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 PRACTICE
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 PRACTICE
MAKES
PERFECT
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Third Edition

Robin Torres-Gouzerh

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 Contents

Preface  ix

1 The sentence  1
Noun phrases  2
Verb phrases  2
Modifiers  3

2 The verb phrase  5

Auxiliary verbs  6

3 The verb  9
Linking verbs  9
Irregular verbs  10
Tenses  11

4 The progressive tenses  14

The present progressive  14
The past progressive  14
The future progressive  16

5 The perfect tenses  20

The present perfect  20
The past perfect  25
The future perfect  27

6 Modal auxiliaries  33
Shades of meaning  36
Special auxiliaries  41

7 The progressive forms of modal auxiliaries  43

8 The auxiliary verb do  48

Using do in questions  48
Using do in negative sentences  49

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 9 The passive voice  52
Using the passive  53

10 The passive form of modal auxiliaries  58

The future tense  58
The past tense  58

11 The stative passive  61

Adjectives and participles  61
The progressive form vs. the stative passive  63
Prepositions  65

12 Past participles with get  67

13 Participial adjectives  70
Present participles  70
Past participles  70

14 Subject-verb agreement  74
Third-person singular and plural  74
The verb be  76
Expressions of quantity  77
Collective nouns  79
Auxiliary verbs  81
Complex sentences  82

15 Agreement with nouns  84

Personal pronouns and collective nouns  84
Indefinite pronouns  87
Complex nouns  89

16 Using other  90
Adjectives  90
Pronouns  91

17 Gerunds  94
Distinguishing gerunds from present participles  95
The possessive  95

18 Conjunctions  97
Coordinating conjunctions  97
Conjunctions and their meaning  98
Correlative conjunctions  100
Subordinating conjunctions  104
Adverbs that act as conjunctions  108

vi Contents

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 19 Prepositions  110
Compound prepositions  110
Noun and pronoun objects  112
More than one prepositional phrase  114

20 Adjectives and adverbs  115

Adjectives  115
Adverbs  115

21 Filler subjects and impersonal subjects  120

Filler subjects  120
Impersonal subjects  121

22 Clauses  124
Independent clauses  124
Dependent clauses  124
Relative clauses  125

23 Punctuation  149
The period  149
The comma  150
The semicolon  152
The colon  154
The question mark  155
The exclamation point  155
The apostrophe  156
Quotation marks  158
The hyphen and the dash  159
Parentheses and brackets  160

24 Capitalization, numbers, and italics  162

Capitalization  162
Numbers  166
Italics  168

appendix Review exercises  170

Answer key  210

Contents vii

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 Preface

Grammar can be frustrating to master as you try to learn a language. This book was
written to be easily accessible to students of English as a second language. Practice
Makes Perfect: Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners is designed to help be-
ginner- and intermediate-level learners hone their grammatical skills to the point
where they are comfortable with English grammar. Technical terminology has been
kept to a minimum, and simple terms are used wherever possible. As a result, you will
be able to focus on learning new material.
You have already begun your study of English grammar. This book will provide
you with a higher-level look at that grammar. The numerous examples ­provide models
on which you can rely to form your own original sentences. The many practical exer-
cises give you the opportunity to practice what you have learned. Be sure to use the
answer key to check your work. And this second edition is supported by additional
review questions in the McGraw-Hill Education Language Lab app.
As you progress through this book, you will find that your confidence in using
English is growing, and by the time you finish the book, you will be one major step
closer to being a fluent speaker and writer.

ix

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 The sentence ·1·

In formal spoken or written English, every sentence must be complete. The basic
rule is that all sentences must have a subject (S), which can be a pronoun, a
noun, or a noun phrase, and a verb (V), which can also be a verb phrase. In many
cases, the verb can be followed by a direct object (O). Consider the following
examples.
She works. (S) ⫹ (V)
Fish swim. (S) ⫹ (V)
The children played. (S) ⫹ (V)
The bus driver needs a break. (S) ⫹ (V) ⫹ (O)
My mother liked the movie. (S) ⫹ (V) ⫹ (O)
Every sentence must have a subject. The imperative sentence is an exception
to this basic rule, because the subject, you, is understood. Imperative sentences are
used to instruct someone to do something.
Go to class.
Pick up your mess, please.
Read objective newspapers.
Verbs that do not require a direct object are called intransitive verbs. Some
common intransitive verbs are exist and rise. They are typically used with preposi-
tional phrases, as illustrated in the following examples.
It is possible that life existed on Mars millions of years ago.
Black smoke rose from the burning tires.

