketches so
truthful and sincere; and, lastly, in the finished pictures, so
harmonious and luminous. By the side of the great pictures, Les
Foins (The Hay), La Saison d’Octobre (October), Le Mendiant (The
Beggar), Père Jacques (Father Jacques), and L’Amour au Village
(Love in the Village), like windows opening upon life itself, one
admired that collection of small portraits in which the most
penetrating physiological observation was united with an execution
most masterly, precise, and delicate. One passed delighted from
those interiors worthy of the Dutch painters, such as La Forge and
La Lessive, to the landscapes breathing the odours of the fields and
of the woods, such as Le Vieux Gueux (The Old Beggar), Les
Vendanges (The Vintage), La Prairie (The Meadow), La Mare (The
Pool), Les Blés Mûrs (Ripe Corn), or to those full of air and motion,
like London Bridge and the Thames; then one stopped before La
Petite fille allant à la École (The Little Girl going to School), or that
poetic Idyl, Le Soir au Village (Evening in the Village).
The Inn.
By Jules Bastien-Lepage.
In this exhibition containing more than two hundred canvases and
a hundred drawings, there was nothing trifling, nothing indifferent.
The smallest sketches were interesting because they revealed
passionate worship of what is simple and natural, hatred of the
almost and the conventional, and the incessant striving of the artist
after his ideal, which is Truth.
A healthy and robust poetry exhaled from this collection. One left
the Hôtel de Chimay with a sensation of strengthening and reviving
pleasure, such as one gets from certain aspects of nature—deep
woods, limpid waters, and the bright sky of a summer morning.
Unhappily this joy was mixed with the sad thought of the sudden
death of the young man who had produced all this masterly work.
On first entering these rooms reserved for his pictures I was, for a
long time, impressed with a feeling that I had already experienced at
the exhibition of the works of the talented young artist, Mdlle.
Bashkirtseff, mown down like Bastien, in full youth, and at the same
time as he. This cruel death seemed only a bad dream.
On seeing again these unfinished sketches, these perfect
portraits, these canvases that I had seen him paint one after another,
I felt as if I was conversing with the painter and the friend who had
created all this. I felt that he was still living and in possession of all
his force. I expected every moment to see him appear among us,
smiling, happy, fortified by the now unanimous admiration of the
crowd gathered before his work.
Alas! instead of himself my eyes only met his portrait, placed in
the first room, and the mournful eloquence of the wreaths and
flowers attached to the frame recalled me harshly to the heartrending
reality.
The poor “Primitif” will paint no more. The atelier at Damvillers
where we have spent such happy hours is closed for ever. The
peasants of the village will no more meet their countryman on the
roads where he used to work in the open air. The rustic flowers that
he used to paint in the foreground of his pictures, the blue chicory
and the groundsel, will flower again this summer by the edges of the
fields, but he will not be there to study and admire them.
Among the sketches exhibited by the side of the great pictures
there was one that I had already remarked at Damvillers, and that I
now saw again with deep emotion. It represents an old peasant
woman going in the early morning into her garden to visit her apple
tree in blossom. The nights of April are perfidious, and the spring
frosts give mortal wounds; the old woman draws to her a flowering
branch and inspects with anxious eye the disasters caused by the
hurtful rays of the red moon. Bastien-Lepage was like this tree, full of
sap and of promising blossom. For years the heavens had been
clement to him, and the flowers had given many and rich fruits; then
in a single night a murderous frost destroyed all—the open flowers
by thousands, and the tree itself. All that remains is the splendid fruit
of past seasons, but the exquisite flavour of that the world will long
enjoy.
Things truly beautiful have wonderful vitality and last on through
the centuries, hovering above the earth where the generations of
men go turn by turn to sleep,—and this survival of the works of the
spirit of man is perhaps the surest immortality upon which he can
count.
JULES BASTIEN-LEPAGE AS
ARTIST.
Bas-Relief Portrait of Bastien-Lepage.
By Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
JULES BASTIEN-LEPAGE AS ARTIST.
The work of Bastien-Lepage ranks, to my mind, with the very best in

