G R A M M A R. 



anyone thing' of any other tiling. The -office of the verb, 

 when ftrippeJ of all accidental circumftances, feems to be 

 merely this: to join together the fubjeft and predicate of 

 a propofidon; its powers • are analogous to tliofe of the 

 fign + in algebra, which does not affeft the fcp^irate value 

 of the quantities between which it is placed, but only -in- 

 dicates ihm union or coahfcence.'' The writer then, in illuf- 

 tration of this theory,- takes the examples ufed by Mr. 

 Harris, and then adds, " in refolving every verb, whether 

 aftive, paffive, or neuter, into the fubllantive verb is, and 

 another attributive, we have the honour to agree with all the 

 grammarians." 



We refpeft the opinion of other grammarians, and that 

 of this writer in particular, but we cannot thnik it an honour, 

 to agree with him and his predeceilors on this fub.eit ; but 

 we rather think it an honour to differ with tbe;n, bccaufe 

 we conceive them to be in an error. Now the molt fure 

 way to afcertain the charafteriilic of a verb,' or that which 

 conftitutes its elfence, is to attend to that operation of the 

 human mind by which verbs have been formed. But as 

 the affirmative is is thouglit effential to all others, we fhall 

 begin with this. And Mr. Harris thus explains it, p 88, 

 "Previous to every poliible attribute, vi-hatever a thing 

 p;ay be, whether black or white, fquare or round, wile or 

 eloquent, writing or thinking, it niufl_/>/? of necellity c.v//?, 

 before it can pofhbly be any thing elfe. For exillenoe may 

 be confidered as an univerjhl gc-ntis, to which all things, of 

 all kinds, are at all times to be referred. The verbs, there- 

 fore, which denote it, claim precedence of all others, as 

 beino- effential to the very being of every propofition, in 

 which they may ftill be found either exprefled or by im- 

 plication; expreffed, as when we fay " the fun is bright;'' 

 by implication, as when we fay "the fun rifes;" which 

 means, when refolvcd, " the fun is riling.'' 



According to this explanation exijlence is fthe primary idea 

 of(V; and ^Ir. Harris is little confillent with himfelf when, 

 in refolving aftive verbs into this and another attributive, he 

 fuppofes it to mean ajjcrtion. But let us deduce a more 

 adequate idea of it from examples — God is good; His food 

 ivas locujh and wild honey; If ive be virtuous tue Jliall be 

 hnphy. In the lirft of thcfe examples ;j- connefts good with 

 Cod; fo in the fecond ivas coimefts locujls and luild honey 

 With food, and afferts, that with regard to .lohn they were 

 the fame. In the third inftance, happy is, by fhad be, re- 

 prefeated a quality of lue. For this reafon the following 

 ternis would be more appropriate than any other. The 

 leading noun the _/i/i/Vt7,' the thing connected the predicate, 

 and tlV< verb conneAing them the coimeiling verb. Thus, 

 God is the fubjeS, if tlie connefting verb, and good the 

 predicate; and lo in all other inftanccs. 



If then is be the charafteriilic or effential idea of every 

 verb, and if farther, as appears from faft, the primary idea of 

 is denotes cnnedion, it follows that not a/fertiou, as the gram- 

 Inarians have hitherto fuppofed, but conneSion, is that which 

 conftitutes verbs, or that which diftinguifhes them from other 

 fpccies of words. But the connefting verb itfelf wdl not ap- 

 pear nectjfary, if wc judge of its ufe in the ancient languages, 

 xVt jiixtapojttion of the fubjetft and predicate being fufficient 

 to fupply its place. Thus fiicna.fi« u CK-n^o^i-, hlejjed the nur- 

 ciful. Here /.cxjcct^ioi, being placed by the fide of oi £Xs»|U.ov:-.-, 

 fuggefls that it belongs to it, and by virtue of this fuggeftion 

 conveys to the mind as full and complete a propofition as 

 though the connefting verb had been inferted. Thus too in 

 Latin, Homo pracipuum opus Dei, man the principal work of 

 God, meaning man is the principal work of God. Thus 

 alfo in Hebre'vV, " And Mofes faid unto the Lord, I not elo- 

 q^aent, I. e. I am not eloqaent, Exod. iv. lo. And Mofes 



faid unto God, who I, that I (hould go unto Pharaoh ; and 

 God faid, certainly I will be with thee, and this token unto 

 thee, i. e. thk Jha/I be 3. token unto thee," iii. 11, 12. In 

 this tongue, indeed, the fubllantive verb is comparatively of 

 rare occurrence, and its place is fupplied by the collocation of 

 the terms to be connected, a principle in itfelf extremely 

 fimple, and fuggeiled by the great law of the human mind. 