EXERCISE

1·1
Rewrite each verb phrase as a complete sentence by adding a subject.

EXAMPLE Is a real bargain. That coat is a real bargain.

1. Were eating an Italian specialty.

2. Have worked in Austin for two years.

3. Purchased it last week.

01 (1-32) ch 1-5.indd 1 2/25/08 10:56:01 AM

 4. Is awful.
5. Looks comfortable.
6. Went to the theater.

Noun phrases
The subject of a sentence can be a noun phrase, which can be simple or complex. The subject can
be one word or a group of words that includes a noun together with other words that provide
information about the noun. Some noun phrases can be quite complex. Consider the following
sentences.
The boy went to the playground.
The lively boy went to the playground.
The lively boy next door went to the playground.

No matter how complex a noun phrase is, it still remains the subject of the sentence and
determines the form of the verb. The verb in the sentences above is went.

EXERCISE

1·2
Underline the subject(s) in each sentence.

1. Children ought to be more careful.

2. Water is good for you.
3. Prague is an amazing and historic Eastern European city.
4. The furry, clean, calm cat slept on the couch.
5. The furry, clean, calm, black cat ran outside.
6. The furry, clean, calm, black cat with a scar jumped on the counter.
7. The big, ugly, dirty, brown bear with long ears and large claws attacked a hunter.
8. She read a magazine yesterday.
9. Peter went to the circus.
10. Lending money and giving too much advice can cause problems.

Verb phrases
The verb in a sentence can also appear in a verb phrase.
He has often spoken of you.
She will not be able to understand this document.

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 Sometimes extra information is added before the subject and verb, or between the subject
and the verb. This information is often adverbial. In the first example below, the adverbial phrases
tell where, how frequently, and when the action took place. In the second example, the adverbial
phrase tells why and when the action took place.
In Pennsylvania, Marc often went running in the morning.
Marc, because he was feeling unhealthy, went running in the morning.
In both of these examples, when we ask the question “Who went running?” the answer is “Marc”—
the subject of both sentences. The added information is that he often ran in the morning when he
was in Pennsylvania, and that he ran because he felt unhealthy.

EXERCISE

1·3
Underline both the subject and the verb or verb phrase in each sentence.

1. The big, brown dog sitting in the shade is hungry.

2. I always drink coffee in the morning before work.
3. After getting to the hotel room, Saul ordered room service.
4. The youth hostels we stayed in while we were in Budapest weren’t too expensive.
5. My professor, after noticing that I had been studying hard, was nicer to me.
6. Maybe her father is sicker than you think.
7. In the future, presidential elections will be held on the Internet.
8. After the show, the people who were sitting in the front row got up.

Modifiers
There are many types of sentence modifiers. Among the most important are adjectives, adverbs,
and prepositional phrases.
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns.
That striped snake is poisonous.
Our new neighbor is a professional basketball player.
He is old.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
She seldom wrote after she moved away.
The severely wounded man was taken to the hospital.
The witness spoke very nervously about the robbery.
Prepositional phrases can modify nouns or verbs.
The man in the garden is a police officer.
For many years they lived in Mexico.

unit 1 The sentence 3

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 EXERCISE

1·4
Complete each sentence with an appropriate modifier: adjective, adverb,
or prepositional phrase.

EXAMPLE They stayed up and chatted until dawn .

1. he headed for home on foot.

