54 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
that a verb in an Indian tongue may have incorporated with it a great 
variety of particles, which can be arranged in three general classes, 7 e., 
pronominal, adverbial, and prepositional. 
The pronominal particles we have called article pronouns; they serve 
to point out a variety of characteristics in the subject, object, and indirect 
object of the verb. They thus subserve purposes which in English are 
subserved by differentiated adjectives as distinct parts of speech. They 
might, therefore, with some propriety have been called adjective particles; 
but these elements perform another function; they serve the purpose which 
is usually called ‘agreement in language”; that is, they make the verb 
agree with the subject and object, and thus indicate the syntactic relation 
between subject, object, and verb. In this sense they might with propriety 
have been called relation particles, and doubtless this function was in mind 
when some of the older grammarians called them transitions. 
The adverbial particles perform the functions of voice, mode, and 
tense, together with many other functions that are performed in languages 
spoken by more highly civilized people by differentiated adverbs, adverbial 
phrases and clauses. 
The prepositional particles perform the function of indicating a great 
variety of subordinate relations, like the prepositions used as distinct parts 
of speech in English. 
By the demonstrative function of some of the pronominal particles they 
are closely related to adverbial particles, and adverbial particles are closely 
related to prepositional particles, so that it will be sometimes difficult to say 
of a particular particle whether it be pronominal or adverbial, and of another 
particular particle whether it be adverbial or prepositional. 
Thus the three classes of particles are not separated by absolute planes 
of demarkation. 
The use of these particles as parts of the verb; the use of nouns, 
adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions as intransitive verbs; and the direct 
use of verbs as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, make the study of an Indian 
tongue to a large extent the study of its verbs. 
