GRAMMA R. 



■and fimilar contrivances, ahlrcvialmis, (as is done by Mv. 

 Tookf,) a name, the very reverfe of what a tenfe purports 

 to be. The formation of the tenfes in Hebrew \% wortliy of 

 ■attention, and (hews tliat the human mind, under the influence 

 of a rational law, without perhaps the exprefs exertion of 

 reafon, may produce a contrivance for its beauty and 

 liniplicity truly admirable. In that language the dilliu- 

 ■guiihing termination is the perfonal pronoun, annexed or 

 prefixed. Now, fuppofe '/I, /;, a fragment of the firft 

 perfonal pronoun, to mean /. It will alfo become a na- 

 tural index of the time no/.', whenever the fpeaker ules it 

 in connexion with a verb, becaufe he meafures the prefent 

 moment by the ufe of it, or by reflefting on himfelf when 

 iifing it. This being the cafe, a verb preceding t\ will be 

 a pad verb, by pointing, as it were, the attention back- 

 ward, as Pegod-t'i, infited /, or / i^ij'ited ; while a verbyi^c- 

 ceeding the fame particle cxprelTes \X\<t future time : the pro- 

 noun, being the uidex of the prefent time, points now the 

 attention forward, as t\-pcgr>d, I •uiftt, (meaning / ivill ■v'lfit). 

 But for //(I, the other fragment of the perfonal pronoun, is 

 tifed apegod. In modern languages which have no diftin- 

 guilhing terminations, the notification of time future is but 

 an inference drawn from verbs of volition or defire, in con- 

 fequence of the conltant affbciation of the objeCl of that 

 volition or defire with time to come : as / will ham, which 

 meant, at firll, / am refolded to learn, and then the time 

 when the i-efolution is to be performed. ThusyJo// and 

 twill, which are the Hebrew SnK'' fi^i^U and the Greek 

 0ov\w, volo, m a fecondary fenfe become indices of time to 

 come. It is here of importance to remark, that though 

 Jhall, will, with do, may, have, S:c. are called auxiliaries, 

 they are ftill leading verbs, and govern thofe, which they 

 are fuppofed to fubferve, in the infinitive mood. 



The Greek has been reprefented as very like the Shan- 

 fcrit ; but in truth, the old ^olic dialeft, whence the Latin 

 is derived, claims a much clofer affinity with the great 

 Indian language ; and in that dialeft of it which is fpoken 

 in Bengal, the mark of the future tenfe is bo. Thus 

 hoibo, I Jhall be, is the future of hona ; juft fo is the Latin 

 amabo, the future of amo ; abo being originally awo, a form 

 of the verb denoting cmifative, unA thence fucceffion, or tran- 

 fition in regard to time. Mr. Tooke, indeed, in his ufual 

 manner, fuppofes amabo to be an abbreviation of amahoule, 

 amaboul, amabo, fee vol. ii. 434. But the primary fenfe 

 of /SokXw is to will, or deliberate ; and upon the fame prin- 

 ciple that this verb became an index of future time, any 

 •ether verb or form of a verb would be made an index of it 

 by affociating its objeft with futurity. The ideas which 

 this grammarian had of language are altogether mecha- 

 nical ; and by rejefting the principle of mind, while conti- 

 .nually hunting after blind mechanifm, he feems to us not 

 .to have fullained the charafter of a philofopher in explain- 

 ing its phenomena. 



Tke Origin and Properties of Participles. 



Mr. Harris's account of participles is as follows : Every 

 complete verb is exprefllve of an attribute of time, and of an 

 ajferliun. Now if we take away the affertion, and thus de- 

 .itroy the vei'b, there will remain the attribute and the time, 

 which make the eflence of a participle, p. 1 84. This flate- 

 ment has concilenels and fimplicity to recommend it, though 

 we do not regard it as correft. Mr. Tooke gives us the 

 following account of participles. " This fort of word is by 

 no means the fame with a noun adjeSive. The participle has 

 all that a noun adjeftive has ; and for the fame reafon, i-iz. 

