4. That is sometimes a relative, sometimes a definitive, and sometimes a conjunction.

That is a relative when it can be turned into who or which, without altering the sense; as, "They that (who) reprove us may be our best friends." That is a definitive adjective when it is immediately followed by a substantive, expressed or understood, which it defines or limits; as, "That boy is industrious." That is a conjunction when it cannot be turned into who or which, but merely joins sentences together, and denotes a consequence or indication; as, "He is studious, that he may become learned." "He answered, that he was happier now than he had been before."

Who, which, and what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions; as, "Who was there?" "Which is the book?" "What are you doing?"

1. Who, used interrogatively, is applied to persons only; which and what to both persons and things. Who also inquires for a person's name, and what for his occupation or character; as, "Who is he?" "What is he?"

2. Whether, signifying which of the two, was formerly used as an interrogative, but it is now obsolete in this sense, its place being supplied by which. Whether is, at present, principally employed as a conjunction.

3. A relative refers to a subject that is antecedent; an interrogative to one that is subsequent.

5.-VERBS.

A Verb is a word which affirms or expresses the state, action, or suffering of some person or thing; as, "I am;" "I teach;" "I am taught." A verb is also used to command, exhort, entreat, request, or ask a question; as, "Be silent;""Study diligently;" "Spare me;" "Lend me the book;" "Have you written the letter?"

As the principal characteristic of the verb is Affirmation, when we speak, we must speak of something, the thing of which we speak is called the subject; that which we say or affirm respecting the subject is the verb; thus, "John reads his book." Here, John is the subject, and reads the verb. A verb may generally be distinguished by its making sense with any of the personal pronouns, or the word to before it; as, hear, he studies, they talk; or, to hear, to study, to talk.

Verbs are either Transitive, Intransitive, or Passive.

A Transitive verb expresses action passing from an agent or doer to some object; as, "The master teaches me."

1. The term transitive signifies passing over.

2. The doer of an action is called the agent, and the thing to which the action passes over is called the object, a term signifying laid in the way. Thus, in the phrase, "The master teaches me," master is the doer or agent, and me the object.

3. The object of a transitive verb is sometimes understood; as, "John calls;" me, him, &c. being understood.

4. Transitives, not having their objects expressed, frequently imply habits; as, "Thomas reads and writes well.

An Intransitive verb expresses either action confined to the agent; as, "I run;" or neither action nor suffering, but simply existence or the state of the nominative; as, "I am;" "I stand."

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1. Intransitive means not passing over.

2. Sometimes an intransitive verb becomes, by the addition of a preposition, what is termed a compound transitive; thus, "She smiles," is intransitive; but, "She smiles on him," is transitive, and in this sense may become passive, as, "He is smiled on."

3. Some verbs are used sometimes in a transitive, and sometimes in an intransitive sense; the construction only determining to which kind they belong.

D

A Passive verb implies that the nominative is the object or receiver of an action done by some agent, expressed or understood; as, "John is taught by the master."

1. Here, is taught, is a passive verb, as it expresses what is endured by the object John from the agent master. The agent of a passive verb is always expressed by the objective case.

2. In an active verb, the attention of the hearer is first called to the agent, hence the term active; in a passive verb, the attention is first directed to the thing that undergoes the action, or, as it may be termed, the patient, and hence it is said to be passive.

3. There are certain verbs which imply passion or suffering, but which, according to grammatical analogy, are considered as transitive verbs; as, "He received a blow;" "I suffer or endure an injury." These verbs have the regular passive, “A blow was received," &c.

Transitive and Intransitive verbs are either Regular or Irregular.

A Regular verb is one that forms its past tense and perfect participle in ed; as, Present, love; Past, loved; Perfect Participle, loved.

An Irregular verb is one that does not form its past tense and perfect participle in ed; as, Present, arise; Past, arose; Perfect Participle, arisen.

There are also Defective, Monopersonal, and Auxiliary verbs.

