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in both of which I have no nominative, bat two inflected cases. The 

 verb is in its simplest state, owing to the presence of ho, whose influence 

 bound Gilchrist and the rest more closely to their errors, whilst it had 

 quite a contrary effect on me. I took it as it came, gave it its real 

 value, and, still adhering to my Passive speculation, escaped from all 

 danger by translating thus : 



As to the girl {or girls) it was beaten by him." 



The impersonal form presented no impediment, for many verbs are so 

 used in Hindustani ; and as in Arabic, which has no grammatical neuter, 

 the names of natural neuters are mostly feminine. As there is no neuter 

 in Hindustani, the masculine is here used instead ; and, consequently, 

 I looked upon che masculine singular, mdrd, as that ''petrified neuter" 

 which Bopp describes as unconscious of gender. Having taken this 

 view, I found myself at liberty to give a smoother translation : — 



'' As to the girl, she was beaten by him." 

 ''As to the girls, they were beaten by him." 



The absence of concord suggested no difficulty: (1.) because the sub- 

 ject of the verb is indirectly mentioned ; and (2.) because the Hindu- 

 stani shows a willingness to dispense with inflection, whenever its 

 absence does not give rise to ambiguity ; thus, aclichi Idtahen is used for 

 aclicM, yan Idtahen, "good books." Moreover, I saw no objection to the 

 neutral and singular state of 7ndrd, upon any general principles what- 

 soever. We find a Greek neuter plural, and an Arabic broken plural, 

 take a verb singular ; and also an Arabic numeral under three, and ano- 

 ther between three and ten, require a different construction. We do 

 not complain ; we discover a peculiar usage, and register it beside the 

 leading rule. But in this case there is really nothing peculiar ; for the 

 verb, being impersonal, must be in the singular number, and must be 

 deemed to be in the neuter, though the gender cannot be formally exhi- 

 bited as it can in ventum erat ad Vestce. 



Let me now submit all the varieties of the preterite phrases, the 

 consideration of which will conduct to a clear understanding and deter- 

 minate judgment. Eight may be written without Ico, and eight with 

 ko ; but of these latter two will be sufficient. There may be sixteen 

 others by making the agent masculine, but the change would not alter 

 the argument. 



1. 'Aurat ne lark'i mdri. " The woman beat the girl." 



2. ^Aurat ne larhd mdrd. " The woman beat the boy." 



3. ^Aurat ne larkiydn marm. " The woman beat the girls." 



4. ^ Aurat ne larTce mdre. The woman beat the boys." 



5. ^Atiraton ne larh'i mart. " The women beat the girl." 