2. Do you recognize the man on the corner?
3. She speaks to me anymore.
4. I was at Macy’s hoping to buy a
dress.
5. He took her advice very .
6. , we go skiing in Colorado.
7. Your brother plays the piano .
8. Please speak . I’m trying to nap.
9. Yesterday, I saw a accident .
10. My sister is a competent lawyer.

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01 (1-32) ch 1-5.indd 4 2/25/08 10:56:02 AM

 The verb phrase · 2·

It is impossible to compose a correct sentence without using a proper verb. The

verb is at the very foundation of a sentence. The verb phrase may be composed of
only one word or it may have related parts. Consider the following examples.
Angela had to go to Chicago.
The boys are fishing at the creek.
Someone should repair that window.
Sometimes, the related parts are composed of more than one word. In the exam-
ples above, the verbs are go, fish, and repair, and the related parts are had to, are,
and should.

EXERCISE

2·1
Underline the verb phrase in each sentence, whether the verb phrase
is composed of a verb alone or a verb and related parts.

1. He doesn’t go to meetings on Tuesdays.

2. He goes to the park with his dog.
3. She is heading out to school.
4. He never washes the dishes.
5. She is going to the theater tonight.
6. He has traveled to Spain before.
7. She has been practicing yoga for two years now.
8. He has to be at the train station by 8 A.M.
9. She goes to school in Chicago.
10. She had visited Chicago many times.
11. She is going to travel to Chicago.

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 Auxiliary verbs
Some sentences contain a single verb (for example, go), while other sentences include a related
part before the main verb (for example, a form of be ⫹ a form of the verb go). Auxiliary verbs are
among the related parts that can form a verb phrase; in some grammar books, they are called
“helping verbs.” The second example below illustrates the verb be used as an auxiliary.
She goes to class.
She is going to class.
The first sentence contains a form of the single verb go. In the second example, however, the sen-
tence also contains the verb go, but this time it has a related part, the auxiliary verb is, which pre-
cedes the verb in its present participle form (is going).
Auxiliary verbs change how a verb is used. Such changes can affect the tense, mood, or even
the meaning of the verb.
The auxiliary be can be used in any tense, and in every tense the main verb is in the form of
a present participle.
PRESENT She is fixing that old clock.
PAST She was fixing that old clock.
PRESENT PERFECT She has been fixing that old clock.
PAST PERFECT She had been fixing that old clock.
FUTURE She will be fixing that old clock.
The auxiliary verb have is used with a past participle to form the present perfect or past per-
fect tense.
She has lived here all her life.
They have been working on the problem all day.
Martin had never seen a kangaroo before.
She had been napping when the fire broke out.
The auxiliary do/did is used with a basic verb to form a question, a negative statement with
not, or an emphatic statement. Do is used in the present tense, and did in the past tense.
Do you understand Arabic?
Did Mr. Keller sell that old car yet?
You don’t have enough money to buy that CD.
You’re wrong. I do have enough money.
But you did not have enough money yesterday.

Modal auxiliaries
Some auxiliary verbs are called modal auxiliaries. They are used with a verb to show the degree
of obligation of the action of the verb. Two important modal auxiliaries are have to and should.
Do you have to play the radio so loud?
Mary has to stay at home today.
Dad, you shouldn’t work so hard in this heat.
Why should I care?

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 EXERCISE

2·2
Underline the auxiliary verb in each sentence.

1. He does attend meetings on Tuesdays.

2. He is walking to the park with his dog.
3. She is leaving for summer camp on Sunday.
4. Alberto has gone to Cuba.
5. He has traveled to the south of Spain for years.
6. She should go alone this time.
7. He has to walk faster.

EXERCISE

2·3
Rewrite each sentence three times: (1) with be and a present participle,
(2) in the present perfect tense, and (3) with the modal auxiliary should.

EXAMPLE They speak with a lawyer.

They are speaking with a lawyer.
They have spoken with a lawyer.
They should speak with a lawyer.

1. James tries on a pair of pants.

2. I live on about a hundred dollars a week.

3. Father scolds the children.

unit 2 The verb phrase 7

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 4. Does she work hard?

