LESSONS IN 



250 





LESSONS IN ENGLISH. XLV 11 1. 



MI. '.1:8. 



WK have thus oompletod the nominal division of oar subject, 



roview the noun, the article, the < 

 1 the preposition. I prooeod to take up the second 



part, or tlio verbal division, cot:. :HJ verb, the par- 



Biologically considered word} the verb is 



the word. Tho fact seem* to impl.v t >t the ancients, from whom 

 oar grammatical terms oome, regardtl the verb a* t 



Whether precedence belongs in reality to the verb or to 

 the noun, the domination in itiulf in not descriptive of the nature 

 .rb. Lot us therefore take a verb and 

 study its office : 



Alfred IMIM. 



;uivoraally acknowledged to bo a verb. What is its 

 tl character? "A verb," it has been said, "is a word 

 whirh signifies to bo, to do, or to Buffer." The definition hardly 

 applies to tho statement that A Ifred sleeps. Hut Alfred sleeps is 

 a statement : a verb, then, may bo denned as a word which, to- 

 gether with its subject, makes a statement ; the form of words 

 may be shortened and simplified by our saying that a verb is a 

 kick affirms or declares. Affirmation, then, is the ossonOB 

 of a verb. All verbs affirm or declare something of their sub- 

 jects. Put tho definition to the test in the following instances : 

 Alfi-i-d is (exists); Alfred is sick; Alfred eats; Alfred reads his 

 lesson; Alfred is reproved. 



In the phrase Alfred sleeps, we have only two words ; of these, 

 we have ascertained, is a verb, and Aljred, we know, is a 

 proper notm. We also know that Alfred is the subject to the verb 

 sleeps. Tho simplest form, then, in which a verb can appear, is 

 in a sentence which consists only of a verb and its subject. Now 

 if you look a little closely into the verb sleeps, you see that what 

 is declared, namely, sleeping, begins and ends with the subject, 

 and does not pass beyond the subject. Verbs the action of 

 which does not pass beyond the subject, are called intransitive 

 (Latin, in, not, and transeo, I pass over). 



Instead of sleeps, let us use the verb loves ; as- 

 Alfred loves. 



The act of loving does not end though it begins with Alfred. 

 He who loves, loves some person or some thing. Add, then, 

 Thomas to tho sentence, as being necessary to complete it : 

 loves Thomas. Here the action of the verb passes from 

 Alfred to Thomas. A noun so circumstanced as is Thomas, 

 grammarians have agreed to call an object. Thomas, then, is the 

 object to the verb loves. Accordingly, here the action of the verb 

 passes from the subject to tho object. Verbs of which the action 

 passes from the subject to the object, are termed transitive. We 

 have therefore ascertained two kinds of verbs : 

 Intransitive. Alfred sleeps. 

 Transitive. Alfred loves Thomas. 



The form of the second sentence may be changed without any 

 change in the sense ; for example, Thomas is loved by Alfred : the 

 object has become the subject, the verb is altered, but the sense 

 remains essentially tho same. In order to signify the change 

 thus effected in the verb, grammarians use tho term voice, and 

 the verb in this last case is said to be in the passive voice ; the 

 form from which this passive voice was produced, is called the 

 ictive voice. Hero they are put together : 



Transitive ( ACTIVE VOICE : Alfred lores Thomas. 



Verb \ PASSIVE VOICE : Thomas is loved by Alfred. 

 Observe, that in the passive voice what was the object has 

 become the subject. But there is no object in the intransitive 

 example, Alfred sleeps ; consequently, the change cannot take 

 place. It is only transitive verbs that can become passive. In 

 strictness of speech, intransitive verbs can hardly be said to be 

 of tho active voice, for the active implies the passive as its coun- 

 terpart ; and if a verb is incapable of being passive, it should not 

 be spoken of as active, but simply as intransitive. Intransitive 

 verbs, however, sometimes appear constructed in the passive 

 voice as if they were transitive. The passive voice is in English 

 a, compound form made up of parts cf the verb to be and tho 

 past participle. Take, as an instance of the error I refer to, the 

 following : 



" Their memorial is perished with them." (Ps. is. 6.) 

 To perish is an intransitive verb. As such it cannot appear 



in the pamire roioo ; oonsequenUr, u ptrtohed is not food Eng. 