modern art. He brought to us what was in some ways a new view of
nature—one whose truth was at once admitted, but which was
nevertheless the cause of much discussion and criticism. It was
objected to mainly, I think, as not being in accord with established
rules, but nevertheless the objectors expressed their admiration for
the skill of the painter; while, on the other hand, for those who
accepted him (chiefly the younger men these), no praise was too
great, no admiration too enthusiastic.
It is only a few years since his untimely death was mourned as a
loss to the whole art-world, for his whole career is so recent that his
fellow-students are still young men, many of them only now
beginning to obtain full recognition; and yet it is perhaps long enough
ago to enable his work to be considered as a whole, and his place in
the art-movement to be seen. For although he was an innovator, and
one showing in all he did a strong individuality, the general direction
of his genius was given him by the artistic tendencies of his time.
It will be generally admitted that if painting has made any advance
in our day, if it shows in any direction a new departure, or fresh
revelation of the beauty that exists throughout nature, it is in the
development of the problems which have arisen from the study of
landscape and of the effects of light. There now prevails a close and
sincere study of nature, founded on the acceptance of things as they
are, and an increasing consciousness on the part of artists (or
perhaps it would be more correct to say an increasing courage on
the part of artists to express their conviction) that a picture should be
the record of something seen, of some impression felt, rather than
be formally constructed. And men have awakened at length to see
that all nature is beautiful, that all light is beautiful, and that there is
colour everywhere; that the endeavour to realize truly the natural
relation of people to their surroundings is better than to follow
unquestioning on the old conventional lines. This is, roughly
speaking, the modern standpoint, and it cannot be denied that it is
an enormous advance on the accepted artistic ideals of thirty or forty
years ago. And to the men who have brought this about—to the Pre-
Raphaelite brotherhood; to Millet, Corot, Rousseau, Courbet, Manet,
and Mr. Whistler—to all those who have fought the battle and to
whom our present clearer outlook is due, we owe a lasting debt of
gratitude.
It is a little surprising now, that the work of Bastien-Lepage, based
as it is on the simple acceptance of nature, should have caused so
much discussion on its first appearance. For time has justified him;
we feel on comparing his work with other men of his time that it
marks a new departure, and we realize that it has helped to form our
present standpoint. But as the majority of people tune their eyes by
pictures and not by nature, and only admire in nature that which is
made manifest to them by their artistic prophet, it may be taken as a
compliment to a man of independent genius that when he discloses
a fresh view of nature, it is not for some time accepted. “Good
gracious, sir!” said an eminent critic, referring to Claude Monet, “like
nature? Yes; of course it’s like nature; but a man has no business to
choose that aspect of it!”
Every picture may be said to appeal to the spectator from two
sides or points of view—the literary and the æsthetic.
A picture may tell its story to perfection—may point a moral and
all the rest of it, and so fulfil the purpose of its author—and still, or,
as some extreme persons would say, therefore—may be bad art,
may indeed be not worthy to rank as art at all. Such pictures are
frequently seen. And again, a picture may, by raising and defining to
some inner sense emotions dimly felt by us before nature, leave us
with a fuller sense of beauty, a feeling of something revealed to us.
And yet it need have no subject or story. We are convinced that this
picture is beautiful: that no other form of artistic expression can
precisely so touch us. Such pictures are rare, but happily they do
exist. Yet, from the nature of things, it is impossible but that such a
picture should speak to some—ever so slight—extent to the mind;
and also the most literary picture is never without evidence of some
desire to please the eye.
The work of Bastien-Lepage seems to me to embrace both these
points of view. The literary and æsthetic sides of art were very evenly
balanced in him. If we take any individual work, as, for example, the
Beggar, we find a most perfect realization of character: the whole
life-history of the man seen and brought before us—evidently this
was the motive of the picture; yet the painting is in itself so full of
charm, the perception of colour so fine, that we feel he was equally
interested in that. He tried to hold the balance even. His work shows
an extraordinary receptive power, an unequalled (almost microscopic
on occasion) clearness of vision, allied with an absolute mastery of
his material. His attitude towards nature is one of studied impartiality,
and seems to show the resolute striving of an intensely sympathetic
nature to get at the actual optical appearances and to suppress any
hint of his own feelings. And his subjects are presented with such
