CHAPTER VII.—PARTICIPLES.
A Participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding ing, d, or ed, to the verb: thus, from the verb rule, are formed three participles, two simple and one compound; as, 1. ruling, 2. ruled, 3. having ruled.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—Almost all verbs and participles seem to have their very essence in motion, or the privation of motion—in acting, or ceasing to act. And to all motion and rest, time and place are necessary concomitants; nor are the ideas of degree and manner often irrelevant. Hence the use of tenses and of adverbs. For whatsoever comes to pass, must come to pass sometime and somewhere; and, in every event, something must be affected somewhat and somehow. Hence it is evident that those grammarians are right, who say, that "all participles imply time." But it does not follow, that the English participles divide time, like the tenses of a verb, and specify the period of action; on the contrary, it is certain and manifest, that they do not. The phrase, "men labouring," conveys no other idea than that of labourers at work; it no more suggests the time, than the place, degree, or manner, of their work. All these circumstances require other words to express them; as, "Men now here awkwardly labouring much to little purpose." Again: "Thenceforward will men, there labouring hard and honourably, be looked down upon by dronish lordlings."
OBS. 2.—Participles retain the essential meaning of their verbs; and, like verbs, are either active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive, or neuter, in their signification. For this reason, many have classed them with the verbs. But their formal meaning is obviously different. They convey no affirmation, but usually relate to nouns or pronouns, like adjectives, except when they are joined with auxiliaries to form the compound tenses of their verbs; or when they have in part the nature of substantives, like the Latin gerunds. Hence some have injudiciously ranked them with the adjectives. The most discreet writers have commonly assigned them a separate place among the parts of speech; because, in spite of all opposite usages, experience has shown that it is expedient to do so.
OBS. 3.—According to the doctrine of Harris, all words denoting the attributes of things, are either verbs, or participles, or adjectives. Some attributes have their essence in motion: as, to walk, to run, to fly, to strike, to live; or, walking, running, flying, striking, living. Others have it in the privation of motion: as, to stop, to rest, to cease, to die; or, stopping, resting, ceasing, dying. And there are others which have nothing to do with either motion or its privation; but have their essence in the quantity, quality, or situation of things; as, great and small, white and black, wise and foolish, eastern and western. These last terms are adjectives; and those which denote motion or its privation, are either verbs or participles, according to their formal meaning; that is, according to their manner of attribution. See Hermes, p. 95. Verbs commonly say or affirm something of their subjects; as, "The babe wept." Participles suggest the action or attribute without affirmation; as, "A babe weeping,"—"An act regretted."
OBS. 4.—A verb, then, being expressive of some attribute, which it ascribes to the thing or person named as its subject; of time, which it divides and specifies by the tenses; and also, (with the exception of the infinitive,) of an assertion or affirmation; if we take away the affirmation and the distinction of tenses, there will remain the attribute and the general notion of time; and these form the essence of an English participle. So that a participle is something less than a verb, though derived immediately from it; and something more than an adjective, or mere attribute, though its manner of attribution is commonly the same. Hence, though the participle by rejecting the idea of time may pass almost insensibly into an adjective, and become truly a participial adjective; yet the participle and the adjective are by no means one and the same part of speech, as some will have them to be. There is always an essential difference in their meaning. For instance: there is a difference between a thinking man and a man thinking; between a bragging fellow and a fellow bragging; between a fast-sailing ship and a ship sailing fast. A thinking man, a bragging fellow, or a fast-sailing ship, is contemplated as being habitually or permanently such; a man thinking, a fellow bragging, or a ship sailing fast, is contemplated as performing a particular act; and this must embrace a period of time, whether that time be specified or not. John Locke was a thinking man; but we should directly contradict his own doctrine, to suppose him always thinking.
OBS. 5.—The English participles are all derived from the roots of their respective verbs, and do not, like those of some other languages, take their names from the tenses. On the contrary, they are reckoned among the principal parts in the conjugation of their verbs, and many of the tenses are formed from them. In the compound forms of conjugation, they are found alike in all the tenses. They do not therefore, of themselves, express any particular time; but they denote the state of the being, action, or passion, in regard to its progress or completion. This I conceive to be their principal distinction. Respecting the participles in Latin, it has been matter of dispute, whether those which are called the present and the perfect, are really so in respect to time or not. Sanctius denies it. In Greek, the distinction of tenses in the participles is more apparent, yet even here the time to which they refer, does not always correspond to their names. See remarks on the Participles in the Port Royal Latin and Greek Grammars.
OBS. 6.—Horne Tooke supposes our participles in ed to express time past, and those in ing to have no signification of time. He says, "I did not mean to deny the adsignification of time to all the participles; though I continue to withhold it from that which is called the participle present."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. ii, p. 415. Upon the same point, he afterwards adds, "I am neither new nor singular; for Sanctius both asserted and proved it by numerous instances in the Latin. Such as, 'Et abfui proficiscens in Græciam.' Cicero. 'Sed postquam amans accessit pretium pollicens.' Terent. 'Ultro ad cam venies indicans te amare.' Terent. 'Turnum fugientem hæc terra videbit.' Virg."—Tooke's Div., ii, 420. Again: "And thus I have given you my opinion concerning what is called the present participle. Which I think improperly so called; because I take it to be merely the simple verb adjectived, without any adsignification of manner or time."—Tooke's Div., Vol. ii, p. 423.
