Pe RS a 
to its perfection or imperfection. JZ do love, thou doft tove, arc 
exactly fynonimous to J /ove, thou loveft *. 
5: Ir muft alfo be premifed that in the two laft fenfes, of the 
three mentioned in the fecond feGion, the word indefinite will 
fometimes have direcily contrary effects; if it marks not the per- 
fection or imperfe@tion of the aétion, it will oftentimes refer to a 
precife point of time, and the converfe. When I fay, J wrote a 
letter, 1 muft have been {peaking of fome particular time when 
I did fo; but when I fay, L have written to him often+t, I only 
exprefs that I have written at fome times antecedent to the pre- 
fent, but at what times does not appear. Thus the tenfes ufually 
called definites frequently refer to the paft time indefinitely. 
6.5, 2: } The 
* Suppofe the queftion, do you ride the fame horfe you ufed to do? and obferve how 
- very different the meaning of the anfwer, J do ride him, is from that of the anfwer, 
Lam riding him. 
+ Note, I wrote to him often, is not intelligible without referring to fome precife 
point of time, e. g. when I was in France. Why then does Dr. Beattie, in his late 
excellent work, (the Elements of Moral Science) fay, £ wrote, is indefinite, becaufe 
it refers to no particular part of paft time? No, it is indefinite becaufe the verb in 
that tenfe'does not define whether the aétion be completed or imperfeét. And why 
does he fay, I have written, is definite, in refpe& of time? for it refers to no parti- 
cular time at which the event happened. Put this further Example. A. fays to B. 
“ T wifh you would write to that man.” B. anfwers, «I have written to him.” The fenfe 
is complete. The expreffion is not fuppofed to refer to any particular time, and does 
not neceffarily elicit any further query. But if B. anfwers, I wrore to him, he is of 
courfe fuppofed to have in his mind a reference to fome particular time, and it natu- 
rally calls upon A. to afk when. Is it not clear then that, J wrote, refers to fome 
particular time, and cannot have been called indefinite, as Dr. Beattie fuppofes it is, 
from its not doing fo? Take another example. <‘* I have gone to plays,” does not 
relate to any particular period. * I went to plays,” muft mean at fome precife time, 
e.g. laf winter, or when I was in France. ‘Che author of the article Tems, in the En- 
cyclopedie, had fome ideas of this kind, when he infifts that the preterit ab/folu of the 
French has all the characters of an indefinite. 
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