force and skill that their truth to nature is at once felt, and if a painter,
you cannot fail also to feel the charm of his simple and sincere
method. You cannot tally it by any other painter’s work: it stands by
itself.
His impartial attitude towards his model constitutes one of
Bastien-Lepage’s distinctions. I am not sure that it is not the distinct
note of all his work. He paints a man—and the man stands before
you, and you ask yourself, “What is he going to say? What does the
artist wish to express?” You may make what you can of him; Lepage
gives you no clue. To me, I confess, this quality is a very high one; it
seems to indicate a great gift, and to be, if I may presume to say so,
akin to Shakespeare’s method of presenting his characters without a
hint of his own feelings towards them.
Although it is no doubt owing to Millet that Lepage’s eyes were
opened to the paintableness of country life, he saw his subjects in
his own way and approached them from his own point of view. With
Millet the subject and type were everything—the individual nothing.
He was passionately moved by his subject, and once its action and
sentiment were expressed, everything was subordinated to them. He
cared nothing for the smaller truths of detail provided the general
impression were true to his mental image, and his aim was avowedly
to impose his mental impression on the spectator. Lepage, on the
contrary, appears to avoid communicating his mental impression. He
will give you the visual impression, as truly as he possibly can; you
may, if you please, find—as he has found—pathos and poetry in it:
as before the same scene in nature, if you have sympathy; but for
his part he will not help you by any comment of his own.
And whereas with Millet the interest always centres in the subject,
in Lepage it centres in the individual. His pictures become portraits.
He chooses a good type, and sets himself to paint him at his work
and amid his natural surroundings, and, somehow or other, the
subject, as motive and reason for the picture, takes a subordinate
place. And yet this is not because anything belonging to the subject
is slurred, but because the attention is taken beyond the subject to
the actors in it. For his figures not only live; they convince us of their
identity as individuals, and gradually we get so interested in them
that we begin to forget what they are doing, and almost to wonder
why they are there. We are, in fact, brought so close to them that we
cannot get away from the sense of their presence. It is no small
tribute to Lepage’s skill that his people do so interest us; but is not
this interest a conflicting element in the picture? Is it to the
advantage of the picture that the interest should be so equally
divided? I cannot tell: when before a picture of Lepage’s I accept it in
everything—on thinking it over, I begin to doubt. There is no room for
doubt about Millet; no mistake about what he meant. With him the
attention is always concentrated on the business in hand: and
without desiring to qualify the great respect and admiration which I
have for Lepage’s work, it seems to me that the point of view of
Millet included more essential truths (or perhaps excluded those
which were not essential to the expression of the subject); and that
for this reason Lepage’s most successful pictures depend least upon
the interest of subject, and most upon the interest of portraiture.
For it is in his portraits that the great capacity of the man is best
seen; and they are altogether admirable. His people stand before
you, and you feel that they must be true to the very life. He loves to
place them in an even, open, light, and simply accepting the ordinary
conditions of his sitters, produces a surprisingly original result. There
is no forcing of effect, no slurring of detail—everything is searched
out relentlessly, lovingly. There is the same impartial standpoint—the
same apparent determination to keep himself out of the picture.
From the artist’s point of view they are altogether delightful; modelled
with the thoroughness of a sculptor, the colour and atmosphere are
always true, and the execution is unlaboured and direct. It would be
difficult to point to any modern portraits which surpass for technical
mastery and charm such works as the “First Communion,” the
portraits of his parents, his grandfather, of M. Theuriet, Albert Woolf,
Sarah Bernhardt, “Pas Meche,” and the Beggar. Each of these is a
complete picture, as well as being a portrait. The elaborate dress of
the actress, the cheap muslin and ill-fitting gloves of the child, in the
“First Communion”—all the matters of minor detail are dwelt on with,
in each case, the fullest sense of their literary importance to the
picture, and yet the painting of these things, as of all else, is so
delightful in itself that the artist desires no other reason.
While landscape entered as a matter of course into his rustic
pictures, it was always subordinate to the figures; although he
carried the finish of the foregrounds in these pictures to the farthest
possible point, delighting to express the beauty of everything—
weeds, sticks, stones, the clods of earth—all was felt, and shown to
be beautiful. But he painted also some admirable landscapes: of
these I have seen but few, and the recollection of one in particular