OBS. 7.—I do not agree with this author, either in limiting participles in ed to time past, or in denying all signification of time to those in ing; but I admit that what is commonly called the present participle, is not very properly so denominated, either in English or in Latin, or perhaps in any language. With us, however, this participle is certainly, in very many instances, something else than "merely the simple verb adjectived." For, in the first place, it is often of a complex character, as being loved, being seen, in which two verbs are "adjectived" together, and that by different terminations. Yet do these words as perfectly coalesce in respect to time, as to everything else; and being loved or being seen is confessedly as much a "present" participle, as being, or loving, or seeing—neither form being solely confined to what now is. Again, our participle in ing stands not only for the present participle of the Latin or Greek grammarians, but also for the Latin gerund, and often for the Greek infinitive used substantively; so that by this ending, the English verb is not only adjectived, but also substantived, if one may so speak. For the participle when governed by a preposition, partakes not of the qualities "of a verb and an adjective," but rather of those of a verb and a noun.
CLASSES.
English verbs, not defective, have severally three participles;[301] which have been very variously denominated, perhaps the most accurately thus: the Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Preperfect. Or, as their order is undisputed, they may he conveniently called the First, the Second, and the Third.
I. The Imperfect participle is that which ends commonly in ing, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion: as, being, acting, ruling, loving, defending, terminating.
II. The Perfect participle is that which ends commonly in ed or en, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion: as, been, acted, ruled, loved, defended, terminated.
III. The Preperfect participle is that which takes the sign having, and implies a previous completion of the being, action, or passion: as, having loved, having seen, having written; having been loved, having been writing, having been written.
The First or Imperfect Participle, when simple, is always formed by adding ing to the radical verb; as, look, looking: when compound, it is formed by prefixing being to some other simple participle; as, being reading, being read, being completed.
The Second or Perfect Participle is always simple, and is regularly formed by adding d or ed to the radical verb: those verbs from which it is formed otherwise, are either irregular or redundant.
The Third or Preperfect Participle is always compound, and is formed by prefixing having to the perfect, when the compound is double, and having been to the perfect or the imperfect, when the compound is triple: as, having spoken, having been spoken, having been speaking.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—Some have supposed that both the simple participles denote present time; some have supposed that the one denotes present, and the other, past time; some have supposed that the first denotes no time, and the second time past; some have supposed that neither has any regard to time; and some have supposed that both are of all times. In regard to the distinction of voice, or the manner of their signification, some have supposed the one to be active, and the other to be passive; some have supposed the participle in ing to be active or neuter, and the other active or passive; and some have supposed that either of them may be active, passive, or neuter. Nor is there any more unanimity among grammarians, in respect to the compounds. Hence several different names have been loosely given to each of the participles: and sometimes with manifest impropriety; as when Buchanan, in his conjugations, calls being, "Active,"—and been, having been, having had, "Passive." Learned men may differ in opinion respecting the nature of words, but grammar can never well deserve the name of science, till at least an ordinary share of reason and knowledge appears in the language of those who teach it.
OBS. 2.—The FIRST participle has been called the Present, the Progressive, the Imperfect, the Simple Imperfect, the Indefinite, the Active, the Present Active, the Present Passive, the Present Neuter, and, in the passive voice, the Preterimperfcct, the Compound Imperfect, the Compound Passive, the Passive. The SECOND, which, though it is always but one word, some authors treat as being two participles, or three, has been called the Perfect, the Preter, the Preterperfect, the Imperfect, the Simple Perfect, the Past, the Simple Past, the First Past, the Preterit, the Passive, the Present Passive, the Perfect Active, the Past Active, the Auxiliary Perfect, the Perfect Passive, the Perfect Neuter, the Simple Perfect Active, the Simple Perfect Passive. The THIRD has been called the Compound, the Compound Active, the Compound Passive, the Compound Perfect, the Compound Perfect Active, the Compound Perfect Passive, the Compound Preter, the Present, the Present Perfect, the Past, the Second Past, the Past Compound, the Compound Past, the Prior-perfect, the Prior-present, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, the Preterperfect, the Preperfect.[302]
In teaching others to speak and write well, it becomes us to express our doctrines in the most suitable terms; but the application of a name is of no great consequence, so that the thing itself be rightly understood by the learner. Grammar should be taught in a style at once neat and plain, clear and brief. Upon the choice of his terms, the writer of this work has bestowed much reflection; yet he finds it impossible either to please everybody, or to explain, without intolerable prolixity, all the reasons for preference.