 In Greek and in Latin its ufe indeed is more frequent ; and 

 it is remarkable that uhere it does occur, it generally occurs 

 either in the beginninj; or the end of the claufe, and not in 

 the middle, a circumllance which arofe from a defire of keep- 

 ing together words that are related as fubjeft and predi- 

 cate. Now Mr. Harris and other grammarians, overlooking 

 the force of juxtapofition, and judging of the importance of 

 the fubllantive verb from its frequent ufe in modern fpeech, 

 have hence fuppofed that it is abfolutely neceflary to the 

 exiftence of language, and that no propofition can be com- 

 municated without it. And what is more remarkable ftill, 

 " they have reprefented a word as eflential to a verb, which, 

 fo far from being neceflary to a verb, is not neceffary even 

 to language." 



Verbs exprffs the operations or the aftive qualities of 

 things ; and as the growth of words correfponds to the. 

 growth of our ideas, it follows that verbs originally were 

 the names of things ; but by combining them with the per- 

 ional pronouns, they became, in confcquence of the affocia- 

 tion of ideas, lo exprefs not things, but their operations. 

 The converiion of nouns into verbs we will illullrate by 

 an example in the Greek tongue, Mr. Jones, in his Grammar 

 of that language, has Ihewn that the perfonal terminations 

 of the Greek verbs are but corruptions of the perloiial pro- 

 nouns, and all the variations of mood, tenfe, number, and 

 perfons have originated in thefe fix elementary principles, 

 tlius : 



yyui u, 1, Xjji{iq OjUsv, lue, 



cv !i , thou, Vjj-ui 17'., ye, 



cu £i, he, ovToi oia-i, they. 



Now let thefe in their corrupted ftate be annexed to any 

 noun, for inftance to oi'vo-r, -wi/ie ; and we fhall have cwc-i', 

 ivine /; oi-^o-E*:, ivirie thou ^ oivo-si, tuiue he', otvo-o^iv, ^ivine *we ^ 

 cir.6-fTf, ivine ye ; orjo-oim, luine they. When the attention of 

 the fpeaker or hearer was fixed on the firlf of thefe combi- 

 nations, the union of the two words which fignified himftlf 

 and -wine could not fail of bringing to his mind the circum- 

 ftances which he had previoufly experienced or obferved in re- 

 gard to that liquid ; and hence he necefiarily recalled the 

 idea of mahing or tajling ivine, or drinhing ivine. Con- 

 fequently, the two ternis thus combined he naturally em- 

 ployed to exprefs one of thofe notions. A fimilar procefs 

 took place with regard to the remaining five combinations. 

 And thus have we in Greek, and other languages, verbs di- 

 verfilied by fix perfons. This exteniion of the nam.es of 

 things to fignify the aftions which thofe things have been 

 obferved to perform, is, it is obvious, founded on the law of 

 aflbciation, and may be iiluftrated by many inftances in all 

 languages. But the principle is not fo clear in any tongue 

 as It is in Hebrew, where the perfonal pronouns annexed to 

 the verb are preferved with little variation from what they 

 are in their independent ftate. 



In the above, and fimilar other examples, the agent, and 

 that wliich is the effeft or objeft of the aftion, combine to 

 exprefs that aftion ; but in other inftances, the name of the 

 agent alone is fufiicient to exprefs its operation. Thus, 

 " the ladies fan themfelves ;" " the plumy people eye the 

 falhng verdure." Now having previoufly obferved the ufe 

 or aftion of xXiefin, and learnt in ourfelves the eJi-H of the, 

 eye, being alfo previoufly aware that in a fimple direft pro- 

 7 pofition. 