remains with me as one of the most beautiful things I have seen. It is
a field of ripe golden corn; beyond are the distant fields and low hills,
and overhead in the clear blue sky a few clouds. The corn is swaying
and rustling in the breeze, and small birds are flitting about. The
whole scene is bathed in daylight and fresh air: with no great stretch
of fancy one can see the corn moving, and hear the singing of the
birds. One is filled with a sense of the sweetness of nature and the
beauty of the open fields. And the picture is so simple—no effort in
design, no artifice apparent—it impresses as a pure piece of nature.
This love of nature and resolute determination not to depart from
the strict literal truth as he saw it, marks all the work of Bastien-
Lepage. As far as it was possible for an artist nowadays, he appears
to have been uninfluenced by the old masters. The only lesson he
seems to have learnt from them was that nature, which sufficed for
them, should suffice for him also. It is this attitude of mind which
brings him into kinship with the early painters, and which led to his
being styled “the primitive.” He did not set out to form his art on the
methods of the older painters, but going as they did, direct to nature,
he resolutely put on one side (as far as was possible to one familiar
with them) the accepted pictorial artifices. He seems to have set
himself the task of going over the ground from the beginning; and the
fact that his uncompromising and unconventional presentment of his
subjects should be expressed by means of a most highly
accomplished, very modern, and very elegant technique, was one of
the things which, while it greatly charmed, at the same time puzzled
and surprised people. It was so different from what had been seen,
or might reasonably have been expected; and one can understand
some critics feeling that a man so thoroughly master of his art, so
consummate a painter, must be wilfully affected in the treatment of
his subjects, his simple acceptance of nature appearing to them as a
pose. But it was not long before he was understood; and one has
only to read the very interesting memoir of M. Theuriet to see how
mistaken this view was, and how simply and naturally his art
developed from his early life and associations. It is seldom indeed
that one finds an artist so completely adjusted to his surroundings—
so much so that he is able to go back for his mature inspiration not
only to his first impressions, but to the very scenes and, in some
cases no doubt, the individuals who awakened them. As a rule an
artist nowadays is led in many directions before he finds himself.
Bastien-Lepage had his doubts and hesitations, of course, but they
were soon over, and almost from the start he seems to have decided
on his path.
The advantage of this to him in his work must have been
enormous, as any one who has painted in the country will know; for
villages contain no surplus population—every one has his work to
do; and the peasant is slow to understand, and distrustful of all that
lies outside his own experience: so that it is difficult, and in many
cases impossible, for an artist to get models in a village. But one can
imagine Lepage to have been friends with all his models, and that
his pictures excited as lively an interest (though, of course, on
different grounds) in Damvillers as in Paris; and it was, I think, due to
some extent to this, as well as to his own untiring energy, that he
was enabled to complete so much. As far as I am aware, he was
unique among contemporary artists in being so happily
circumstanced; and it is evidence of the simple sincerity of the man
that he found his ideal in the ordinary realities of his own experience:
feeling, no doubt, that beauty exists everywhere waiting for him who
has eyes to see.
It has been frequently said of Bastien-Lepage that he had no
feeling for beauty—or, at any rate, that he was indifferent to it; but as
it is impossible to arrive at any satisfactory definition of beauty, this
point cannot be discussed. Taking the word, however, in its obvious
and generally accepted meaning, that of personal beauty, it seems to
me that there is no fair ground for the charge; for such works as the
“First Communion,” the portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, and “Joan of
Arc,” all show a most refined and delicate appreciation of personal
beauty, and should surely have led his critics to consider whether the
man who painted them had not very good reasons for painting
people who were not beautiful, too. For all work cannot be judged
from one point of view; we recognize that a work of art is the
outcome of a personal impression, and that the artist’s aim is to give
expression to his views; and the deeper his insight into nature, the
greater the result. And yet, curiously enough, the fact that Bastien-
Lepage’s insight into nature was exceptionally deep and wide
renders it difficult to form a clear judgment, as his work appeals
equally from different points of view. His love of beauty, for instance,
seems to go hand-in-hand with a psychological, or even pathological
interest: and this equal prominence of different tendencies is a very
puzzling element in his work. We expect an artist to give us a
strongly personal view; but here is one who gives us something very
