Helping verbs and Notre Dame

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When I went to a Catholic grade school in Waukegan, Ill. (here’s a shout-out to St. Anastasia), we learned to memorize our helping verbs by singing along to the Notre Dame fight song.

So every time I hear the Notre Dame fight song, I sing along in my head like this:

‘Is, Are, Was, Were, Have, Has and Had. Is, Are, Was, Were, Have, Has and Had. These are the helping verbs we use so let’s sing them all again...’

Try it next time the Notre Dame band plays the fight song tonight at the Coliseum (if there’s any reason for the Notre Dame band to play its fight song again tonight). You will never forget your helping verbs. You may forget what a helping verb is.

-- Diane Pucin