VERB. 



Verb AS'we, is a verb which expreffes an affion that falls 

 on another fubjeft, or objett. It is called alio tranftti-ue, 

 becaufe the aftion palTeth over to the objeft, or hath an 

 efFeift upon fome other thing. See Active. 



Verb PaJJive, is that which expreffes a paflion ; or which 

 receives the aftion of fome agent, and neceffarily implies an 

 objeft afted upon, and an agent by which it is afted upon : 

 it is conjugated, in the modern tongues, with the auxiliary 

 verb I am, je fu}s,je fono, &c. 



Some do not allow of any verbs paffive in the modern 

 language ; the reafon is, what we call paffive is nothing but 

 the participle of the verb, joined with the auxiliary verb, 

 to be ; whereas the verbs paffive of the Latin, &c. have their 

 particular terminations. See Passive. 



Verb Neuter, is that which fignifies an aftion that has no 

 particular objeft on which to fall ; but which, of itfelf, takes 

 up the whole idea of the aftion : or a verb neuter expreffes 

 being, or a ftate or condition of being ; when the agent and 

 the objeft afted upon coincide : as, I Jlsep, thou yawnejl, he 

 fnores, we lualk, you run, they Jland. 



The Latins call them neuters, becaufe they are neither 

 aftive nor paffive : though they have the force and fignifi- 

 cation of both ; as, / languijh, fignifies as much as, / am 

 languijh'mg ; J obey, as much as / exercife obedunee, &c. only 

 that they have no regimen to particularize this fignification. 

 The verb neuter is called intranfitive ; becaufe the effeft is 

 confined within the agent, and doth not pafs over to any 

 objeft. 



The diftinftion between verbs abfolutely neuter, as, to 

 Jleep, and verbs aftive intranfitive, as, to luali, though 

 founded in nature and truth, is of little ufe in grammar ; 

 the conftruftion of both is the fame. Lowth's Gram, 

 p. 62. 



Of thefe verbs, there are fome which form their tenfes by 

 the auxiliary verb to have ; as, / have Jlept, you have run. 

 Thefe, grammarians call neuter a&ive. 



Others there are, which form their compound parts by 

 the auxiliary to be; as, to come, to arrive, &c. ; for we fay, 

 / am come, not / have come. Sec. Thefe are called neuters 

 pajtve. 



The neuter verb is varied like the aftive ; but, having 

 fomewhat of the nature of the paffive, admits in many in- 

 ilances of the paffive form, retaining ftill the neuter fignifi- 

 cation ; chiefly m fuch verbs as fignify fome fort of motion, 

 or change of place or condition ; as, / am come, I tuas gone. 

 Sec. 



In Englilh, many verbs are ufed both in an aflive and 

 neuter fignification, the conftruftion only determining of 

 which kind they are. 



Verb Subjlantive, is that which expreffes the being, or 

 fubftance, which the mind forms to itfelf, or fuppofes in 

 the objeft ; whether it be there, or not : as, / am, thou art. 



Exiftence, fays Mr. Harris, may be confidered as an uni- 

 verfal genus, to wliich all things of all kinds are at all times 

 to be referred. The verbs, therefore, which denote it, claim 

 precedence of all others, as being effential to the very being 

 of every propofition in which they may ftill be found!, either 

 expreft, or by implication ; exprefs, as when we fay, the fun 

 is bright ; by implication, as when we fay, the fun rifs, which 

 means, when relolved, the fun is rijing. The verbs isjgroiueth, 

 becometh, efl,fit, l-y.^yii, \t\, -z'iKu, yi'yvslai, are all ufed to ex- 

 prefs this general genus ; and are called by the Latins verbs 

 fubflantive, and by the Greeks f'u'uxT^ lT:!>.(\%'.a,, verbs of ex- 

 iftence, a name more apt, as beiny of greater latitude, and 

 comprehending equally as well attribute as fubftance. The 

 principal of thefe verbs is the verb Ir'i, ej{, is. All exiftence 

 is either abfolute, as when we fay, B is ; or qualified, as 

 12 



when we fay, B is an animal, B is blacl, &c. And with 

 refpeft to this difference, the verb, if, can by itfelf exprefs 

 abfolute exiftence, but never the qualified, without fubjoin- 

 ing the particular form ; confequently, when is only ferves to 

 fubjoin fome fuch form, it has little more force than that of a 

 mere affertion. Under the fame charafter, it becomes a latent 

 part in every other verb, by exprefling that affertion, which 

 is one of their effentials : e. g. rifeth means is riJlng, &C» 