like an analysis, and whose personal view it is impossible to define—
and the premature ending of his career leaves it now for ever
doubtful which was the strongest bias of his mind. It seems to me
that his sympathies were so wide as to try and include everything,
and that he has helped to widen the bounds of beauty, by showing
its limitless possibilities. The words of Blake, “To see a world in a
grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower,” suggest, I think, his
general feeling towards nature.
In spite of the wide range of his work and the extraordinary
versatility of his execution, he kept, as a rule, within certain
limitations of treatment. He did not care for the strong opposition of
light and shadow, and he seems almost to have avoided those
aspects of nature which depend for their beauty on the changes and
contrasts of atmosphere and light. All that side of nature which
depends on memory for its realization was left almost untouched by
him, and yet it is idle to suppose that so richly gifted a man could not
have been keenly sensible to all nature’s beauty; but I think he found
himself hedged in by the conditions necessary to the realization of
the qualities he sought. For in painting a large figure-picture in the
open air, the painter must almost of necessity limit himself to the
effect of grey open daylight. This he realized splendidly: at the same
time it may be said that he sought elaboration of detail perhaps at
the expense of effect, approaching nature at times too much from
the point of view of still-life. This is not felt in his small pictures, in
which the point of view is so close that the detail and general effect
can be seen at the same time; but in his large works much that is
charming in the highest degree when examined in detail, fails to
carry its full value to the eye at a distance necessary to take in the
whole work. This was the case with “Joan of Arc” in the Paris
Exhibition of two years ago; and it was instructive to compare this
picture with Courbet’s “Stone-breakers,” which hung near it on the
same wall. Courbet had generalized as much as possible—
everything was cleared away but the essentials; and at a little
distance Courbet showed in full power and completeness, while the
delicate and beautiful work in “Joan of Arc” was lost, and the picture
flat and unintelligible in comparison. No doubt Bastien-Lepage
worked for truth of impression and of detail too, but it is apparently
impossible to get both; and this seems to show that the building-up
or combining a number of facts, each of which may be true of itself
and to the others, does not in its sum total give the general
impression of truth. It is but a number of isolated truths. Bastien-
Lepage has carried his endeavour in this direction farther than any of
his predecessors—in fact it may be said that he has carried literal
representation to its extreme limit: so much so as to leave clearly
discernible to us the question which was doubtless before him, but
which has at any rate developed itself from his work, whether it is
possible to attain literal truth without leaving on one side much of
that which is most beautiful in nature? And further, the question
arises, whether literal truth is the highest truth. For realism, as an
end in art, leads nowhere; it is an impasse. Surely it is but the means
to whatever the artist has it in him to express.
I feel convinced that realism was not the end with Bastien-
Lepage. I believe that his contribution to art, great as it was, and
covering as it does an amount of work which might well represent a
whole life’s work instead of the work of a few short years, was but
the promise of his full power, and that, had he lived, his work would
have shown a wider range of nature than that of any other artist,
except perhaps Rembrandt. But it was not to be.
He gave his best, and the world is richer for his work; his name
will not die.
“Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave.”
GEORGE CLAUSEN.
MODERN REALISM IN PAINTING.
The Little Sweep.
By Jules Bastien-Lepage.
MODERN REALISM IN PAINTING.
Much has been written about Jean François Millet, and mostly from
two points of view. The picturesque surroundings of the plain of
Barbizon and the peasant’s blouse have tempted the sentimental
biographer to dwell on the personal note of poverty, which we now
know was not the dominant one in Millet’s life. The picturesque writer
has amplified, with more or less intelligence, reflections suggested
by the subjects of his pictures. In all this, the painter’s point of view,
which is, after all, the only one that matters, has, so far as its
expression in print is concerned, been overlooked and omitted.
The important fact about Millet is not that he struggled with
poverty, or that he expressed on canvas the dignity of labour, but
that he was a great artist. As corollaries, he was a great
draughtsman and a great colourist. He was gifted with the
comprehension in its entirety of the import of any scene in nature
which he wished to render. An unerring analysis enabled him to
select what were the vital constituents of such a scene, and exquisite
perceptions, trained by incessant labour, to render them in fitting
terms in accordance with the tradition which governs the use of each
material.
