what is called the passive verb is not properly a distinct verb, but merely a particular form of the active verb.

Those verbs which form their imperfect tense and perfect participle in ed, are esteemed regular; all others are irregular.-Defective verbs are those which are used in only some of their Modes and Tenses.

Auxiliary or helping verbs are those, by the help of which the English verbs are principally conjugated. They are the following: do, be, have, shall, will, may, and can, with their variations; and must, which has no variation.

The PARTICIPLE is a certain form of the verb, and participates the properties both of the verb, and adjective. There are three participles, the present or active, the perfect or passive, and the compound perfect; as, loving, loved, having loved.

QUESTIONS.

What is a verb?-Of how many kinds are they? How are they farther divided? What does the verb active express and imply? -What the verb passive.?-What does the verb neuter express?-How may the verb active be distinguished from the neuter ?-What neuter verb is an exception to this remark ?How may the passive verb be known ?-What verbs are regular and what irregular ?—What are defective verbs?-What are auxiliary or helping verbs?-Which are they?-What is a participle? How many participles are there?

ILLUSTRATION..

"She loves me, though I am not fair." "He sits and rules the world in wisdom."-How many verbs are there in these sentences?— Which of them are active, and which neuter? -Which are regular, and which irregular ?

"It shall be done as you have directed me." Here are two verbs; which is passive, and which active?-Which is regular, and which irregular ?-What helping verbs are there in the sentence?

"Having taught the people, he departed, expressing much affection for them."-Which are the participles in this sentence; and of which class is each ?-There is a verb here; is it regular, or irregular; active, passive, or neuter?-You will please to answer me the same question, respecting each of the following verbs: govern, afflict, send, sleep, stand, am troubled, am disturbed.

REVIEW.

The verb active is also called transitive, because the action passes over to an object, or has an effect upon some other thing; as, "The tutor instructs his pupils; I esteem

the man.
,"

The verb neuter is called intransitive, because the effect is confined within the subject, and does not pass over to any object; as, "I sit, he sleeps, they live."

Some neuter verbs express action, but not action which terminates on any object; as, to run, to walk, to fly. They are therefore intransitive, and may easily be distinguished from the proper active verb. Other neuter

verbs are more clearly expressive of a middle state between action and passion; as, to stand, to lie, to sleep.

Some writers make a distinction between the neuter verb, and what they call the active intransitive; but as the difference between them is often difficult to be ascertained, it is thought that the distinction, if admitted, will serve rather to perplex, than to assist the learner.

In English, many verbs are used in both an active and a neuter signification, the construction alone determining of what kind they are.

A neuter verb, by the addition of a preposition, may become what is sometimes called a compound active verb, and with the same addition assumes the passive "Fortune smiled on him; he was smiled on by The mere neuter verb sometimes assumes a passive form; as, "He is gone; he is arrived; the bird is flown."

form; as, fortune."

All these, except ought and quoth, are used as auxili

ames.

Four of the auxiliaries, do, be, have, and will are sometimes used as principal verbs; the others never are. When these four are used as principal verbs, they are conjugated by the help of auxiliaries, the same as an▾ other verbs.

The peculiar force of the several auxiliaries will appear from the following account of them:

Do and did, mark the action itself, or the time of it, with greater energy and earnestness; as, “I do speak the truth; I did respect him."-They are almost universally employed in asking questions; as, "Does he learn? Did he write?"They sometimes also supply the place of another verb, and make the repetition of it unneces sary; as, "You attend not to your studies as he does. 1

will come if possible; but if I do not, you must excuse

May and might express the possibility or liberty of doing a thing; can and could, the power; as, "he may read, he can write."

Must denotes necessity; as, (6 we must speak the truth." Will, in the first person, intimates a resolution or promise; in the second and third, it foretells; as, "I will go; we will remember." "They will be sorry; he will

return."

Shall, on the contrary, foretells in the first person; and promises, commands, or threatens, in the second and third; as, "I shall go abroad; we shall dine at home." "They shall inherit the land; you shall be punished for your wickedness."-These observations, respecting the import of will and shall, will not apply to interrogative sentences-in which just the reverse most commonly takes place; as, "I shall go. Shall I go?" &c.

Would primarily denotes inclination of will; and should, obligation; but they both vary their import, and are often used to express simple events.

Were is frequently used for would be, and had for would have-in which case they are properly in the potential mode; as, "Amusements youth require; it were vain, it were cruel to prohibit them."

The participle partakes of the nature of the verb, because it expresses action, as the verb does; and of the nature of the adjective, because it frequently belongs to some noun, and is used as an adjective.

The participle never varies its termination, but is spelled in the same manner, in whatever number or case the noun may be, to which it belongs.

The participle is distinguished from the adjective, as the former expresses the idea of time, and the latter denotes only a quality. The phrases, "loving to give, as well as to receive," "moving in haste," "heated with liquor," contain participles giving the idea of time; but in the expressions, "a loving child," "a moving spectacle," "a heated imagination," the epithets mark simply the qualities referred to, without any regard to time, and are properly adjectives

Participles not only convey the notion of time, but signify action, being, or passion, and may have the same case after them, whether nominative or objective, as their verbs do from which they are derived. Indeed they are, in one sense, but a mere mode or form of the verb.

Participles sometimes perform the office of nouns, and are used as such; as, "He made a good beginning; he has a good understanding; this is excellent writing; the chancellor's being attached to the king secured his crown.'

Questions on the Review.

Why is the verb active called transitive?—Why is the verb neuter called intransitive?-Are there not some neuter verbs which express action?-Why then are they not active verbs?-Are any active verbs used in a neuter signification?-Does the neuter verb ever assume a passive form?-Which are the principal defective verbs? -Which of the auxiliaries are used as principal verbs? -How does the participle partake of the nature of the verb?-How of the nature of the adjective?-Does the participle vary its termination?-How is the participle distinguished from the adjective?-Do participles ever perform the office of nouns?

LESSON XII

To verbs belong number, person, mode, and tense. They have two numbers, the singular, and the plural, in each of which there are three persons.-Mode is a particular form of the verb, showing the manner in which the being, action, or passion is represented. There are five modes; the indicative, the imperative, the potential, the subjunctive, and the infinitive. The indicative mode simply indicates or declares a thing or asks a question; as, "He loves; he is loved; is he loved?" The impera