may be useful to exercise pupils frequently in distinguishing between transitive and intransitive verbs; especially such as nearly resemble each other in spelling and sound: For example, rise, raise; lie, lay; awake, awaken, &c.

Verbs naturally intransitive, are sometimes changed into transitives, by the addition of an object: as, "He runs a race;" "she dances a dance;" "they sleep the sleep of death."

Verbs passive express passion, or suffering, or the being acted upon by some other thing; and, consequently, they imply a subject acting, and an object acted upon : as, "The pious are beloved and protected by God." In the English language passive verbs are formed, not by a change of termination, but by the aid of other words.

Those words, by the aid of which English verbs are principally conjugated, that is, made to express different persons, times, and modes of action, are called auxiliary, that is, helping verbs.

The auxiliary verbs are, do, be, have, shall, rvill, may, can; with their variations, did, was, had, should, would, might, and could. To these must be added let and must, and some say ought, the past time of owe, which have no variations.

The variations of form in the same verb arise from the circumstances of number, person, mood, and tense.

SECT. 2.

To verbs belong two numbers, the singular and the plural; and in each number there are three persons, corresponding to those of the

The second person singular is formed by adding est, or st, to the verb. The third person singular is formed by the addition of s, eth, or th, to the verb, while in the plural no change of termination takes place. The plural termination in en, as, they loven, they weren, formerly in use, has long been laid aside.

SECT. 3.

Mood, or mode, is a particular form of the verb, expressing the manner in which the being, action, or passion, is represented as taking place.

Some grammarians enumerate five moods; the indicative, the imperative, the potential, the subjunctive, and infinitive; while others admit only the indicative, the imperative, and the infinitive; accounting the subjunctive as a mere abbreviation of construction, and asserting that

the potential has nothing to distinguish it essentially from the indicative.

The indicative mood merely affirms, or interrogates: as, "I hear;"" the king grants a pardon;" "looks he smilingly ?" "does she know."

The imperative mood commands, requires, threatens as, 66 Fly thou;"" let them enter;" "mind ye;" "lend us your powerful aid."

The infinitive mood is a form of the verb that has no subject or nominative case, expressing being, or action, or passion, in an indeterminate and indefinite manner, without any distinction of number or person.

The potential mood expresses possibility, or liberty, power, will, or obligation. The variations of this mood are made by different auxiliary verbs. Examples; "He may go to London if he will;"" he can ride on horseback whenever he pleases;""they would walk in the shrubbery were not the grass wet;" "she should be more careful of her health."

The subjunctive, or conjunctive mood, affirms under some condition, motive, wish, supposition, &c. and is preceded by a conjunction expressed or understood, and attended by another verb: as, "Though he love me not, yet will I do him good when I can;" "were she wise, she would not act so precipitately." In this mood no change of termination takes place on account of person: as, though I grant, though thou grant, though

G

he grant; though we grant, though ye or you grant, though they grant.

The participle is a certain form of the verb, which derives its name from participating not only of the properties of a verb, but likewise of those of an adjective: as, "I am desirous of seeing him;" "the children are playing upon the green;" "she died loved and respected by all who knew her."

A verb has two participles. The participle present, which denotes that the action spoken of is then taking place, and which ends in ing: as, "he is riding, she is singing." This is also called the participle active, because it is joined to the agent or active subject of the verb. The participle preterite or perfect, which denotes that the action is passed; and which is also named the passive, because it is joined with the passive subject of the verb; or that which is acted upon. This participle generally ends in ed, and is literally the past time of the verb: as, "He is threatened;" "the business is ended."

To these two participles, some writers add a third, which they call the compound perfect, being formed of the participle present of the auxiliary verb have, and the preterite of some other verb: as, "having loved;" "having granted that favour."

The participle is distinguished from the adjective, by its conveying the idea of time; whereas

the latter is significant of property or quality only.

The active, or present, participle is mostly used to denote the middle state of an action; that is, action already begun, but still going on; and the preterite or passive participle commonly denotes action completely past: as, "He is writing;"" he has written."

As participles express the idea of action as well as of time, they govern the cases of pronouns, like verbs: as, "He hath loved us;" "he is doing us good."

Participles sometimes seem to partake of the nature of substantives, and are used as such as, "In the beginning;" "a clear understanding is a great and precious blessing;" "the minister's having failed in the negociation, occasioned his dismissal."

SECT. 4.

Tense is the modification of the verb to express the distinctions of time. In the English language, verbs have but one tense, made by a change of termination; which is, the simple preterite, formed in general by adding d, or ed, to the root of the verb: as, dance, I danced; cry, they cried; judge, he judged justly.

The root, or radical form of a verb, is that in which it follows the preposition, to: as, to read ; to learn; to become wise; to behave well. The present may be regarded rather as a