Exercise 107
The present tense is used to indicate general truths—things true in past time and still true. Omit the incorrect form in the following sentences:
1. What did you say is—was the meaning of the term bona fide?
2. What was—is the name of that book that you enjoyed so much?
3. Didn’t you know that the lion is—was called the king of beasts?
4. They told me that the legal rate of interest at present is-was six per cent.
5. Have you ever heard him try to prove that black is—was white?
6. What is—was the name of the banker who lectured to us yesterday?
7. I never could remember what the important products of my county are—were.
8. The advocate of Equal Suffrage argued that mothers need—needed the ballot to protect their children.
9. She said that a democracy is—was a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and that women are-were people as well as men.
10. The speaker asserted that this country needs—needed a tariff to protect home industries.