 Moreover, as to exiftence in general, it is either mutable, as 

 in the objefts of fenfation ; or immutable, as in the objefts of 

 intelleftion and fcience. All mutable objefts exift in time, 

 and admit the feveral diftinftions of prefent, paft, and future : 

 but immutable objefts know no fuch diftinftion, but rather 

 ftand oppofcd to all things temporary. And hence refult 

 two different fignifications of the fubftantive verb is, as it de- 

 notes mutable or immutable being : e. g. if we fay, this 

 orange is ripe, is meaneth that it exifteth fo now at this pre- 

 fent, in oppofition to paft time, when it was green, and to 

 future time, when it will be rotten : but if we fay, the dia- 

 meter of the fquare is incommenfurable with iisjide, we do not 

 intend by is that it is incommenfurable now, having been 

 formerly commenfurable, or being to become fo hereafter : 

 on the contrary, we intend that perfeftion of exiftence, to 

 which time and its diftinftions are utterly unknown. Under 

 the fame meaning, we employ this verb, when we fay, truth 

 is, or God is : the oppofition is not of time prefent to other 

 times, but of neceffary exiftence to all temporary exiftence 

 whatever. Hermes, p. 88, &c. 



In every language, fays Dr. Adam Smith, in his " Form- 

 ation of Languages," annexed to his " Theory of Moral Sen- 

 timents," there is a verb, known by the name of the fubftan- 

 tive verb, in Latin, fum, in Englifti, / am. This verb, he 

 fays, denotes not the exiftence of any particular event, but 

 exiftence in general. On this account it is the moft abftraft 

 and metaphyfical of all verbs, and confequently could by no 

 means be a word of early invention. Neverthelefs he allows, 

 that it is in every language ; and therefore in languages 

 which are in their earlieft infancy. Others are of opinion, not 

 without reafon, that the verb fubftantive, or copula, is, is not 

 only the moft neceffary, but the moft fimple of all verbs, for 

 it contains nothing more than an affertion, or affirmation, 

 that a thing exifts. The idea conveyed by this fimple pro- 

 pofition is coeval with thought itfelf : for what can we think 

 about, unlefs we think that fomething is, or exifts ? This 

 copula, or verb of exiftence, is, muft appear to be coeval 

 with language itfelf. But we cannot rcafonably infer from 

 hence, that this was the cafe with refpeft to any other finite 

 verb. It is probable, that people, in their firft attempts to 

 exprefs their ideas by words, would be fome time before 

 they invented any other word containing in itfelf an affer- 

 tion or affirmation : for they would not, at a very early pe- 

 riod, think of contriving words fo complex in their nature 

 as to include in them both the name of an aftion and an 

 affertion. 



An ingenious writer on the fubjeft of verbs (fee Pick- 

 bourn's Differtation on the Enghlh Verb) conjeftures 

 that the firft mode of expreffing aftions or paffions would 

 be by participles or verbal nouns ; i. e. words fignifying the 

 names of the anions or pajjions they wanted to defcribe : 

 and thefe words, connefted with their fubjeft by the copula 

 is (a word coeval with fpeech itfelf), might, in thefe rude 

 beginnings of language, tolerably well fupply the place 

 of verbs ; e. g. from obferving the operations of nature, 

 fuch words as rain or raining, thunder or thundering, would 

 foon be invented ; and, by adding the copula is, they 

 would fay, thundering, or thunder, is, or is not ; raining, or 

 rain, is ; which, by the rapidity of pronunciation, might in 



time 



