The verb struck is a transiThe "boy was struck by him." expressed in the Passive form.

from the subject to the object. tive verb in the Active form. Here the same affirmation is The Object of the verb in the former case is the Subject in this.

3. The object of a transitive verb is always its supplement, which, if not expressed by the speaker or the writer, is supplied by the hearer or the reader from the connection. 4. The subject of a transitive verb is sometimes its supplement; as, "He struck himself."

§ 254. Verbs are called INTRANSITIVE if their notion or idea is complete without the addition of any supplementary notion; as, "He sleeps." Here the meaning of sleeps is complete. It is confined to the subject; it needs no object.

"He

1. The term Intransitive means not passing over. runs." Here the act of running is limited to the subject. 2. Intransitive verbs, from their nature, can not regularly be used in the passive form.

3. Some verbs are used sometimes in a transitive, and sometimes in an intransitive sense; as, Range, to place in order; and Range, to roam at large.

4. An Intransitive verb can be defined as one which expresses simply being; as, I "am;" or state of being; as, he sleeps; or action limited to the agent; as, he runs.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF VERBS.

§ 255. To Verbs belong PERSON, NUMBER, TENse, Mode, and VOICE. The forms of conjugation are, Voices, for the relation of the action of the Verb to the subject; Modes, for the relation of reality, whether existing, conceived of, or willed by the speaker; Tenses, for the relation of time; Num

bers and Persons, to show the number and person of the Subject, corresponding with the numbers and persons of personal pronouns.

THE PERSONS OF VERBS.

§ 256. Verbs have Three Persons, FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD, corresponding to the three-fold distinction in personal

pronouns.

Compared with the Latin, the Greek, the Maso-Gothic, and almost all the ancient languages, there is in English only a very slight amount of Inflection.

1. Here we see, 1st. The Anglo-Saxon addition of t in the second person singular; 2d. The identity in the form of the three persons of the plural number in that language; 3d. The change of a into en in the Old English plural; 4th. The total absence of plural forms in the Modern English; 5th. The change of th into s in loveth and loves.

2. The sign of the First Person Singular is found in one verb only. In the word am (a-m) the m is no part of the original word. It is the sign of the First Person Singular of the Present Indicative.

3. The sign of the Second Person Singular is est or st: as, Thou callest.

4. The sign of the Third Person Singular is eth or th.

or else es or s; as, He calleth, or he calls. The first of these forms is now used only in formal discourse. It was once in common use. It is found only in the Indicative Mode and the Present Tense.

5. Through the whole of the plural there are no signs of the Persons or change of form: We call, ye call, they call.

NUMBERS OF VERBS.

257. Verbs have Two Numbers, the SINGULAR and the PLURAL, corresponding to the two-fold distinction in personal

pronouns.

1. As compared with the Present Plural forms We love, ye love, they love, both the Anglo-Saxon We lufiað, ge lufiað, he lufiað, and the Old English We loven, ye loven, they loven, have a peculiar termination for the plural number, which the present language wants. In other words, the Anglo-Saxon and the Old English have a Plural Personal characteristic, while the modern English has nothing to correspond with it.

2. Now in Anglo-Saxon, with a great number of Verbs, such a Plural Inflection not only actually takes place, but takes place most regularly. In English it takes place, however, in the Past Tense only. And this is the case in all the Gothic languages, as well as in the Anglo-Saxon.

MESO-GOTHIC.

Skáin, I shone; Skinum, we shone; Gab, I gave; Gêbum, we gave.
Smáit, I smote; Smitum, we smote; Láug, I lied; Lugum, we lied.

ANGLO-SAXON.

Arn, Iran; Urnon, we run; Sang, I sang; Sungon, we sung. Span, I span; Spunnon, we spun; Drank, I drank; Drunkon, we drunk. 3. From these examples the reader can not fail to draw the inference, viz., that words like

Began, Begun.
Ran, Run.