A Defective verb is one that is used only in some of the moods and tenses; its other parts having fallen into disuse. The Defective verbs are the following:

:

Present. Can, may, shall, will, must, ought.
Past. Could, might, should, would, must, ought, quoth.

A Monopersonal (Impersonal) verb is one that is used only in the third person singular; as, "It rains;” “It hails."

Auxiliary or helping verbs are such as are employed chiefly in forming the moods and tenses of other verbs. They are generally Defective, having only the present and past Indicative; thus,

Present. Do, am, have, shall, will, may, can, must. Past. Did, was, had, should, would, might, could, must.

Do, be, have, and will, when unconnected with other verbs, either expressed or understood, are not auxiliaries but principal verbs, and have the present and perfect participles complete; as, "He does as he pleases;" "Being present, he voted."

The properties of Verbs are-Mood, Tense, Number, and Person.

Moods.

The Mood of a Verb is the particular form which it assumes, in order to express the manner in which the being, action, or passion, is represented.

The Moods of Verbs show that a person has performed, will perform, or does perform, an action; or, secondly, that he may or can perform it, or ought to perform it; or, thirdly, that it is doubtful whether he will or will not perform it; or, fourthly, that he has a right or authority to entreat or command some other person to perform it; or, fifthly, that the action requires only its bare exhibition without any regard to an agent.

There are generally reckoned five moods; the Indicative, Imperative, Potential, Subjunctive, and Infinitive.

The Indicative Mood affirms, in a direct and positive manner, respecting an action or event; as, "He teaches;" "He is taught;" or, it asks a question; as, "Does he teach?" "Is he taught?"

The Imperative Mood commands, exhorts, entreats, or requests; as, "Go" "study diligently;" "spare me;" "let us go."

The Potential Mood implies the possibility, liberty, power, will, or duty, to do or suffer an action; and is known by the signs-may, can, might, could, would, should, put before the verb; as, "It may rain," &c.

1. This mood also is used in asking questions; as, "May I write?" read ?"

"Can you

2. May and might denote the possibility of doing a thing; can and could express the power; should denotes duty; and would, determination.

The Subjunctive Mood implies a condition, supposition, or uncertainty, and is preceded by a conjunction expressed or understood, and followed by another verb; as, "If he study, he will improve."

1. The Subjunctive Mood is so called because it is subjoined to another verb, upon which it is dependent in making a full and distinct meaning; as, "If he come, I will go;" here, "if he come," requires to be joined to "I will go," that the sense may be rendered complete.

2. When there is no condition, supposition, or doubt implied, but the sense is positive and absolute, the verb is not in the subjunctive mood, though it may be preceded by a conjunction; as, "Though he hears, he does not attend;" that is, "he does hear, but notwithstanding that, he does not attend." "Though I am rich,' implies that I am rich, and the verb am is in the Indicative Mood.

3. The Subjunctive Mood is conjugated precisely the same as the Indicative, when it denotes present or past uncertainty. But a future contingency is generally expressed by omitting the auxiliaries shall, will, should, &c., and employing the verb without any change of termination; as, "if he study," and not, "if he studies or should study." But when the auxiliaries, may, can, might, could, would, should, shall, will, are used, they must always be varied; as, "If thou shouldst, wouldst, couldst go," &c.

The Infinitive Mood simply expresses the action, suffering, or state of being, without any number, person, or nomi

native case, as, to hear.

and is generally known by the sign to before it;

1. The Infinitive is the simple form of the verb, not limited by tense, number, or person.

2. To before the Infinitive Mood, is considered as forming part of the verb; but in every other situation it is a preposition.-To denotes that point of time or place to which motion or action tends, and in which it terminates; and, prefixed to an infinitive verb, holds it forth as the object to which the preceding verb is directed; thus, "I desire to learn;" I desire, and the object or end of that desire is learn or learning. When the infinitive verb is the immediate object of action, and not a more remote object to which the action tends, to is dropped; thus, instead of saying, "I do to plough," I say, "I do plough," that is, I use or guide the plough.

Tenses, Numbers, and Persons.

Tense is a term used to distinguish the time in which an action or state is represented.

Moods and Tenses are formed, in English, either by the variations which the simple verb undergoes, or, by the combination of two or more words. In Greek and Latin, moods and tenses are chiefly formed by a change of the termination.

Were Inflection, as some grammarians assert, the sole characteristic of mood, tense, voice, and case, then we should be reduced to one mood, the Indicative; two tenses, the present and past; one voice, and two cases. But this assertion is erroneous.

There are six tenses; the Present, the Past, the (Present-) Perfect, the Past-Perfect, the Future, and the FuturePerfect.

1. The Present Tense speaks of what is doing or going on in present time; as, "I write," "I am writing," "I do

write.'

2. The Past Tense represents an action or event either as past and finished; as, "I wrote the letter;" or, as going on and not completed at a certain time past; as, writing when you came."

66 I was

3. The (Present-)Perfect represents an action or event that has just now or lately been finished; as, "I have studied the author whom you recommended." "I have been explaining the cause of day and night."

4. The Past-Perfect expresses an action or event which was past before some other past action or event mentioned in the sentence, and to which it refers; as, "I had finished

my

lessons before he came."

5. The Future represents an action or to come; as, "I shall write the letter." their lessons."

6. The Future-Perfect denotes that a future action or event will be completed at or before another future action or event; as, "I shall have written the letter before John arrives."

Verbs have two numbers, the Singular and the Plural, agreeing with a noun or pronoun generally preceding them; as, he loves, they love.

In each number there are three persons; as,

First Person,

Singular.
I love,

Second Person, Thou lovest,

Third Person, He, she, or it loves,

Plural.
We love.
You or ye love.
They love.

1. When we say that a verb agrees with its subject or nominative case in number and person, we mean, that it is of the same number and person. If the subject is singular, the verb is singular; if the subject is plural, the verb is plural; if the subject is of the first person, the verb will be of the first person, and so on.

2. Variety of termination is, in English verbs, confined to the second and third persons singular; in the plural, the same form of ending is preserved through all the persons.

Participles.

A Participle is derived from a verb, and shows that the action or state implied by the verb, is either continuing or finished; as, "Moving in haste." Expelled from his situation."

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1. The term participle is derived from pars, partis, a part, and capio, I take; because it signifies action, passion, being, and time, like a verb, and sometimes may be added to a noun like an adjective.

2. The difference between the verb and participle is this; the verb implies time and affirmation; the participle implies time, but not affirmation. Thus, in the phrases, "Moving in haste;" "Expelled from his situation;" I assume or take for granted these two things, Moving and Expelled; moving implies that the action is going on, and expelled, that it is finished.

3. The difference between a participle and an adjective is, the participle implies time and action, while the adjective denotes only quality. In the phrases, "Moving in haste," "Heated with liquor," the words moving and heated, are participles, because they convey the idea of time and action; but in the phrases, "A moving spectacle," "A heated imagination," the words moving and heated simply express qualities, without any regard to time, and consequently are adjectives. When participles are used as adjectives, they may have degrees of comparison; as, a moving, a more moving, a most moving spectacle.

There are three Participles; the Present or Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Compound-Perfect.

The Present or Imperfect Participle ends in ing, and expresses the continuance of an action, or action begun and not finished; as, "I am writing ;" "I was writing," "I shall be writing."

1. The Present or Imperfect Participle denotes the continuance of some present, past, or future action, according to its connection with a present, past, or future verb; as, "I am (at present) writing;" "I was (some time past) writing;" "I shall be (at a future period) writing."

2. The participle in ing has generally an active signification, as, "I am writing a letter;" but sometimes a passive one, as, "The house is or was building," "The work is or was printing." In this sense, the sentence, "The house is or was building," would be rendered, in Latin, by Domus aedificatur or aedificabatur, and not by