 .t*huu!dh*Tt* 



i^ a verb in Kuirli.h may umlenro. Instead of sajriag 



, we may saj / tUep. Hero we hair* a chantfu ia 



the person of the subject, a* tbojCrsf penon / ha* taken the i>Uou 



.f the thifd ponton Alfred. And obwrve the eh***, ia thtMlJpd 



ban brought a change ia too rerb, the of th third person beta* 



dropped. Again, irutaad of taring Alfred '-,., we majr say 



thou sUepett. Again too twrt chance* to meet a cLange in Uw> 



We teem, then, warranted ia declaring that th* vert 



i* inflected in j*r*>n ; that U. that the verb oadergoee change* 



corresponding with change* in the per ton. 



Ia the verb inflected in gender '( No, for we equally say Alfrtd 

 sleeps, and Mary aleept : also the men sleep and the MOBUTU sleep. 



Is tho rorb inflected in number ? Ye* ; for while we se>jr At/red 

 sleeps, wo aay of more than one (for {nfone, Thomas and Alfred), 

 that thfy sleep. 



Oar verbs, then, are inflected in person and in number. An 

 affirmation, however, ha* reference not only to the tubjtct, but 

 also to that which is affirmed. Now that which is affirmed, as ia 

 Alfred sleeps, has reference to time ; of time there are three great 

 divisions time present, time pott, time future. Alfred lUtpt is 

 obviously time present. Can the verb sleeps change so as ia 

 itself to indicate pott time ? Yes, for we can say Alfred slept. 

 The English verb then ia inflected in time, or tense, which is the 

 grammatical term for time. 



But Alfred sleeps is a simple statement. Can the verb ilefp be 

 made to change so an to indicate a corresponding change in the 

 manner of the declaration ? SUep is not susceptible of sued a 

 change. Consequently, the English verb is not inflected in mood 

 any more than in gender. In other words, trictly speaking, we 

 have in English bat one mood, the indicatii-e, that U, the mood 

 or manner which simply declares or affirms, as Alfred tlceptg 

 Alfred slept. 



There is, however, another form which the word sleep* pases* 

 into, namely, sleeping. Sleeping is called a present parlicipU. 



We may now proceed to draw out a tabular view of tho verb 

 to sleep. In doing so, we must employ no form twice, otherwise 

 we depart from the law of inflection, which requires that thorn 

 shall be a change of form for every change of tense. 



THE INTRANSITIVE VERB "TO SLEEP." 



Present Tense. 



Person. SINGULAR. PLURAL. 



LI- We 



2. Thou sloepcst. You 



3. He Bleeps. They 



Pott Ttrut. 

 Person, SIXGCLAK. mriuu 



1. I slept. We 



2. Thou slcptest. You 



3. Ha i-tj -- 



Promt PttrticipU. Sleeping. 



By inflection, then, the English verb is reduced to six forme, 

 the infinitive to sleep, the second and the third persons of the 

 present tense, namely, sleepest and sleeps ; and the first person 

 and the second person of the past tense, that is, I slept, f few 

 slcptest, together with the participle sleeping. Sleep is an intran- 

 sitive verb. Take instead the transitive verb love, and the number 

 of independent parts remains the same. Or if yon take such 

 verb as sing, where there are two forms connected with jxuf 

 time, namely, sang and sung, you have only one additional form, 

 making in all seven. 



Hence it appears that the English verb ia not only simple bat 

 defective in inflections. According to the law of inflection we 

 cannot even fill up tho persons of the present tense. 



If inflection thus breaks down as oar guide, let as consult 

 usage. What does usage in regard to the blanks in oar tabular 

 view? Usage fills up those blanks ; thua : 



V.-. ,;.:. 

 Parson. SIVGULAK PLURAL. 



1. I deep. We sleep. 



2. Thou slecpeat. You deep. 



3. He sleep*. They sleep. 



Port. 

 Proi. sorocLAR. 



1. I slept. 



2. Thou slaptss*. You slap*. 



3. Ha slept. - .-.,'- 



Now observe what it is that usaga docs here ; look at the 

 present, and yoa will soe that it repeats tJ3 root of the retb, 

 th:it is it repeats sleep. Bleep, then, in the first person singu- 

 lar and in the three persons of the plural, ia a mere repetition 

 of tho infinitive sleep. These repetitions, however, are made 

 distinctive by the pronouns J, we, you, they ; there U, there. 

 fore, no fear of the third perton plural being confounded vita 

 the first perton singular, because tletp has before it in th 