It may seem that the process here summarized is after all only
that which governs all art production, and that the work of the
second-rate and the ordinary differs only from that of the master in
the degree of capacity exercised. But this is not so. It differs totally in
kind. The conception, conscious or unconscious, of the nature and
aim of art is in the two cases different, and, as a consequence, the
practice is different.
It would be affectation to ignore that, for good or for evil, Paris is
the art-centre of European painting, and that the most serious
training in drawing and painting that is procurable on European lines
is procurable in Paris. I should therefore consider it a service of great
utility to serious art if it were possible to make clear the reasons for
my conviction that the tendency of the mass of exhibition painting in
France, and, by reflection, in England, has been in an inartistic
direction, and has led inevitably to the sterile ideal of the
instantaneous camera. And, on the other hand, that the narrow
stream of purely artistic painting, that has trickled its more
sequestered course parallel with the broad flood of exhibition work,
owes its vitality to a profound and convinced reverence for tradition.
For the illustration of that tradition I can find no more convenient
source than the work of Jean François Millet, and for a typical
monument of its disregard, the more fair to cite in that it is
respectable in achievement, the work of Bastien-Lepage affords me
a timely and perhaps the most appropriate example possible.
What, then, is the main difference? How did Millet work, and with
what objects? How did Lepage work, and what is it he strove to
attain?
To begin with, Millet, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, had seen
his picture happen somewhere in nature. Its treatment generally
involved complex difficulties of suggestion of movement, or at least
of energy, to say nothing of those created by the variety of lighting
and atmospheric effect; the management of sunlight, of twilight, of
the lighting of interiors. All these elements he was enabled, by
means of a highly-trained artistic memory, to retain and render in the
summary method which we call inspiration, and which has nothing in
common with the piecemeal and futile copying of nature of a later
school. Dealing with materials in their essential nature living and
fleeting, his execution was in the main separated from his
observation. His observation was thus uninterrupted by the
exigencies of execution, and his execution untrammelled by the
fortuitous inconveniences incident on the moment of observation,
and undisturbed, moreover, by the kaleidoscopic shifting of the
pictorial elements which bewilder and mislead the mere plein-airiste.
He did not say to the woman at the washtub, “Do as if you were
washing, and stay like that for me for four or five hours a day, while I
paint a picture from you.” Or to the reaper, “Stay like that with the
scythe drawn back, pretending to reap.” “La nature ne pose pas”—to
quote his own words. He knew that if figures in movement were to be
painted so as to be convincing, it must be by a process of cumulative
observation. This truth one of the greatest heirs of the great school
of 1830 has not been slow to understand, and it is to its further and
more exquisite development that we owe the profoundly learned and
beautiful work of Degas. His field of observation is shifted from the
life of the village and the labour of the plains, to the sordid toil of the
greenroom and the hectic mysteries of stage illumination; but the
artistic problem remains the same, and its solution is worked out on
the same lines.
Millet observed and observed again, making little in the way of
studies on the spot, a note sometimes of movement on a cigarette-
paper. And when he held his picture he knew it, and the execution
was the singing of a song learned by heart, and not the painful
performance in public of a meritorious feat of sight-reading. The
result of this was that his work has style—style which is at the same
time in the best traditions and strictly personal. No one has been
more imitated than Millet, and no one is more inimitable.
Holding in the hollow of his hand the secrets of light and life and
movement, the secrets of form and colour, learnt from the visible
world, he was equipped, like the great masters of old, for the
treatment of purely fanciful themes; and, when he painted a reluctant
nymph being dragged through the woods by a turbulent crowd of
cupids, he was as much at home as when he rendered the recurring
monotone of the peasant’s daily labours. My quarrel with the
gentlemen who escape from the laws of anatomy and perspective by
painting full-length portraits of souls, and family groups of
abstractions, is, not that they paint these things, but that they have
not first learnt something about the laws which govern the incidence
of light on concrete bodies. It might be well if they would discover
whether they can paint their brother, whom they have seen, before
they elect to flounder perennially in Olympus.
Let it also be noted here that the work of Jean François Millet
was, with scarcely an exception, free from a preoccupation with the
walls of an exhibition. The scale of his pictures and their key were

