Of VERBS.

A Verb is a word which expresses being, doing, or suffering; as, I am, I love, I am loved.

Verbs are of three kinds, Active, Passive, and Neuter.

A verb Active expresses action passing from an actor to an object; as, James strikes the table.

A verb Passive expresses the suffering of an action, or the enduring of what another does; as, The table is struck.

A verb Neuter expresses being, or a state of being, or action confined to the actor; as, I am, he sleeps, you run.

Verbs are inflected, to express Number, Person, Mood, and Tense or Time.

Verbs have two Numbers, the Singular and the Plural; as, He is, they are.

Verbs have three Persons; as, I love, thou lovest, he loves.

OBSERVATIONS.

Active verbs are called transitive verbs, because the action passes from the actor to the object.-K. p. 58. NOTE.

Neuter verbs are called intransitive, because their action is confined to the actor, and does not pass over to an object. Children should not be troubled too soon with the distinction between Active and Neuter verbs.

Neuter, when applied to verbs, intimates that they are neither active nor passive.

Of the MOODS of VERBS.

Verbs have five moods; the Indicative, the Potential, the Subjunctive, the Imperative, and

the Infinitive.

The Indicative mood simply declares a thing; as, He loves; he is loved; or it asks a question; as, Lovest thou me?

The Potential mood implies possibility, liberty, power, will, or obligation; as, The wind may blow; we may walk or ride; I can swim; he would not stay; you should obey your parents. The Subjunctive mood represents a thing under a condition or supposition, and is preceded by a conjunction, expressed or understood, and followed by another verb; as, If you wish prosperity, deserve it.

The Imperative mood commands, exhorts, or entreats; as, Do this; deal honestly; deliver my soul.

The Infinitive mood expresses the meaning of the verb in a general manner, without distinction of number or person, and commonly has the word to before it; as, To love.

Of TENSES, or TIME.

Verbs have six tenses, the Present, the Past, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, the Future, and the Future Perfect.

Explanations of the moods and tenses of verbs are inserted here for the sake of order; but it would be highly improper to detain the learner so long as to commit them to memory; he ought, therefore, after getting the definition of a verb, to proceed to the inflection of it without delay; and when he comes to the exercises on the verbs, he can look back to the definition of a verb active, &c., as occasion may require.

The Present tense expresses what is going on just now; as, I love you; I strike the table.

The Past tense represents the action or event either as past or finished; as, He broke the bottle, and the brandy was spilt.

The Perfect tense implies that the action or event has just now been finished; as, John has cut his finger; my horse has run off."

The Pluperfect tense represents a thing as past before another event happened; as, All the judges had taken their places before Sir Roger came.

The Future represents the action as yet to come; as, He will return next week, and you

shall see him.

The Future Perfect intimates that the action will be fully accomplished at or before the time of another future action or event; as, I shall have learned my lesson before ten o'clock.

The Participle is a verbal adjective, which partakes of the nature of both a Verb and an Adjective, and expresses the meaning of the Verb after the manner of an Adjective; as, Loving all men while he lived, he died, loved by all men.

OBSERVATIONS.

The Participle in ing represents a thing going on, but not finished; as, The boy is learning his lesson. It is not confined exclusively to the Active voice, but is often legitimately used by the best authors in a Passive sense; as, Silks are selling fast; Houses are letting well. Some, however, prefer using the past participle with the auxiliary being; as, Silks are being sold fast; Houses are being let well. The first mode is perhaps the more simple and elegant,-the second is sometimes rendered necessary in order to prevent ambiguity or circumlocution.

The Participle in ed denotes that a thing is done and completed; as I have mended my pen.

The Perfect Participle having loved, is common both to Active and Passive verbs, and states the completion of what took place before something else; as, Having shot the hare, he went to lift it.

Remarks on some of the Tenses.

ON THE PRESENT.

1. The Present tense is used to express a habit or custom; as, He snuffs; She goes to church. It is sometimes applied to persons long since dead, when the narration of their actions excites our passions; as, "Nero is abhorred for his cruelty." "Milton is admired for his sublimity."

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2. In historical narration, it is beautifully used for the Past tense; as, Cæsar leaves Gaul, crosses the Rubicon, and enters Italy with five thousand men."-It is sometimes used with fine effect for the Perfect; as, "In the book of Genesis, Moses tells us who were the descendants of Abraham,"—for has told us.

3. When preceded by such words as when, before, as soon as, after, it expresses the relative time of a future action; as, When he comes, he will be welcome-As soon as the post arrives, the letters will be delivered.

4. In the continuate, progressive, or compound form, it expresses an action begun and going on just now, but not complete; as, I am studying my lesson. He is writing a letter.

ON THE PAST.

The Past tense is used when the action or state is limited by the circumstance of time or place; as, "We saw him yesterday." "We were in bed when he arrived." Here the words yesterday and when limit the action and state to a particular time. After death all agents are spoken of in the Past tense, because time is limited or defined by the life of the person; as, "Mary Queen of Scots was remarkable for her beauty."

This tense is peculiarly appropriated to the narrative style; because all narration implies some circumstance; as, "Socrates refused to adore false gods." Here the period of Socrates's life, being a limited part of past time, circumscribes the narration. It is improper then to say of one already dead, "He has been much admired: he has done much good:" but, "He was much admired; he did much good."

Although the Past tense is used when the action is circumstantially expressed by a word or sentiment that limits the time of the action to some definite portion of past time, yet such words as often, sometimes, many a time, frequently, and similar vague intimations of time, except in narrations, require the perfect, because they admit a certain latitude, and do not limit

the action to any definite portion of past time; thus, "How often have we seen the proud despised."

ON THE PERFECT.

The Perfect tense chiefly denotes the accomplishment of mere facts without any necessary relation to time or place, or any other circumstance of their existence; as, Philosophers have endeavoured to investigate the origin of evil. In general, however, it denotes,

1. An action newly finished; as, I have heard great news. The post has arrived, but he has brought no letters for you.

2. An action done in a definite space of time (such as a day, a week, a year), a part of which has yet to elaspse; as, I have spent this day well.

3. An action perfected some time ago, but whose consequences extend to the present time; as, We have neglected our duty, and are therefore unhappy..

Duration or existence requires the perfect; as, He has been dead four days. We say, Cicero has written orations, because the orations are still in existence; but we cannot say, Cicero has written poems, because the poems do not exist; they are lost; therefore, we must say, "Cicero wrote poems."

The following are a few instances in which the Perfect is improperly used for the Past. "I have somewhere met with the epitaph of a charitable man, which has very much pleased me.' Spect. No. 177. The latter part of this sentence is rather nar rative than assertive; and therefore it should be-which very much pleased me, that is, when I read it.—“When that the poor hath cried, Cæsar hath wept." Shaksp. The style is here narrative; Cæsar was dead. It should therefore be, "When the poor cried, Cæsar wept."-" Though in old age, the circle of our pleasure is more contracted than it has formerly been; yet, &c." Blair, Serm. 12. It should be," than it formerly was;" because in old age, the former stages of life, contrasted with the present, convey an idea, not of completion, but of limitation, and thus become a subject of narration, rather than of assertion. "I have known him, Eugenius, when he has been going to a play, or an opera, divert the money which was designed for that purpose, upon an object of charity whom he has met with in the street." Spect. No. 177. It should be "When he was going," and "whom he met with in the street;" because the actions are circumstantially related by the phrases, when going to a play and in the street.

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