Span, Spun,

Sank, Sunk.

Swam, Swum.
Drank, Drunk, &c.,

generally called double forms of the preterite, were originally different Numbers of the same Tense, the form in -u being Plural. The Second Person Singular generally has the same vowel as the plural: Ic sang, I sang; pu sunge, Thou sung

est; He sang, He sang; We sungon, Ye sung; Hi sungon, They sung.

We sung; Ge sungon,

4. The signs of the persons, m, st or est, eth or s, are, in a secondary sense, the signs of number, since they are found only in the singular. But the only real sign expressive of a difference of number occurs in the Past Tense of the Indicative Mode of the verb substantive: I was, Thou wast, He was; We were, Ye were, They were.

TENSES OF THE VERB.

Tense is from the

§ 258. TENSE is a form of the Verb used to express the relation of time; as, I strike; I struck. French temps, Latin tempus, time.

By combinations of Words and Inflections, English Verbs have six tenses, namely, Primary Tenses: 1. The Present; 2. The PAST; 3. The FUTURE. Secondary Tenses: 1. The PRESENT PERFECT; 2. The PAST PERFECT; 3. The FUTURE PERFECT.

$259. I. The PRESENT TENSE denotes Present time. Of this there are three forms: 1. I write. This is the Simple form, and denotes habitual action and what is true at all times. 2. I am writing. This is the Progressive form, and denotes that the action is now going on. 3. I do write. This is the Emphatic form, and is used in positive assertions. 1. The Present tense is often used instead of the Past in

order to give animation to description. "He walks (for walked) up to him and knocks (for knocked) him down." This denotes a single action, and not the natural habitual power of the English present. The historian, the poet, and the orator make great use of this form, by which they can make the dead past become the living present.

2. The Present tense is also used instead of the Future, when the future is conceived of as present; as, "I can not determine till the mail arrives,;"" When he has an opportunity he will write." The words till, when, carry the mind to an event to happen, and we speak of it as present. § 260. II. The PAST TENSE, or Preterite, denotes Past time. Of this there are three forms: 1. I wrote. This is the Simple form, and represents an action which took place

at some time completely past. This is expressed in the English by the Preterite, in the Greek by the Aorist = unde fined. 2. I was writing. This is the Progressive form, and represents the action as unfinished at a certain specified time past. 3. I did write. This is the Emphatic form. "I was speaking when he entered." Here we have two acts, the act of speaking and the act of entering. Both are past as regards the time of speaking, but both are present as regards each other. The progressive form is expressed by the Past Tense of the Substantive Verb and the Present Participle. I was speaking = dicebam, the Imperfect tense of the Latin.

§ 261. III. The FUTURE TENSE denotes Future time. There are two forms: 1. I shall write. This is the Simple form, and represents an action that is yet to come. 2. I shall be writing. This is the Progressive form, and expresses an action which is to take place at a future specified time. Both forms are expressed in the English by the combination of will or shall with an Infinitive Mode; in Latin and Greek by an Inflection: I shall (or will) speak, λéžw, dicam.

"In the first Person simply shall foretells;

In will a Threat, or else a Promise dwells.
Shall, in the second and the third, does threat;

Will simply, then, foretells the future feat."-Brightland.

When speaking in the first person, we speak submissively; when speaking to or of another, we speak courteously. In the older writers, in the translation of the Bible, for instance, shall is applied to all three persons. We had not then reached that stage of politeness which shrinks from the appearance of speaking compulsorily to another. In the Paradigms of the Verbs, two forms of the Future are given. The first may be called the Predictive Future. The second may be called the Imperative, or the Promissive Future.

See $284.

§ 262. IV. The PRESENT PERFECT Tense denotes Past time completed in the present, or connected with the present. Of this there are two forms: 1. "I have written a letter." This is the Simple form, and represents an action as having been finished in some time past, reckoning from the present. 2. "I have been writing these two hours." This is the Progressive form, and represents an action as just finished.