 ■for the purpole of adjeSion. But it has likewife fomething 

 more than a noun adjeftive has j becaufe the verb has Home- 



tiling more than the noun. And that fomething more (aS 

 Perizonius proceeds to aflcrt) is not only the adfignification 

 of time, for every verb has a fignilication of its own, 

 diftintt from manner and time. And language has a3 much 

 occafion to adjeSive the diiliuft fignification of the verb, 

 and to adjeftivc alfo the mood, as it has to adjediive the time. 

 And it has, therefore, adjcifived all three — the diftinft figni- 

 fication of the fimple verb, and the verb with its moods, 

 and the verb with its tenfes. I (hall at prefent notice only 

 fix of thefe verb-adjeftives, which we now employ in Eng- 

 lifh, viz. the fimple verb, itlelf adjeftive ; two adjeftive' 

 tenfes, and three adjeftive-moods. 



" We had formerly in Englifti only the fimple verb-adjec- 

 tive, and the pall tenfe adjeftive. In addition to thefe two, 

 we have now the convenience of four others, which I mud 

 call the potential mood affive adjeilive ; the potential mood 

 pafTive adjective ; the official mood paffive adjcftive ; and 

 the future tenfe aftive adjeftive. As the noun adjeftive 

 always fignifies all that the unadjeftived noun fignifies, and 

 no more, except the circumftances of adieftion ; fo muft the 

 verb adjeftive fignify all that the unadjeftived verb fignifies, 

 and no more, except the circumilance of adjeftion. But 

 it has been ufual to fuppofe, that with the indicative mood, 

 as it is called, is conjoined alfo the fignific?.tion of the pre- 

 fent time, and, therefore, to call it the indicative mood prefent 

 tenfe. And if it were fo, then indeed the word we are con- 

 fidering, befides the fignification of the verb, mufl:- likewife 

 adfignify fome manner and the prefent time ; for it would 

 be then the prefent tenfe adjeftive as well as the indicative 

 mood adjedlive. But I deny it to be either. I deny that 

 tl;e prefent time, or any time, or any manner, is fignified by 

 that which is called improperly the indicative mood prefent 

 tenfe. And, therefore, its proper name is merely the verb — 

 indicative, if you pleafe, i. e. indicative of being merely a 

 verb.'' 



Our readers, we are fure, will not be able to perufc this 

 account without furprife ; and we (hall endeavour to fet it 

 afide by a more fimple and rational account of the parti- 

 ciple. The prefent participJe denotes the operation of a verb 

 without regard to any agent ; the perfcil participle denotes 

 the ftate, power, or habit, generated by that operation in 

 a perfon or thing which is the objeA of it. If this llate- 

 ment be juft, the participle in its gCHuine ftate is rather a 

 verbal noun than a verbal adjedive, and has a clofe affinity 

 to the infinitive mood. Hence, we can account for the 

 origin and ufe of the participle. The Hebrew, and more 

 efpecially the Arabic, form their verbal nouns by what is 

 called nunnation, or the fyllable on added to the verb ; and 

 this is the Greek participle in ui, which the Latins have con- 

 verted into ens ; but which we, by giving n a nafal found, 

 have corrupted into itig. 



As the participle is a verbal noun, we fee the reafon why 

 in all languages it is either ufed as anoun, or gives birth 

 to various clalfes of abllratt nouns. The prefent participle, 

 as expreffing an operation, naturally coalelces with an agent, 

 and this is the reafon why in Hebrew, in Greek, and fome- 

 times in Latin, it denotes a doer, or a perfon who afts ; as 

 I y^a.^-jit, he turiting, the ivriter ; amans, he loving, the lover. 

 From its facility to coalefce with a noun, the participle 

 lofes its nominal charafter, and becomes an adjeSive ; and 

 as it denotes an aftive quality, or a power in energy, it 

 forms, with the connefting verb to be, the three aftive com- 

 pound tenfes — I a?n writing — he was writing — they Jhall be 

 writing. 



Farther, as all operations are in time, and we acquire the 

 idea of time prefent by reflefting on fucceffive .operations, 

 . the prefent participle implies time unlimited, and, in its aflb- 



ciateU 