5. The conductor waits on the platform.

8 practice makes perfect Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners

01 (1-32) ch 1-5.indd 8 2/25/08 10:56:03 AM

 The verb · 3·

Verbs are words that express action. They can express tense (the time at which the
action occurred) and voice. The voice can be active (where the subject performs
the action) or passive (where the subject is placed in a passive position in the
sentence).
The most common verb tenses are the present, past, and future. Each of
these tenses has a progressive, habitual, and perfect form.

Linking verbs
A linking verb connects a subject and a subject complement, a word that describes
or clarifies the subject. The most commonly used linking verb is the verb be. Con-
sider the following examples.
Table tennis is fun.
Their grandfather was a war hero.
Other words commonly used as linking verbs are appear, seem, look, feel, sound,
taste, and smell.
You seem a little unhappy today.
That woman looks rather sick.
This sweater feels warm.
Her meatloaf smells great!
Linking verbs are intransitive. They do not have direct objects. Notice that
the verb in each of the following examples is a transitive verb with the direct object
flower.
The little girl smelled the flower.
No one wanted to buy a flower from her.
I only sold one flower today.
To identify the direct object in a sentence, ask what or whom of the verb: What did
the little girl smell? What did no one want to buy? What did I sell today? The answer
to each question is flower, the direct object. Linking verbs never have a direct
object.

01 (1-32) ch 1-5.indd 9 2/25/08 10:56:03 AM

Another random document with
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 CHAPTER XXXII

I
two evenings after Elmer’s mother had almost alienated him, he
settled down in his study at home to prepare three or four sermons,
with a hope of being in bed by eleven. He was furious when the
Lithuanian maid came in and said, “Somebody on the ’phone,
Doctor,” but when he heard Hettie the ragged edges went out of his
voice.
“Elmer? Hettie calling.”
“Yes, yes, this is Dr. Gantry.”
“Oh, you are so sweet and funny and dignified! Is the Lettish pot-
walloper listening?”
“Yes!”
“Listen, dear. Will you do something for me?”
“You bet!”
“I’m so terribly lonely this evening. Is oo working hard?”
“I’ve got to get up some sermons.”
“Listen! Bring your little Bible dictionary along and come and work
at my place, and let me smoke a cigarette and look at you. Wouldn’t
you like to . . . dear . . . dearest?”
“You bet. Be right along.”
He explained to Cleo and his mother that he had to go and
comfort an old lady in extremis, he accepted their congratulations on
his martyrdom, and hastened out.

