OBS.-When any of the principal parts of a verb are wanting, the tenses usually derived from those parts are also, of course, wanting. All the auxiliaries, except do, be, and have, are defective; but, as auxiliaries, they become parts of other verbs, and do not need the parts which are technically said to be " wanting." The following brief catalogue contains all our defective verbs, except methinks, with its preterit methought, which is not only defective, but impersonal, irregular, and deservedly obsolescent. OBS. 1.-Beware is not used in the indicative present. Must is never varied in termination. Ought is invariable, except in the solemn style, where we find oughtest. Will is sometimes used as a principal verb, and as such is regular and complete. Quoth is used only in ludicrous language, and is not varied. It seems to be properly the third person singular of the present; for it ends in th, and quod was formerly used as the preterit: as, "Yea, so sayst thou, (quod Tröylus,) alas !"-Chaucer. OBS. 2.-Wis, preterit wist, to know, to think, to suppose, to imagine, appears to be now nearly or quite obsolete; but it seems proper to explain it, because it is found in the Bible: as, "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest."-Acts, xxiii, 5. "He himself wist not that his face shone.'" -Life of Schiller, p. iv. Wit, to know, and wot, knew, are also obsolete except in the phrase to wit; which, being taken abstractly, is equivalent to the adverb namely, or to the phrase, that is to say. OBS. 3.-Some verbs from the nature of the subject to which they refer, can be used only in the third person singular; as, It rains; it snows; it freenes; it hails; it lightens; it thunders. These have been called impersonal verbs. The neuter pronoun it, which is always used before them, does not seem to represent any noun, but, in connexion with the verb, merely to express a state of things. CHAPTER VII-OF PARTICIPLES. A Participle is a word derived from a verb, partici. pating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding ing, d, or ed, to the verb: thus, from the verb rule, are formed three participles, two simple and one compound; as, 1. ruling, 2. ruled, 3. having ruled OBS. 1.-Almost all verbs and participles seem to have their very essence in motion, or the privation of motion-in acting, or ceasing to act. And to ali motion and rest, time and place are necessary concomitants; nor are the ideas of degree and manner often irrelevant: Hence the use of tenses and of ad verbs. For whatsoever comes to pass, must come to pass sometime and somewhere; and, in every event, something must be affected somewhat and somehow. Hence it is evident that those grammarians are right, who say, that "all participles imply time." But it does not follow that the English participles divide time, like the tenses of a verb, and specify the period of action; on the contrary, it is certain and manifest that they do not. The phrase, "men labouring," conveys no other idea than that of labourers at work; it no more suggests the time, than the place, degree, or manner of their work. All these circumstances require other words to express them; as, “Men now here awkwardly labouring much to little purpose.' OBS. 2.-Participles retain the essential meaning of their verbs; and, like verbs, are either active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive, or neuter, in their signification. For this reason, many have classed them with the verbs. But their formal meaning is obviously different. They convey no affirmation, but usually relate to nouns or pronouns, like adjectives, except when they are joined with auxiliaries to form the compound tenses; or when they have in part the nature of substantives, like the Latin gerunds. Hence some have injudiciously ranked them with the adjectives. We have assigned them a separate place among the parts of speech, because experience has shown that it is expedient to do so. OBS. 3.-The English participles are all derived from the roots of their respective verbs, and do not, like those of some other languages, take their names from the tenses. They are reckoned among the principal parts in the conjugation of their verbs, and many of the tenses are formed from them. In the compound forms of conjugation, they are found alike in all the tenses. They do not therefore, of themselves, express any particular time; but they denote the state of the being, action, or passion, in regard to its progress or completion. [See remarks on the Participles, in the Port-Royal Latin and Greek Grammars.] CLASSES. English verbs have severally three participles; which have been very variously denominated, perhaps the most accurately thus: the Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Preperfect. Or, as their order is undisputed, they may be conveniently called the First, the Second, and the Third. I. The Imperfect Participle is that which ends commonly in ing, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion; as, being, loving, seeing, writing—being loved, being seen, being writing. II. The Perfect Participle is that which ends commonly in ed or en, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion; as, been, loved, seen, written. III. The Preperfect Participle is that which takes the sign having, and implies a previous completion of the being, action, or passion; as, having loved, having seen, having written having been loved, having been writing, having been written. The First or Imperfect Participle, when simple, is always formed by adding ing to the radical verb; as look, looking: when compound, it is formed by prefixing being to some other simple participle; as, being reading, being read, being completed. The Second or Perfect Participle is always simple, and is regularly formed by adding d or ed to the radical verb: those verbs from which it is formed otherwise, are inserted in the list as being irregular or redundant. The Third or Preperfect Participle is always compound, and is formed by prefixing having to the perfect, when the compound is double, and having been to the perfect or the imperfect, when the compound is triple: as, having spoken, having been spoken, having been speaking. OBS. 1.