The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

[297] In the following example, there is a different phraseology, which seems not so well suited to the sense: "But we must be aware of imagining, that we render style strong and expressive, by a constant and multiplied use of epithets"—Blair's Rhet., p. 287. Here, in stead of "be aware," the author should have said, "beware," or "be ware;" that is, be wary, or cautious; for aware means apprised, or informed, a sense very different from the other.

[298] Dr. Crombie contends that must and ought are used only in the present tense. (See his Treatise, p. 204.) In this he is wrong, especially with regard to the latter word. Lennie, and his copyist Bullions, adopt the same notion; but Murray, and many others, suppose them to "have both a present and [a] past signification."

[299] Dr. Crombie says, "This Verb, as an auxiliary, is inflexible; thus we say, 'he will go;' and 'he wills to go.'"—Treatise on Etym. and Syntax, p. 203. He should have confined his remarks to the familiar style, in which all the auxiliaries, except do, be, and have, are inflexible. For, in the solemn style, we do not say, "Thou will go," but, "Thou wilt go."

[300] "HAD-I-WIST. A proverbial expression, Oh that I had known. Gower."—Chalmers's Dict., also Webster's. In this phrase, which is here needlessly compounded, and not very properly explained, we see wist used as a perfect participle. But the word is obsolete. "Had I wist," is therefore an obsolete phrase, meaning. If I had known, or, "O that I had known."

[301] That is, passive verbs, as well as others, have three participles for each; so that, from one active-transitive root, there come six participles—three active, and three passive. Those numerous grammarians who, like Lindley Murray, make passive verbs a distinct class, for the most part, very properly state the participles of a verb to be "three;" but, to represent the two voices as modifications of one species of verbs, and then say, "The Participles are three," as many recent writers do, is manifestly absurd: because two threes should be six. Thus, for example, Dr. Bullions: "In English [,] the transitive verb has always two voices, the Active and [the] Passive."—Prin. of E. Gram., p. 33. "The Participles are three, [:] the Present, the Perfect, and the Compound Perfect."—Ib., p. 57. Again: "Transitive verbs have two voices, called the Active and the Passive."—Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 66. "Verbs have three participles—the present, the past, and the perfect; as, loving, loved, having loved, in the active voice: AND being loved, loved, having been loved, in the passive."—Ib., p. 76. Now either not all these are the participles of one verb, or that verb has more than three. Take your choice. Redundant verbs usually have duplicate forms of all the participles except the Imperfect Active; as, lighting, lighted or lit, having lighted or having lit; so again, being lighted or being lit, lighted or lit, having been lighted or having been lit.

[302] The diversity in the application of these names, and in the number or nature of the participles recognized in different grammars, is quite as remarkable as that of the names themselves. To prepare a general synopsis of this discordant teaching, no man will probably think it worth his while. The following are a few examples of it:

1. "How many Participles, are there; There are two, the Active Participle which ends in (ing), as burning, and the Passive Participle which ends in (ed) as, burned."—The British Grammar, p. 140. In this book, the participles of Be are named thus: "ACTIVE. Being. PASSIVE. Been, having been."—Ib., p. 138.

2. "How many Sorts of Participles are there? A. Two; the Active Participle, that ends always in ing; as, loving, and the Passive Participle, that ends always in ed, t, or n; as, loved, taught, slain."—Fisher's Practical New Gram., p. 75.

3. "ACTIVE VOICE. Participles. Present, calling. Past, having called. Future, being about to call. PASSIVE VOICE. Present, being called. Past, having been called. Future, being about to be called."—Ward's Practical Gram., pp. 55 and 59.

4. ACT. "Present, loving; Perfect, loved; Past, having loved."—Lowth's Gram., p. 39. The participles passive are not given by Lowth; but, by inference from his rule for forming "the passive verb," they must be these: "Present, being loved; Perfect, loved, or been loved; Past, having been loved." See Lowth's Gram., p. 44.

5. "ACT. V. Present, Loving. Past, Loved. Perfect, Having loved. PAS. V. Pres. Being loved. Past, Loved. Perf. Having been loved."—Lennie's Gram., pp. 25 and 33; Greene's Analysis, p. 225; Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., pp. 87 and 95. This is Bullions's revised scheme, and much worse than his former one copied from Murray.

6. ACT. "Present. Loving. Perfect. Loved. Compound Perfect, Having loved." PAS. "Present. Being loved. Perfect or Passive. Loved. Compound Perfect. Having been loved."—L. Murray's late editions, pp. 98 and 99; Hart's Gram., pp. 85 and 88; Bullions's Principles of E. Gram., pp. 47 and 55. No form or name of the first participle passive was adopted by Murray in his early editions.

7. ACT. "Present. Pursuing. Perfect. Pursued. Compound perfect. Having pursued." PAS. "Present and Perfect. Pursued, or being pursued. Compound Perfect. Having been pursued."—Rev. W. Allen's Gram., pp. 88 and 93. Here the first two passive forms, and their names too, are thrown together; the former as equivalents, the latter as coalescents.

8. "TRANSITIVE. Pres. Loving, Perf. Having loved. PASSIVE. Pres. Loved or Being loved, Perf. Having been loved."—Parkhurst's Gram. for Beginners, p. 110. Here the second active form is wanting; and the second passive is confounded with the first.

9. ACT. "Imperfect, Loving [;] Perfect, Having loved [.]" PAS. "Imperfect, Being loved [;] Perfect, Loved, Having been loved."—Wells's School Gram., pp. 99 and 101. Here, too, the second active is not given; the third is called by the name of the second; and the second passive is confounded with the third, as if they were but forms of the same thing.

10. ACT. "Imperfect, (Present,) Loving. Perfect. Having loved. Auxiliary Perfect, Loved." PAS. "Imperfect, (Present,) Being loved. Perfect, Having been loved. Passive, Loved."—N. Butler's Pract. Gram., pp. 84 and 91. Here the common order of most of the participles is very improperly disturbed, and as many are misnamed.

11. ACT. "Present, Loving [;] Perfect, Loved [;] Comp. Perf. Having loved [.]" PAS. "Present, Being loved [;] Perfect, Loved, or been loved [;] Compound Perfect, Having been loved."—Frazee's Improved Gram., 63 and 73. Here the second participle passive has two forms, one of which, "been loved," is not commonly recognized, except as part of some passive verb or preperfect participle.

12. ACT. V. "Imperfect, Seeing. Perfect, Seen. Compound, Having seen." PAS. V. "Preterimperfect, Being seen. Preterperfect, Having been seen."—Churchill's New Gram., p. 102. Here the chief and radical passive participle is lacking, and neither of the compounds is well named.

13. ACT. "Present, Loving, [;] Past, Loved, [;] Com. Past, Having loved." PAS. "Present, Being loved. [;] Past, Loved. [;] Com. Past. [,] Having been loved."—Felton's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., of 1843, pp. 37 and 50.

14. ACT. "Present. [,] Loving. [;] Perfect. [,] Loved. [;] Compound Perfect. [,] Having loved." PAS. "Perfect or Passive. Loved. Compound Perfect. Having been loved."—Bicknell's Gram. Lond., 1790, Part I, pp. 66 and 70; L. Murray's 2d Edition, York, 1796, pp. 72 and 77. Here "Being loved," is not noticed.

15. "Participles. Active Voice. Present. Loving. Past. Loved, or having loved. Participles. Passive Voice. Present. Being loved. Past. Having been loved."—John Burn's Practical Gram., p. 70. Here the chief Passive term, "Loved," is omitted, and two of the active forms are confounded.

16. "Present, loving, Past, loved, Compound, having loved."—S. W. Clark's Practical Gram., of 1848, p. 71. "ACT. VOICE.—Present … Loving [;] Compound [,] Having loved…… Having been loving."—Ib., p. 81. "PAS. VOICE.—Present….. Loved, or, being loved [;] Compound….. Having been loved."—Ib., p. 83. "The Compound Participle consists of the Participle of a principal verb, added to the word having, or being, or to the two words having been. Examples—Having loved—being loved—having been loved."—Ib., p. 71. Here the second extract is deficient, as may be seen by comparing it with the first; and the fourth is grossly erroneous, as is shown by the third. The participles, too, are misnamed throughout.

The reader may observe that the punctuation of the foregoing examples is very discrepant. I have, in brackets, suggested some corrections, but have not attempted a general adjustment of it.

[303] "The most unexceptionable distinction which grammarians make between the participles, is, that the one points to the continuation of the action, passion, or state denoted by the verb; and the other, to the completion of it. Thus, the present participle signifies imperfect action, or action begun and not ended: as, 'I am writing a letter.' The past participle signifies action perfected, or finished: as, 'I have written a letter.'—'The letter is written.'"—Murray's Grammar, 8vo, p. 65. "The first [participle] expresses a continuation; the other, a completion."—W. Allen's Grammar, 12mo, London, 1813. "The idea which this participle [e.g. 'tearing'] really expresses, is simply that of the continuance of an action in an incomplete or unfinished state. The action may belong to time present, to time past, or to time future. The participle which denotes the completion of an action, as torn, is called the perfect participle; because it represents the action as perfect or finished."—Barnard's Analytic Gram., p. 51. Emmons stealthily copies from my Institutes as many as ten lines in defence of the term 'Imperfect' and yet, in his conjugations, he calls the participle in ing, "Present." This seems inconsistent. See his "Grammatical Instructer," p. 61.

[304] "The ancient termination (from the Anglo-Saxon) was and; as, 'His schynand sword.' Douglas. And sometimes ende; as, 'She, between the deth and life, Swounende lay full ofte.' Gower."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 88. "The present Participle, in Saxon, was formed by ande, ende, or onde; and, by cutting off the final e, it acquired a Substantive signification, and extended the idea to the agent: as, alysende, freeing, and alysend, a redeemer; freonde, loving or friendly, and freond, a lover or a friend."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 75.

[305] William B. Fowle, a modern disciple of Tooke, treats the subject of grammatical time rather more strangely than his master. Thus: "How many times or tenses have verbs? Two, [the] present and [the] past," To this he immediately adds in a note: "We do not believe in a past any more than a future tense of verbs."—The True English Gram., p. 30. So, between these two authors, our verbs will retain no tenses at all. Indeed, by his two tenses, Fowle only meant to recognize the two simple forms of an English verb. For he says, in an other place, "We repeat our conviction that no verb in itself expresses time of any sort."—Ib., p. 69,

[306] "STONE'-BLIND," "STONE'-COLD," and "STONE'-DEAD," are given in Worcester's Dictionary, as compound adjectives; and this is perhaps their best classification; but, if I mistake not, they are usually accented quite as strongly on the latter syllable, as on the former, being spoken rather as two emphatic words. A similar example from Sigourney, "I saw an infant marble cold," is given by Frazee under this Note: "Adjectives sometimes belong to other adjectives; as, 'red hot iron.'"—Improved Gram., p. 141. But Webster himself, from whom this doctrine and the example are borrowed, (see his Rule XIX,) makes "RED'-HOT" but one word in his Dictionary; and Worcester gives it as one word, in a less proper form, even without a hyphen, "RED'HOT."

[307] "OF ENALLAGE.—The construction which may be reduced to this figure in English, chiefly appears when one part of speech, is used with the power and effect of another."—Ward's English Gram., p. 150.

[308] Forsooth is literally a word of affirmation or assent, meaning for truth, but it is now almost always used ironically: as, "In these gentlemen whom the world forsooth calls wise and solid, there is generally either a moroseness that persecutes, or a dullness that tires you."—Home's Art of Thinking, p. 24.

[309] In most instances, however, the words hereof, thereof, and whereof, are placed after nouns, and have nothing to do with any verb. They are therefore not properly adverbs, though all our grammarians and lexicographers call them so. Nor are they adjectives; because they are not used adjectively, but rather in the sense of a pronoun governed by of; or, what is nearly the same thing, in the sense of the possessive or genitive case. Example: "And the fame hereof went abroad."—Matt.,