II
Elmer was sitting beside Hettie on the damask couch, under the
standard lamp, stroking her hand and explaining how unjust his
mother was, when the door of her suite opened gravely and a thin,
twitching-faced, gimlet-eyed man walked in.
 Hettie sprang up, stood with a hand on her frightened breast.
“What d’you want here?” roared Elmer, as he rose also.
“Hush!” Hettie begged him. “It’s my husband!”
“Your—” Elmer’s cry was the bleat of a bitten sheep. “Your
—— But you aren’t married!”
“I am, hang it! Oscar, you get out of here! How dare you intrude
like this!”
Oscar walked slowly, appreciatively, into the zone of light.
“Well, I’ve caught you two with the goods!” he chuckled.
“What do you mean!” Hettie raged. “This is my boss, and he’s
come here to talk over some work.”
“Yeh, I bet he has. . . . This afternoon I bribed my way in here,
and I’ve got all his letters to you.”
“Oh, you haven’t!” Hettie dashed to her desk, stood in despair
looking at an empty drawer.
Elmer bulked over Oscar. “I’ve had enough of this! You gimme
those letters and you get out of here or I’ll throw you out!”
Oscar negligently produced an automatic. “Shut up,” he said,
almost affectionately. “Now, Gantry, this ought to cost you about fifty
thousand dollars, but I don’t suppose you can raise that much. But if
I sue for alienation of Het’s affections, that’s the amount I’ll sue for.
But if you want to settle out of court, in a nice gentlemanly manner
without acting rough, I’ll let you off for ten thousand—and there won’t
be the publicity—oh, maybe that publicity wouldn’t cook your
reverend goose!”
“If you think you can blackmail me—”
“Think? Hell! I know I can! I’ll call on you in your church at noon
tomorrow.”
“I won’t be there.”
“You better be! If you’re ready to compromise for ten thousand, all
right; no feelings hurt. If not, I’ll have my lawyer (and he’s Mannie
Silverhorn, the slickest shyster in town) file suit for alienation
tomorrow afternoon—and make sure that the evening papers get out
extras on it. By-by, Hettie. ‘By, Elmer darling. Whoa, Elmer! Naughty,
naughty! You touch me and I’ll plug you! So long.”
Elmer gaped after the departing Oscar. He turned quickly and
saw that Hettie was grinning.
She hastily pulled down her mouth.
“My God, I believe you’re in on this!” he cried.
“What of it, you big lummox! We’ve got the goods on you. Your
letters will sound lovely in court! But don’t ever think for one moment
that workers as good as Oscar and I were wasting our time on a tin-
horn preacher without ten bucks in the bank! We were after William
Dollinger Styles. But he isn’t a boob, like you; he turned me down
when I went to lunch with him and tried to date him up. So, as we’d
paid for this plant, we thought we might as well get our expenses
and a little piece of change out of you, you short-weight, and by God
we will! Now get out of here! I’m sick of hearing your blatting! No, I
don’t think you better hit me. Oscar’ll be waiting outside the door.
Sorry I won’t be able to be at the church tomorrow—don’t worry
about my things or my salary—I got ’em this afternoon!”

III
At midnight, his mouth hanging open, Elmer was ringing at the
house of T. J. Rigg. He rang and rang, desperately. No answer. He
stood outside then and bawled “T. J.! T. J.!”
An upper window was opened, and an irritated voice, thick with
sleepiness, protested, “Whadda yuh want!”
“Come down quick! It’s me—Elmer Gantry. I need you, bad!”
“All right. Be right down.”
A grotesque little figure in an old-fashioned nightshirt, puffing at a
cigar, Rigg admitted him and led him to the library.
“T. J., they’ve got me!”
“Yuh? The bootleggers?”
“No. Hettie. You know my secretary?”
“Oh. Yuh. I see. Been pretty friendly with her?”
 Elmer told everything.
“All right,” said Rigg. “I’ll be there at twelve to meet Oscar with
you. We’ll stall for time, and I’ll do something. Don’t worry, Elmer.
And look here. Elmer, don’t you think that even a preacher ought to
try to go straight?”
“I’ve learned my lesson, T. J.! I swear this is the last time I’ll ever
step out, even look at a girl. God, you’ve been a good friend to me,
old man!”
“Well, I like anything I’m connected with to go straight. Pure
egotism. You better have a drink. You need it!”
“No! I’m going to hold onto that vow, anyway! I guess it’s all I’ve
got. Oh, my God! And just this evening I thought I was such a big
important guy, that nobody could touch.”
“You might make a sermon out of it—and you probably will!”

IV
The chastened and positively-for-the-last-time-reformed Elmer
lasted for days. He was silent at the conference with Oscar Dowler,
Oscar’s lawyer, Mannie Silverhorn, and T. J. Rigg in the church study
next noon. Rigg and Silverhorn did the talking. (And Elmer was
dismayed to see how friendly and jocose Rigg was with Silverhorn,
of whom he had spoken in most un-Methodist terms.)
“Yuh, you’ve got the goods on the Doctor,” said Rigg. “We admit
it. And I agree that it’s worth ten thousand. But you’ve got to give us
a week to raise the money.”
“All right, T. J. See you here a week from today?” said Mannie
Silverhorn.
“No, better make it in your office. Too many snooping sisters
around.”
“All right.”
Everybody shook hands profusely—except that Elmer did not
shake hands with Oscar Dowler, who snickered, “Why, Elmer, and us
so closely related, as it were!”
 When they were gone, the broken Elmer whimpered, “But, T. J., I
never in the world could raise ten thousand! Why, I haven’t saved a
thousand!”
“Hell’s big bells, Elmer! You don’t suppose we’re going to pay ’em
any ten thousand, do you? It may cost you fifteen hundred—which I’ll
lend you—five hundred to sweeten Hettie, and maybe a thousand for
detectives.”
“Uh?”
“At a quarter to two this morning I was talking to Pete Reese of
the Reese Detective Agency, telling him to get busy. We’ll know a lot
about the Dowlers in a few days. So don’t worry.”