-Some have supposed that both the simple participles denote present time; some have supposed that the one denotes present, and the other, past time; some have supposed that neither has any regard to time; and some have supposed that both are of all times. In regard to the manner of their signification, some have supposed the one to be active and the other to be passive; some have supposed the participle in ing to be active or neuter, and the other active or passive; and some have supposed that either of them may be active, passive, or neuter. Nor is there any more unanimity among grammarians, in respect to the compounds. Hence several different names have been loosely given to each of the participles; and sometimes with manifest impropriety; as when Buchanan, in his conjugations, calls being Active-and been, having been, and having had, Passive. The First participle has been called the Present, the Imperfect, the Active, the Present active, the Present passive, the Present neuter; the Second has been called the Perfect, the Past, the Passive, the Perfect active, the Perfect passive, the Perfect neuter; and the Third has been called the Compound, the Compound active, the Compound passive, the Compound perfect, the Piuperfect, the Preterperfect, the Preperfect. But the application of a name is of little consequence, so that the thing itself be rightly understood by the learner. Grammar should be taught in a style at once neat and plain, clear and brief. Upon the choice of his terms the writer has bestowed much reflection; yet he finds it impossible either to please everybody, or to explain all the reasons for preference. OBS. 2.-The participle in ing represents the action or state as continuing and ever incomplete; it is therefore rightly termed the IMPERFECT participle: whereas the participle in ed always has reference to the action as done and complete; and is by proper contradistinction called the PERFECT participle. It is hardly necessary to add, that the terms perfect and imperfect, as thus applied to the English participles, have no reference to time, or to those tenses of the verb which are usually (but not very accurately) named by these epithets, The terms present and past do denote time, and are in a kind of oblique contradistinction; but how well they apply to the participles may be seen by the following texts: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.""We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."-St. Paul. OBS. 3. The participle in ing has, by many, been called the Present participle. But it is as applicable to past or future, as to present time; otherwise such expressions as, "I had been writing,"- I shall be writing," would be solecisms. It has also been called the active participle. But it is not always active, even when derived from an active verb: for such expressions as, "The goods are selling,"—"The ships are now building," are in use, and not without authority. The distinguishing characteristic of this participle is, that it denotes an unfinished and progressive state of the being, action, or passion; it is therefore properly denominated the IMPERFECT participle. If the term were applied with reference to time, it would be no more objectionable than the word present, and would be equally supported by the usage of the Greek linguists. This name is approved by Murray,* and adopted by several of the more recent grammarians. See the works of Dr. Crombie, J. Grant, T. O. Churchill, R. Hiley, B. H. Smart, M. Harrison, W. G. Lewis, J. M. M'Culloch, E. Hazen, N. Butler, D. B. Tower, W. H. Wells, C. W. and J. C. Sanders. OBS. 4.-The participle in ed, as is mentioned above, denotes a completion of the being, action, or passion, and should therefore be denominated the PERFECT participle. But this completion may be spoken of as present, past, or future, for the participle itself has no tenses, and makes no distinction of time, nor should the name be supposed to refer to the perfect tense. The perfect participle of transitive verbs, being used in the formation of passive verbs, is sometimes called the passive participle. It has a passive signification, except when it is used in forming the compound tenses of the active verb. Hence the difference between the sentences, "I have written a let ter," and, "I have a letter written;"-the former being equivalent to Scripsi literas, and the latter to Sunt mihi literæ scripta. OBS. 5.