OBS. 3.—The participle in ing represents the action or state as continuing and ever incomplete; it is therefore rightly termed the IMPERFECT participle: whereas the participle in ed always, or at least usually, has reference to the action as done and complete; and is, by proper contradistinction, called the PERFECT participle. It is hardly necessary to add, that the terms perfect and imperfect, as thus applied to the English participles, have no reference to time, or to those tenses of the verb which are usually (but not very accurately) named by these epithets. The terms present and past, which some still prefer to imperfect and perfect, do denote time, and are in a kind of oblique contradistinction; but how well they apply to the participles, may be seen by the following texts: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."—"We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."—ST. PAUL: 2 Cor., v, 19, 20. Here reconciling refers to the death of Christ, and reconciled, to the desired conversion of the Corinthians; and if we call the former a present participle, and the latter a past, (as do Bullions, Burn, Clark, Felton, S. S. Greene, Lennie, Pinneo, and perhaps others,) we nominally reverse the order of time in respect to the events, and egregiously misapply both terms.
OBS. 4.—Though the participle in ing has, by many, been called the Present participle, it is as applicable to past or future, as to present time; otherwise, such expressions as, "I had been writing,"—"I shall be writing," would be solecisms. It has also been called, almost as frequently, the Active participle. But it is not always active, even when derived from an active verb; for such expressions as, "The goods are selling,"—"The ships are now building," are in use, and not without good authority: as, "And hope to allay, by rational discourse, the pains of his joints tearing asunder."—Locke's Essay, p. 285. "Insensible of the designs now forming by Philip."—Goldsmith's Greece, ii, 48. "The improved edition now publishing."—BP. HALIFAX: Pref. to Butler. "The present tense expresses an action now doing."—Emmons's Gram., p. 40. The distinguishing characteristic of this participle is, that it denotes an unfinished and progressive state of the being, action, or passion; it is therefore properly denominated the IMPERFECT participle. If the term were applied with reference to time, it would be no more objectionable than the word present, and would be equally supported by the usage of the Greek linguists. I am no more inclined to "innovation," than are the pedants who, for the choice here made, have ignorantly brought the false charge against me. This name, authorized by Beattie and Pickbourn, is approved by Lindley Murray,[303] and adopted by several of the more recent grammarians. See the works of Dr. Crombie, J. Grant, T. O. Churchill, R. Hiley, B. H. Smart, M. Harrison, and W. G. Lewis, published in London; and J. M. M'Culloch's Grammar, published in Edinburgh; also some American grammars, as E. Hazen's, N. Butler's, D. B. Tower's, W. H. Wells's, the Sanderses'.
OBS. 5.—The participle in ed, as is mentioned above, usually denotes a completion of the being, action, or passion, and should therefore be denominated the PERFECT participle. But this completion may be spoken of as present, past, or future; for the participle itself has no tenses, and makes no distinction of time, nor should the name be supposed to refer to the perfect tense. The conjugation of any passive verb, is a sufficient proof of all this: nor is the proof invalidated by resolving verbs of this kind into their component parts. Of the participles in ed applied to present time, the following is an example: "Such a course would be less likely to produce injury to health, than the present course pursued at our colleges."—Literary Convention, p. 118. Tooke's notion of grammatical time, appears to have been in several respects a strange one: he accords with those who call this a past participle, and denies to the other not only the name and notion of a tense, but even the general idea of time. In speaking of the old participial termination and or ende,[304] which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors used where we write ing, he says, "I do not allow that there are any present participles, or any present tense of the verb." [305]—Diversions of Purley, Vol. ii, p. 41.
OBS. 6.—The Perfect participle of transitive verbs, being used in the formation of passive verbs, is sometimes called the Passive participle. It usually has in itself a passive signification, except when it is used in forming the compound tenses of the active verb. Hence the difference between the sentences, "I have written a letter," and, "I have a letter written;" the former being equivalent to Scripsi literas, and the latter to Sunt mihi literæ scriptæ. But there are many perfect participles which cannot with any propriety be called passive. Such are all those which come from intransitive or neuter verbs; and also those which so often occur in the tenses of verbs not passive. I have already noticed some instances of this misnomer; and it is better to preclude it altogether, by adhering to the true name of this Participle, THE PERFECT. Nor is that entirely true which some assert, "that this participle in the active is only found in combination;" that, "Whenever it stands alone to be parsed as a participle, it is passive."—Hart's English Gram., p. 75. See also Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 77; and Greene's Analysis, or Gram., p. 225. "Rebelled," in the following examples, cannot with any propriety be called a passive participle:
"Rebelled, did I not send them terms of peace,
Which not my justice, but my mercy asked?"—Pollok, x, 253.
"Arm'd with thy might, rid Heav'n of these rebell'd,
To their prepar'd ill mansion driven down."—Milton, vi, 737.
OBS. 7.—The third participle has most generally been called the Compound, or the Compound perfect. The latter of these terms seems to be rather objectionable on account of its length; and against the former it may be urged that, in the compound forms of conjugation, the first or imperfect participle is a compound: as, being writing, being seen. Dr. Adam calls having loved the perfect participle active, which he says must be rendered in Latin by the pluperfect of the subjunctive; as, he having loved, quum amavisset; (Lat. and Eng. Gram., p. 140;) but it is manifest that the perfect participle of the verb to love, whether active or passive, is the simple word loved, and not this compound. Dr. Adam, in fact, if he denies this, only contradicts himself; for, in his paradigms of the English Active Voice, he gives the participles as two only, and both simple, thus: "Present, Loving; Perfect, Loved:"—"Present, Having; Perfect, Had." So of the Neuter Verb: "Present, Being; Perfect, Been."—Ib., pp. 81 and 82. His scheme of either names or forms is no model of accuracy. On the very next page, unless there is a misprint in several editions, he calls the Second participle the "imperfect;" saying, "The whole of the passive voice in English is formed by the auxiliary verb to be, and the participle imperfect; as, I am loved, I was loved, &c." Further: "In many verbs," he adds, "the present participle also is used in a passive sense; as, These things are doing, were doing, &c.; The house is building, was building, &c."—Ib., p. 83. N. Butler, in his Practical Grammar, of 1845, names, and counts, and orders, the participles very oddly: "Every verb," he says, "has two participles—the imperfect and the perfect."—P. 78. Yet, for the verb love, he finds these six: two "IMPERFECT, Loving and Being loved;" two "PERFECT, Having loved, and Having been loved;" one "AUXILIARY PERFECT, Loved," of the "Active Voice;" and one "PASSIVE, Loved," of the "Passive Voice." Many old writers erroneously represent the participle in ing as always active, and the participle in ed or en as always passive; and some, among whom is Buchanan, making no distinction between the simple perfect loved and the compound having loved, place the latter with the former, and call it passive also. The absurdity of this is manifest: for having loved or having seen is active; having been or having sat is neuter; and having been loved or having been seen is passive. Again, the triple compound, having been writing, is active; and having been sitting is neuter; but if one speak of goods as having been selling low, a similar compound is passive.
OBS. 8.—Now all the compound participles which begin with having are essentially alike; and, as a class of terms, they ought to have a name adapted to their nature, and expressive of their leading characteristic. Having loved differs from the simple participle loved, in signification as well as in form; and, if this participle is to be named with reference to its meaning, there is no more suitable term for it than the epithet PREPERFECT,—a word which explains itself, like prepaid or prerequisite. Of the many other names, the most correct one is PLUPERFECT,—which is a term of very nearly the same meaning. Not because this compound is really of the pluperfect tense, but because it always denotes being, action, or passion, that is, or was, or will be, completed before the doing or being of something else; and, of course, when the latter thing is represented as past, the participle must correspond to the pluperfect tense of its verb; as, "Having explained her views, it was necessary she should expatiate on the vanity and futility of the enjoyments promised by Pleasure."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 181. Here having explained is exactly equivalent to when she had explained. Again: "I may say, He had commanded, and we obeyed; or, He having commanded, we obeyed."—Fetch's Comprehensive Gram., p. ix. Here the two phrases in Italics correspond in import, though not in construction.
OBS. 9.—Pluperfect is a derivative contracted from the Latin plusquam-perfectum, and literally signifies more than complete, or beyond the perfect; i. e., (as confirmed by use,) antecedently finished, or completed before. It is the usual name of our fourth tense; is likewise applicable to a corresponding tense in other tongues; and is a word familiar to every scholar. Yet several grammarians,—too ready, perhaps, for innovation,—have shown their willingness to discard it altogether. Bullions, Butler, Hiley, Perley, Wells, and some others, call the English pluperfect tense, the past-perfect, and understand either epithet to mean—"completed at or before a certain past time;" (Bullions's E. Gram., p. 39;) that is—"finished or past, at some past time."—Butler's Pract. Gram., p. 72. The relation of the tense is before the past, but the epithet pluperfect is not necessarily limited to this relation, any more than what is perfect is necessarily past. Butler has urged, that, "Pluperfect does not mean completed before," but is only "a technical name of a particular tense;" and, arguing from this erroneous assumption, has convinced himself, "It would be as correct to call this the second future participle, as the pluperfect."—Ib., p. 79. The technical name, as limited to the past, is preterpluperfect, from the older term præteritum plusquam perfectum; so preterperfect, from præteritum perfectum, i. e. past perfect, is the name of an other tense, now called the perfect: wherefore the substitution of past-perfect for pluperfect is the less to be commended. There may be a convenience in having the name of the tense to differ from that of the participle, and this alone induces me to prefer preperfect to pluperfect for the name of the latter.
OBS. 10.—From the participle in ed or en, we form three tenses, which the above-named authors call perfect;—"the present-perfect, the past-perfect, and the future-perfect;"—as, have seen, had seen, will have seen. Now it is, doubtless, the participle, that gives to these their perfectness; while diversity in the auxiliaries makes their difference of time. Yet it is assumed by Butler, that, in general, the simple participle in ed or en, "does not denote an action done and completed," and is not to be called perfect; (p. 80;)—that, "If we wish to express by a participle, an action completed at any time, we use the compound form, and this is THE perfect participle;" (p. 79;)—that, "The characteristic of the participle in ed is, that it implies the reception of an action;" (p. 79;)—that, hence, it should be called the passive, though it "is usually called the perfect participle;" (p. 79;)—that, "The use of this participle in the perfect tenses of the active voice should not be taken into consideration in giving it a name or a definition;" (p. 80;)—that its active, neuter, or intransitive use is not a primitive idiom of the language, but the result of a gradual change of the term from the passive to the active voice; (p. 80;)—that, "the participle has changed its mode of signification, so that, instead of being passive, it is now active in sense;" (p. 105;)—that, "having changed its original meaning so entirely, it should not be considered the same participle;" (p. 78;)—that, "in such cases, it is a perfect participle," and, "for the sake of distinction [,] this may be called the auxiliary perfect participle."—Ib. These speculations I briefly throw before the reader, without designing much comment upon them. It will be perceived that they are, in several respects, contradictory one to an other. The author himself names the participle in reference to a usage which he says, "should not be taken into consideration;" and names it absurdly too; for he calls that "the auxiliary," which is manifestly the principal term. He also identifies as one what he professes to distinguish as two.
OBS. 11.—Participles often become adjectives, and are construed before nouns to denote quality. The terms so converted form the class of participial adjectives. Words of a participial form may be regarded as adjectives, under the following circumstances: 1. When they reject the idea of time, and denote something customary or habitual, rather than a transient act or state; as, "A lying rogue,"—i.e., one that is addicted to lying. 2. When they admit adverbs of comparison; as, "A more learned man." 3. When they are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb; as, "unfeeling, unfelt:" there is no verb to unfeel, therefore these words cannot be participles. Adjectives are generally placed before their nouns; participles, after them. The words beginning with un, in the following lines may be classed with participial adjectives:
"No king, no subject was; unscutcheoned all;
Uncrowned, unplumed, unhelmed, unpedigreed;
Unlaced, uncoroneted, unbestarred."
—Pollok, C. of T., B. viii, l. 89.
OBS. 12.—Participles in ing often become nouns. When preceded by an article, an adjective or a noun or pronoun of the possessive case, they are construed as nouns; and, if wholly such, have neither adverbs nor active regimen: as, "He laugheth at the shaking of a spear."—Job, xli, 29. "There is no searching of his understanding."—Isaiah, xl, 28. "In their setting of their threshold by ray threshold."—Ezekiel, xliii, 8. "That any man should make my glorying void."—1 Cor., ix, 15. The terms so converted form the class of verbal or participial nouns. But some late authors—(J. S. Hart, S. S. Greene, W. H. Wells, and others—) have given the name of participial nouns to many participles,—such participles, often, as retain all their verbal properties and adjuncts, and merely partake of some syntactical resemblance to nouns. Now, since the chief characteristics of such words are from the verb, and are incompatible with the specific nature of a noun, it is clearly improper to call them nouns. There are, in the popular use of participles, certain mixed constructions which are reprehensible; yet it is the peculiar nature of a participle, to participate the properties of other parts of speech,—of the verb and adjective,—of the verb and noun,—or sometimes, perhaps, of all three. A participle immediately preceded by a preposition, is not converted into a noun, but remains a participle, and therefore retains its adverb, and also its government of the objective case; as, "I thank you for helping him so seasonably." Participles in this construction correspond with the Latin gerund, and are sometimes called gerundives.
OBS. 13.—To distinguish the participle from the participial noun, the learner should observe the following four things: 1. Nouns take articles and adjectives before them; participles, as such, do not. 2. Nouns may govern the possessive case before them, but not the objective after them; participles may govern the objective case, but not so properly the possessive. 3. Nouns, if they have adverbs, require the hyphen; participles take adverbs separately, as do their verbs. 4. Participial nouns express actions as things, and are sometimes declined like other nouns; participles usually refer actions to their agents or recipients, and have in English no grammatical modifications of any kind.
OBS. 14.—To distinguish the perfect participle from the preterit of the same form, observe the sense, and see which of the auxiliary forms will express it: thus, loved for being loved, is a participle; but loved for did love, is a preterit verb. So held for did hold, stung for did sting, taught for did teach, and the like, are irregular verbs; but held for being held, stung for being stung, taught for being taught, and the like, are perfect participles.
OBS. 15.—Though the English participles have no inflections, and are consequently incapable of any grammatical agreement or disagreement, those which are simple, are sometimes elegantly taken in a plural sense, with the apparent construction of nouns; but, under these circumstances, they are in reality neither nouns nor participles, but participial adjectives construed elliptically, as other adjectives often are, and relating to plural nouns understood. The ellipsis is sometimes of a singular noun, though very rarely, and much less properly. Examples: "To them who are the called according to his purpose."—Rom., x, 28. That is—"the called ones or persons." "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."—Matt., xxii, 32. "Neither is it found in the land of the living."—Job, xxviii, 13. "The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day."—Isaiah, xxxviii, 19. "Till we are made fit to live and reign with him and all his redeemed, in the heavenly glory forever."—Jenks's Prayers, p. 18.
"Ye blessed of my Father, come, ye just,
Enter the joy eternal of your Lord."—Pollok, B. x, l. 591.
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into the fire
Prepared eternal in the gulf of Hell."—Id., B. x, l. 449.
EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS VII.—ETYMOLOGICAL.
In the Seventh Praxis it is required of the pupil—to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, and PARTICIPLES.
The definitions to be given in the Seventh Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle,—and one for an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus:—
EXAMPLE PARSED.
"Religion, rightly understood and practised, has the purest of all joys attending it."
Religion is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.
Rightly is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.
Understood is a perfect participle, from the irregular active-transitive verb, understand, understood, understanding, understood. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding ing, d, or ed, to the verb. 2. The perfect participle is that which ends commonly in ed or en, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion.
And is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction, is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.
Practised is a perfect participle, from the regular active-transitive verb, practise, practised, practising, practised. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding ing, d, or ed, to the verb. 2. The perfect participle is that which ends commonly in ed or en, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion.
Has is an irregular active-transitive verb, from have, had, having, had; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed. 3. An active-transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one.
The is the definite article. 1. An article is the word the, an, or a, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is the, which denotes some particular thing or things.
Purest is a common adjective, of the superlative degree; compared regularly, pure, purer, purest. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The superlative degree is that which is most or least of all included with it.
Of is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun.
All is a pronominal adjective, not compared. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun or represent it understood. 3. Those adjectives whose signification does not admit of different degrees, cannot be compared.
Joys is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition.
Attending is an imperfect participle, from the regular active-transitive verb, attend, attended, attending, attended. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding ing, d, or ed, to the verb. 2. The imperfect participle is that which ends commonly in ing, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion.
It is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition.
LESSON I.—PARSING.
"A Verb is a word whereby something or other is represented as existing, possessing, acting, or being acted upon, at some particular time, past, present, or future; and this in various manners."—White, on the English Verb, p. 1.
"Error is a savage, lurking about on the twilight borders of the circle illuminated by truth, ready to rush in and take possession, the moment her lamp grows dim."—Beecher.
"The science of criticism may be considered as a middle link, connecting the different parts of education into a regular chain."—Ld. Kames, El. of Crit., p. xxii.
"When I see a man walking, a tree growing, or cattle grazing, I cannot doubt but that these objects are really what they appear to be. Nature determines us to rely on the veracity of our senses; for otherwise they could not in any degree answer their end, that of laying open things existing and passing around us."—Id., ib., i, 85.
"But, advancing farther in life, and inured by degrees to the crooked ways of men; pressing through the crowd, and the bustle of the world; obliged to contend with this man's craft, and that man's scorn; accustomed, sometimes, to conceal their sentiments, and often to stifle their feelings; they become at last hardened in heart, and familiar with corruption."—BLAIR: Murray's Sequel, p. 140.
"Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and stricken hard,
Turns to his stroke his adamantine scales,
That fear no discipline of human hands."—Cowper's Task, p. 47.
LESSON II.—PARSING.
"Thus shame and remorse united in the ungrateful person, and indignation united with hatred in the hearts of others, are the punishments provided by nature for injustice."—Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 288.
"Viewing man as under the influence of novelty, would one suspect that custom also should influence him?—Human nature, diversified with many and various springs of action, is wonderfully, and, indulging the expression, intricately constructed."—Id., ib., i, 325.
"Dryden frequently introduces three or four persons speaking upon the same subject, each throwing out his own notions separately, without regarding what is said by the rest."—Id., ib., ii, 294.
"Nothing is more studied in Chinese gardens, than to raise wonder and surprise. Sometimes one is led insensibly into a dark cavern, terminating unexpectedly in a landscape enriched with all that nature affords the most delicious."—Id., ib., ii, 334.
"The answer to the objection here implied, is obvious, even on the supposition of the questions put being answered in the affirmative."—Prof. Vethake.
"As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also, he will deliver it; and, passing over, he will preserve it."—Isaiah, xxxi, 5.
"Here, by the bonds of nature feebly held,
Minds combat minds, repelling and repell'd."—Goldsmith.
"Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled over,
Comes to him where in gore he lay insteeped."—Shakspeare.
LESSON III.—PARSING.
"Every change in the state of things is considered as an effect, indicating the agency, characterizing the kind, and measuring the degree, of its cause."—Dr. Murray, Hist. of En. L., i, 179.
"Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, (the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,) Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he had come from God and was going to God, arose from supper, and laid aside his coat, and, taking a towel, girded himself: then he poured some water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded."—See John, xiii.
"Spiritual desertion is naturally and judicially incurred by sin. It is the withdrawal of that divine unction which enriches the acquiescent soul with moral power and pleasure. The subtraction leaves the mind enervated, obscured, confused, degraded, and distracted."—HOMO: N. Y. Observer.
"Giving no offence in any thing, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God: as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."—2 Cor., vi.
"O may th' indulgence of a father's love,
Pour'd forth on me, be doubled from above."—Young.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
ERRORS OF PARTICIPLES.
[Fist] [As the principles upon which our participles ought to be formed, were necessarily anticipated in the preceding chapter on verbs, the reader must recur to that chapter for the doctrines by which the following errors are to be corrected. The great length of that chapter seemed a good reason for separating these examples from it, and it was also thought, that such words as are erroneously written for participles, should, for the sake of order, be chiefly noticed in this place. In many of these examples, however, the participle is not really a separate part of speech, but is in fact taken with an auxiliary to form some compound tense of its verb.]
LESSON I.—IRREGULARS.
"Many of your readers have mistook that passage."—Steele, Spect., No. 544.
[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the preterit verb mistook is here used for the perfect participle. But, according to the table of irregular verbs, we ought to say, mistake, mistook, mistaking, mistaken; after the form of the simple verb, take, took, taking, taken. Therefore, the sentence should be amended thus: "Many of your readers have mistaken that passage."]
"Had not my dog of a steward ran away."—Addison, Spect. "None should be admitted, except he had broke his collar-bone thrice."—Spect., No. 474. "We could not know what was wrote at twenty."—Pref. to Waller. "I have wrote, thou hast wrote, he has wrote; we have wrote, ye have wrote, they have wrote."—Ash's Gram., p. 62. "As if God had spoke his last words there to his people."—Barclay's Works, i, 462. "I had like to have came in that ship myself."—N. Y. Observer, No. 453. "Our ships and vessels being drove out of the harbour by a storm."—Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., i, 470. "He will endeavour to write as the ancient author would have wrote, had he writ in the same language."—Bolingbroke, on Hist., i, 68. "When his doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his enemies."—Atterbury. "The immortal mind that hath forsook Her mansion."—Milton. "Grease that's sweaten from the murderer's gibbet, throw into the flame."—Shak., Macbeth. "The court also was chided for allowing such questions to be put."—Col. Stone, on Freemasonry, p. 470. "He would have spoke."— Milton, P. L., B. x, 1. 517. "Words interwove with sighs found out their way."—Id., ib., i, 621. "Those kings and potentates who have strove."—Id., Eiconoclast, xvii. "That even Silence was took."—Id., Comus, l. 557. "And envious Darkness, ere they could return, had stole them from me."—Id., Comus, 1. 195. "I have chose this perfect man."—Id., P. R., B. i, l. 165. "I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola."—Shak., As You Like It. "The fragrant brier was wove between."—Dryden, Fables. "Then finish what you have began."—Id., Poems, ii, 172. "But now the years a numerous train have ran."—Pope's Odyssey, B. xi, l. 555. "Repeats your verses wrote on glasses."—Prior. "Who by turns have rose."—Id. "Which from great authors I have took."—Id., Alma. "Ev'n there he should have fell."—Id., Solomon.
"The sun has rose, and gone to bed,
Just as if Partridge were not dead."—Swift.
"And though no marriage words are spoke,
They part not till the ring is broke."—Id., Riddles.
LESSON II.—REGULARS.
"When the word is stript of all the terminations."—Dr. Murray's Hist. of
En. L., i, 319.
[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the participle stript is terminated in t. But, according to Observation 2d, on the irregular verbs, stript is regular. Therefore, this t should be changed to ed; and the final p should be doubled, according to Rule 3d for Spelling: thus, "When the word is stripped of all the terminations."]
"Forgive him, Tom; his head is crackt."—Swift's Poems, p. 397. "For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer hoist with his own petar."—Hamlet, Act 3. "As great as they are, I was nurst by their mother."—Swift's Poems, p. 310. "If he should now be cry'd down since his change."—Ib., p. 306. "Dipt over head and ears—in debt."—Ib., p. 312. "We see the nation's credit crackt."—Ib., p. 312. "Because they find their pockets pickt."—Ib., p. 338. "O what a pleasure mixt with pain!"—Ib., p. 373. "And only with her Brother linkt."—Ib., p. 387. "Because he ne'er a thought allow'd, That might not be confest."—Ib., p. 361. "My love to Sheelah is more firmly fixt."—Ib., p. 369. "The observations annext to them will be intelligible."—Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 457. "Those eyes are always fixt on the general principles."—Ib., i, 458. "Laborious conjectures will be banisht from our commentaries."—Ib., i, 459. "Tiridates was dethroned, and Phraates was reestablisht in his stead."—Ib., i, 462. "A Roman who was attacht to Augustus."—Ib., i, 466. "Nor should I have spoken of it, unless Baxter had talkt about two such."—Ib., i, 467. "And the reformers of language have generally rusht on."—Ib., i, 649. "Three centuries and a half had then elapst since the date."—Ib., i, 249. "Of such criteria, as has been remarkt already, there is an abundance."—Ib., i, 261. "The English have surpast every other nation in their services."—Ib., i, 306. "The party addrest is next in dignity to the speaker."—Harris's Hermes, p. 66. "To which we are many times helpt."—Walker's Particles, p. 13. "But for him, I should have lookt well enough to myself."—Ib., p. 88. "Why are you vext, Lady? why do frown?"—Milton, Comus, l. 667. "Obtruding false rules prankt in reason's garb."—Ib., l. 759. "But, like David equipt in Saul's armour, it is encumbered and oppressed."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 378.
"And when their merchants are blown up, and crackt,
Whole towns are cast away in storms, and wreckt."
—Butler, p. 163.
LESSON III.—MIXED.
"The lands are holden in free and common soccage." —Trumbull's Hist, i, 133.
[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the participle holden is not in that form which present usage authorizes. But, according to the table of irregular verbs, the four parts of the verb to hold, as now used, are hold, held, holding, held. Therefore, holden should be held; thus, "The lands are held in free and common soccage."]