V
Elmer was sufficiently consoled not to agonize that week, yet not
so consoled but that he became a humble and tender Christian. To
the embarrassed astonishment of his children, he played with them
every evening. To Cleo he was almost uxorious.
“Dearest,” he said, “I realize that I have—oh, it isn’t entirely my
fault; I’ve been so absorbed in the Work: but the fact remains that I
haven’t given you enough attention, and tomorrow evening I want
you to go to a concert with me.”
“Oh, Elmer!” she rejoiced.
And he sent her flowers, once.
“You see!” his mother exulted. “I knew you and Cleo would be
happier if I just pointed out a few things to you. After all, your old
mother may be stupid and Main-Street, but there’s nobody like a
mother to understand her own boy, and I knew that if I just spoke to
you, even if you are a Doctor of Divinity, you’d see things different!”
“Yes, and it was your training that made me a Christian and a
preacher. Oh, a man does owe so much to a pious mother!” said
Elmer.

VI
 Mannie Silverhorn was one of the best ambulance-chasers in
Zenith. A hundred times he had made the street-car company pay
damages to people whom they had not damaged; a hundred times
he had made motorists pay for injuring people whom they had not
injured. But with all his talent, Mannie had one misfortune—he would
get drunk.
Now, in general, when he was drunk Mannie was able to keep
from talking about his legal cases, but this time he was drunk in the
presence of Bill Kingdom, reporter for the Advocate-Times, and Mr.
Kingdom was an even harder cross-examiner than Mr. Silverhorn.
Bill had been speaking without affection of Dr. Gantry when
Mannie leered, “Say, jeeze, Bill, your Doc Gantry is going to get his!
Oh, I got him where I want him! And maybe it won’t cost him some
money to be so popular with the ladies!”
Bill looked rigorously uninterested. “Aw, what are you trying to
pull, Mannie! Don’t be a fool! You haven’t got anything on Elmer, and
you never will have. He’s too smart for you! You haven’t got enough
brains to get that guy, Mannie!”
“Me? I haven’t got enough brains—— Say, listen!”
Yes, Mannie was drunk. Even so, it was only after an hour of
badgering Mannie about his inferiority to Elmer in trickiness, an hour
of Bill’s harsh yet dulcet flattery, an hour of Bill’s rather novel
willingness to buy drinks, that an infuriated Mannie shrieked, “All
right, you get a stenographer that’s a notary public and I’ll dictate it!”
And at two in the morning, to an irritated but alert court reporter in
his shambles of a hotel room, Mannie Silverhorn dictated and signed
a statement that unless the Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry settled out of
court, he would be sued (Emmanuel Silverhorn attorney) for fifty
thousand dollars for having, by inexcusable intimacy with her,
alienated Hettie Dowler’s affections from her husband.
 CHAPTER XXXIII

I
when Mr. Mannie Silverhorn awoke at ten, with a head, he
remembered that he had been talking, and with agitation he looked
at the morning’s Advocate-Times. He was cheered to see that there
was no trace of his indiscretion.
But the next morning Mr. Silverhorn and the Reverend Dr. Gantry
at about the same moment noted on the front page of the Advocate-
Times the photostat of a document in which Emmanuel Silverhorn,
atty., asserted that unless Dr. Gantry settled out of court, he would
be sued for alienation of affections by Mr. Oscar Dowler, of whose
wife, Dowler maintained, Dr. Gantry had taken criminal advantage.

II
It was not so much the clamor of the Zenith reporters, tracking
him from his own house to that of T. J. Rigg and out to the country—
it was not so much the sketches of his career and hints of his
uncovered wickedness in every Zenith paper, morning and evening
—it was not so much the thought that he had lost the respect of his
congregation. What appalled him was the fact that the Associated
Press spread the story through the country, and that he had
telegrams from Dr. Wilkie Bannister of the Yorkville Methodist Church
and from the directors of the Napap to the effect: Is this story true?
Until the matter is settled, of course we must delay action.

III
At the second conference with Mannie Silverhorn and Oscar
Dowler, Hettie was present, along with Elmer and T. J. Rigg, who
was peculiarly amiable.
They sat around Mannie’s office, still hearing Oscar’s opinion of
Mannie’s indiscretion.
 “Well, let’s get things settled,” twanged Rigg. “Are we ready to
talk business?”
“I am,” snarled Oscar. “What about it? Got the ten thou.?”
Into Mannie’s office, pushing aside the agitated office-boy, came
a large man with flat feet.
“Hello, Pete,” said Rigg affectionately.
“Hello, Pete,” said Mannie anxiously.
“Who the devil are you?” said Oscar Dowler.
“Oh—Oscar!” said Hettie.
“All ready, Pete?” said T. J. Rigg. “By the way, folks, this is Mr.
Peter Reese of the Reese Detective Agency. You see, Hettie, I
figured that if you pulled this, your past record must be interesting. Is
it, Pete?”
“Oh, not especially; about average,” said Mr. Peter Reese. “Now,
Hettie, why did you leave Seattle at midnight on January 12, 1920?”
“None of your business!” shrieked Hettie.
“Ain’t, eh? Well, it’s some of the business of Arthur L. F.
Morrissey there. He’d like to hear from you,” said Mr. Reese, “and
know your present address—and present name! Now, Hettie, what
about the time you did time in New York for shop-lifting?”
“You go—”
“Oh, Hettie, don’t use bad language! Remember there’s a
preacher present,” tittered Mr. Rigg. “Got enough?”
“Oh, I suppose so,” Hettie said wearily. (And for the moment
Elmer loved her again, wanted to comfort her.) “Let’s beat it, Oscar.”
“No, you don’t—not till you sign this,” said Mr. Rigg. “If you do
sign, you get two hundred bucks to get out of town on—which will be
before tomorrow, or God help you! If you don’t sign, you go back to
Seattle to stand trial.”
“All right,” Hettie said, and Mr. Rigg read his statement:

I hereby voluntarily swear that all charges against the

Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry made directly or by implication by
 myself and husband are false, wicked, and absolutely
unfounded. I was employed by Dr. Gantry as his secretary.
His relations to me were always those of a gentleman and a
Christian pastor. I wickedly concealed from him the fact that I
was married to a man with a criminal record.

The liquor interests, particularly certain distillers who wished

to injure Dr. Gantry as one of the greatest foes of the booze
traffic, came to me and paid me to attack the character of Dr.
Gantry, and in a moment which I shall never cease to regret, I
assented, and got my husband to help me by forging letters
purporting to come from Dr. Gantry.

The reason why I am making this confession is this: I went to

Dr. Gantry, told him what I was going to do, and demanded
money, planning to double-cross my employers, the booze
interests. Dr. Gantry said, “Sister, I am sorry you are going to
do this wrong thing, not on my behalf, because it is a part of
the Christian life to bear any crosses, but on behalf of your
own soul. Do as seems best to you, Sister, but before you go
further, will you kneel and pray with me?”

When I heard Dr. Gantry praying, I suddenly repented and

went home and with my own hands typed this statement
which I swear to be the absolute truth.

When Hettie had signed, and her husband had signed a

corroboration, Mannie Silverhorn observed, “I think you’ve overdone
it a little, T. J. Too good to be true. Still, I suppose your idea was that
Hettie’s such a fool that she’d slop over in her confession.”
“That’s the idea, Mannie.”
“Well, maybe you’re right. Now if you’ll give me the two hundred
bucks, I’ll see these birds are out of town tonight, and maybe I’ll give
’em some of the two hundred.”
“Maybe!” said Mr. Rigg.
“Maybe!” said Mr. Silverhorn.
 “God!” cried Elmer Gantry, and suddenly he was disgracing
himself with tears.
That was Saturday morning.

IV
The afternoon papers had front-page stories reproducing Hettie’s
confession, joyfully announcing Elmer’s innocence, recounting his
labors for purity, and assaulting the booze interests which had bribed
this poor, weak, silly girl to attack Elmer.
Before eight on Sunday morning, telegrams had come in from the
Yorkville Methodist Church and the Napap, congratulating Elmer,
asserting that they had never doubted his innocence, and offering
him the pastorate of Yorkville and the executive secretaryship of the
Napap.

V
When the papers had first made charges against Elmer, Cleo had
said furiously, “Oh, what a wicked, wicked lie—darling, you know I’ll
stand back of you!” but his mother had crackled, “Just how much of
this is true, Elmy? I’m getting kind of sick and tired of your carryings
on!”
Now, when he met them at Sunday breakfast, he held out the
telegrams, and the two women elbowed each other to read them.
“Oh, my dear, I am so glad and proud!” cried Cleo; and Elmer’s
mother—she was an old woman, and bent; very wretched she
looked as she mumbled, “Oh, forgive me, my boy! I’ve been as
wicked as that Dowler woman!”

VI
But for all that, would his congregation believe him?
If they jeered when he faced them, he would be ruined, he would
still lose the Yorkville pastorate and the Napap. Thus he fretted in the
quarter-hour before morning service, pacing his study and noting
through the window—for once, without satisfaction—that hundreds
on hundreds were trying to get into the crammed auditorium.
His study was so quiet. How he missed Hettie’s presence!
He knelt. He did not so much pray as yearn inarticulately. But this
came out clearly: “I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never look at a girl
again. I’m going to be the head of all the moral agencies in the
country—nothing can stop me, now I’ve got the Napap!—but I’m
going to be all the things I want other folks to be! Never again!”
He stood at his study door, watching the robed choir filing out to
the auditorium chanting. He realized how he had come to love the
details of his church; how, if his people betrayed him now, he would
miss it: the choir, the pulpit, the singing, the adoring faces.
It had come. He could not put it off. He had to face them.
Feebly the Reverend Dr. Gantry wavered through the door to the
auditorium and exposed himself to twenty-five hundred question
marks.
They rose and cheered—cheered—cheered. Theirs were the
shining faces of friends.
Without planning it, Elmer knelt on the platform, holding his
hands out to them, sobbing, and with him they all knelt and sobbed
and prayed, while outside the locked glass door of the church,
seeing the mob kneel within, hundreds knelt on the steps of the
church, on the sidewalk, all down the block.
“Oh, my friends!” cried Elmer, “do you believe in my innocence, in
the fiendishness of my accusers? Reassure me with a hallelujah!”
The church thundered with the triumphant hallelujah, and in a
sacred silence Elmer prayed:
“O Lord, thou hast stooped from thy mighty throne and rescued
thy servant from the assault of the mercenaries of Satan! Mostly we
thank thee because thus we can go on doing thy work, and thine
alone! Not less but more zealously shall we seek utter purity and the
prayer-life, and rejoice in freedom from all temptations!”
He turned to include the choir, and for the first time he saw that
there was a new singer, a girl with charming ankles and lively eyes,
with whom he would certainly have to become well acquainted. But
the thought was so swift that it did not interrupt the pæan of his
prayer:
“Let me count this day, Lord, as the beginning of a new and more
vigorous life, as the beginning of a crusade for complete morality and
the domination of the Christian church through all the land. Dear
Lord, thy work is but begun! We shall yet make these United States
a moral nation!”

THE END

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where

multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.
Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer
errors occur.

[The end of Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis]

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