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Practice Makes Perfect: Basic English,

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1 To Be: Present Tense 1

2 To Be: Present Tense: Negative Form 5

3 To Be: Present Tense: Question Form 9

4 To Be: Past Tense 13

5 To Be: Past Tense: Negative Form 17

6 To Be: Past Tense: Question Form 21

7 Exceptional Uses with the Verb To Be 25

9 To Have: Present Tense 33

10 To Have: Present Tense: Negative Form 37

11 To Have: Present Tense: Question Form 41

12 The Simple Present Tense 45

13 The Simple Present Tense: Negative Form 49

14 The Simple Present Tense: Question Form 53

PMP Basic English_Lachance.indd 3 1/15/19 11:10 AM

17 The Simple Past Tense with Irregular Verbs: 1 65

18 The Simple Past Tense with Irregular Verbs: 2 69

19 The Simple Past Tense with Irregular Verbs: 3 73

20 The Simple Past Tense: Negative Form 77

21 The Simple Past Tense: Question Form 81

22 Prepositions: In and On 85

23 There Is and There Are: Present Tense 89

24 There Is and There Are: Present Tense: Negative Form 93

25 There Is and There Are: Present Tense: Question Form 97

26 There Is and There Are: Past Tense 101

27 There Is and There Are: Past Tense: Negative Form 106

28 There Is and There Are: Past Tense: Question Form 110

29 Prepositions: To and At 114

30 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense 118

31 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

32 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

33 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense 130

34 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

35 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

36 Prepositions: From and Of 142

PMP Basic English_Lachance.indd 4 1/15/19 11:10 AM

38 Will: Future Tense: Negative Form 150

39 Will: Future Tense: Question Form 154

40 Be Going To: Future Tense 158

41 Be Going To: Future Tense: Negative Form 162

42 Be Going To: Future Tense: Question Form 166

43 The Indefinite Articles: A and An 170

44 Irregular Verbs Table 174

45 The Present Perfect Tense 178

46 The Present Perfect Tense: Negative Form 182

47 The Present Perfect Tense: Question Form 186

48 The Past Perfect Tense 190

49 The Past Perfect Tense: Negative Form 194

50 The Past Perfect Tense: Question Form 198

51 The Future Perfect Tense 202

52 The Future Perfect Tense: Negative Form 206

53 The Future Perfect Tense: Question Form 210

55 Verb Tenses Review: 2 221

56 Verb Tenses Review: 3 225

57 Verb Tenses Review: 4 229

PMP Basic English_Lachance.indd 5 1/15/19 11:10 AM

59 Verb Tenses Practice: 2 238

60 Regular and Irregular Verbs Review 242

31 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

32 The Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

34 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense:

35 The Past Progressive (Continuous) Tense: