416 
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
XXXYI. 
ON THE USE OF TWO INFLEXIOI^AL FORMS OF THE 
YERB IN IRISH. Br ROBERT ATKINSON, M.A., LL.D., 
Secretary of Council. 
[Read March 15, 1890.] 
On the Enclitic Ending -AtlTl. 
Modern investigation has established so many new points in 
reference to Irish grammar that it may be said, without any 
liability to an accusation of prejudice, that no authoritative 
Irish grammar is in existence. Whether it be now possible to 
establish the principles of Irish grammar on a right basis, and 
to free the written language from the abuses that have crept 
into it by neglect and misunderstanding, is a problem that time 
alone can solve. Meanwhile, it undoubtedly rests with those 
who take an interest in the maintenance of this time-honoured 
language, to do what they can in the way of reform, so as to 
train the younger generation to avoid what can be shown to 
be wrong. 
The source of much of the evil is in the existing Irish 
grammars, where, indeed, the entire theory of the Irish verb 
is so wrongly set forth, that each new generation of students 
only adds to the confusion. In my edition of Keating's U|\i 
bio|\-5^oice xMi bivif, just published by the Academy for 
the first time, I have endeavoured to set forth some of the 
principles observed in the better times ; and the present Paper 
is intended to call attention to some of the most necessary of 
the modifications that will have to be effected in the teaching 
of the modern language. 