-The third participle has most generally been called the Compound or the Compound Perfect. The latter of these terms seems to be rather objectionable on account of its length; and against the former it may be urged that, in the compound forms of conjugation, the first or imperfect participle is a compound: as, being writing, being seen. Dr. Adam calls having loved the perfect participle active, which he says must be rendered in Latin by the pluperfect of the subjunctive, "as, he having loved, quum amavisset; but it is manifest that the perfect participle of the verb to love, whether active or passive, is the simple word loved, and not this compound. Many writers erroneously represent the participle in ing as always active, and the participle in ed as always passive; and some, among whom is Buchanan, making no distinction between the simple perfect loved and the compound having loved, place the latter with the former, and call it passive also. But if this participle is to be named with reference to its meaning, there is perhaps no better term for it than the epithet PREPERFECT,—a word which explains itself, like prepaid or prerequisite. Of the many other names, the most correct one is Pluperfect, which is a term of very nearly the same meaning. Not because this compound is really of the pluperfect tense, but because it always denotes being, action, or passion, that is, or was, or will be, completed before the doing or being of something else; and, of course, when the latter thing is represented as past, the participle must correspond to the pluperfect tense of its verb; as, "Having explained her views, it was necessary she should expatiate on the vanity and futility of the enjoyments promised by Pleasure." Jamieson's Rhet., p. 181. Here having explained is equivalent to when she had explained. OBS. 6.-Participles often become adjectives, and are construed before nouns to denote quality. The terms so converted form the class of participial adjectives. Words of a participial form may be regarded as adjectives. 1. When they reject the idea of time, and denote something customary or habitual, rather than a transient act or state; as, A lying rogue, i. e., one addicted to lying. 2. When they admit adverbs of comparison; as,A more learned man. 3. When they are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb; as, unfeeling, unfelt. There is no verb to unfeel; therefore, no participle unfeeling or unfelt. Adjectives are generally placed before their nouns; participles, after them. OBS. 7.-Participles in ing often become nouns. When preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or pronoun of the possessive case, they are construed as nouns, and ought to have no regimen. A participle immedi "The most unexceptionable distinction which grammarians make between the participles, is, that the one points to the continuation of the action, passion, or state denoted by the verb; and the other, to the completion of it. Thus, the present par ticiple signifies imperfect action, or action begun and not ended as, 'I am writing a letter. The past participle signifies action perfected, or finished: 'I have written a letter. The letter is written."-Murray's Grammar, 8vo, p. 65. "The first [par ticiple] expresses a continuation; the others, a completion."— W. Allen's Gram 12mo, London, 1818, p. 62. ately preceded by a preposition, is not converted into a noun, and therefore retains its regimen; as, "I thank you for helping him." Participles in this construction correspond with the Latin gerund, and are sometimes called gerundives. OBS. 8.-To distinguish the participle from the participial noun, the learner should observe the following four things: 1. Nouns take articles and adjectives before them; participles, as such, do not. 2. Nouns may govern the possessive case, but not the objective; parti iples may govern the objective case, but not the possessive. 3. Nouns may be the subjects or objects of verbs; participles cannot. 4. Participial nouns express actions as things; participles refer actions to their agents or recipients. OBS. 9.-To distinguish the perfect participle from the preterit of the same form, observe the sense, and see which of the auxiliary forms will express it; thus, loved for being loved, is a participle; but loved for did love, is a preterit verb. ANALYSIS. An adjective, participle, noun, or pronoun, modifying or completing the predicate of a sentence, and relating to the subject, is called an attribute; as, "Gold is yellow."-"The sun is shining."-"Honesty is the best policy." OBS. 1.-All verbs except to be comprehend within themselves both the predicate and the attribute, into which they may generally be resolved. For example, in the sentence "The sun shines," the verb shines is equivalent to is shining, is being the affirmative or predicative word, and shining, the attribute. OBS. 2.-The verb that connects the subject and the attribute, must be active-intransitive, passive, or neuter. It is sometimes called the copula, because it couples or unites the subject and the attribute. OBS. 3.-The verb to be, in most cases, only affirms or indicates otherwise, the connection existing between the subject and the attribute. When the latter is a noun, it may express, 1. Class; as, "Cain was a murderer." 2. Identity; as, "Cain was the murderer of Abel." 3. Name; as, "The child was called John." When mere existence is predicated, the verb be comprehends both the predicate and the attribute. OBS. 4.-Class, identity, name, or quality may be attributed to the subject in various ways: 1. By affirming directly a connection between it and the subject, as in the preceding examples. 2. By affirming it to belong to the subject, in connection with a particular act or state of being; as, "She looked a goddess, and she walked a queen."-" The sun stood still." 3. By affirming a connection, as the result of a change; as, "He has 4. By affirming a connection, as the result of a process; as, "He was OBS. 5.-The attribute is often used indefinitely, that is, without reference to any particular subject; as, "To be good is to be happy."—"To be a poet requires genius." In analyzing, this may be called the indefinite attribute. OBS. 6. An attribute is sometimes indirectly affirmed of, or otherwise connected with, the object of a verb; as, "They elected him president.”Vice has left him without friends" (i. e. friendless). This is to be considered as a modification of the predicate, and may be properly called the indirect attributer |