"A stroke is drawed under such words."—Cobbett's E. Grammar, Edition of 1832, ¶ 154. "It is striked even, with a strickle."—Walkers Particles, p. 115. "Whilst I was wandring, without any care, beyond my bounds."—Ib., p. 83. "When one would do something, unless hindred by something present."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 311. "It is used potentially, but not so as to be rendred by these signs."—Ib., p. 320. "Now who would dote upon things hurryed down the stream thus fast?"—Collier's Antoninus, p. 89. "Heaven hath timely try'd their growth."—Milton, Comus, l. 970. "O! ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand."—Ib., p. 815. "Of true virgin here distrest."—Ib., p. 905. "So that they have at last come to be substitute in the stead of it."—Barclay's Works, i, 339. "Though ye have lien among the pots."—Psal., lxviii, 13. "And, lo, in her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off."—FRIENDS' BIBLE, and BRUCE'S: Gen., viii, 11. "Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen, through the gates of Rome."—Shak. "He shall be spitted on."—Luke, xviii, 32. "And are not the countries so overflown still situate between the tropics?"—Bentley's Sermons. "Not trickt and frounc't as she was wont, But kercheft in a comely cloud."—Milton, Il Penseroso, l. 123. "To satisfy his rigor, Satisfy'd never."—Id., P. L., B. x, l. 804. "With him there crucify'd."—Id., P. L., B. xii, l. 417. "Th' earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air darkt with plumes."—Id., Comus, l. 730. "And now their way to Earth they had descry'd."—Id., P. L., B. x, l. 325. "Not so thick swarm'd once the soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon."—Ib., B. x, l. 527. "And in a troubled sea of passion tost."—Ib., B. x, l. 718. "The cause, alas, is quickly guest."—Swift's Poems, p. 404. "The kettle to the top was hoist"—Ib., p. 274. "In chains thy syllables are linkt."—Ib., p. 318. "Rather than thus be overtopt, Would you not wish their laurels cropt?"—Ib., p. 415. "The hyphen, or conjoiner, is a little line, drawed to connect words, or parts of words."—Cobbett's E. Gram., 1832, ¶ 150. "In the other manners of dependence, this general rule is sometimes broke."—Joh. Gram. Com., p. 334. "Some intransitive verbs may be rendered transitive by means of a preposition prefixt to them."—Grant's Lat. Gram., p. 66. "Whoever now should place the accent on the first syllable of Valerius, would set every body a-laughing."—Walker's Dict. "Being mocked, scourged, spitted on, and crucified."—Gurney's Essays, p. 40.
"For rhyme in Greece or Rome was never known,
Till by barbarian deluges o'erflown."—Roscommon.
"In my own Thames may I be drownded,
If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd-head."—Swift.
CHAPTER VIII.—ADVERBS.
An Adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner: as, They are now here, studying very diligently.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—Adverbs briefly express what would otherwise require several words: as Now, for at this time;—Here, for in this place;—Very, for in a high degree;—Diligently, for in an industrious manner. Thus the meaning of almost any adverb, may be explained by some phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun.
OBS. 2.—There are several customary combinations of short words, which are used adverbially, and which some grammarians do not analyze in parsing; as, not at all, at length, in fine, in full, at least, at present, at once, this once, in vain, no doubt, on board. But all words that convey distinct ideas, and rightly retain their individuality, ought to be taken separately in parsing. With the liberty of supposing a few ellipses, an ingenious parser will seldom find occasion to speak of "adverbial phrases." In these instances, length, doubt, fine, and board, are unquestionably nouns; once, too, is used as a noun; full and all may be parsed either as nouns, or as adjectives whose nouns are understood; at least, is, at the least measure; at present, is, at the present time; and in vain, is, in a vain course, or manner.
OBS. 3.—A phrase is a combination of two or more separable parts of speech, the parsing of which of course implies their separation. And though the division of our language into words, and the division of its words into parts of speech, have never yet been made exactly to correspond, it is certainly desirable to bring them as near together as possible. Hence such terms as everywhere, anywhere, nowadays, forever, everso, to-day, to-morrow, by-and-by, inside-out, upside-down, if they are to be parsed simply as adverbs, ought to be compounded, and not written as phrases.
OBS. 4—Under nearly all the different classes of words, some particular instances may be quoted, in which other parts of speech seem to take the nature of adverbs, so as either to become such, or to be apparently used for them. (1.) ARTICLES: "This may appear incredible, but it is not the less true."—Dr. Murray's Hist., i, 337. "The other party was a little coy."—D. Webster. (2.) NOUNS: "And scrutiny became stone[306] blind."—Cowper. "He will come home to-morrow."—Clark. "They were travelling post when he met them."—Murray's Gram., p. 69. "And with a vengeance sent from Media post to Egypt."—Milton, P. L., B. iv, l. 170. "That I should care a groat whether he likes the work or not."—Kirkham. "It has snowed terribly all night, and is vengeance cold."—Swift. (3.) ADJECTIVES: "Drink deep, or taste not."—Pope. "A place wondrous deep."—Webster's Dict. "That fools should be so deep contemplative."—Shak. "A man may speak louder or softer in the same key; when he speaks higher or lower, he changes his key."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 116. (4.) PRONOUNS: "What am I eased?"—Job. "What have I offended thee?"—Gen., xx, 9. "He is somewhat arrogant."—Dryden. (5.) VERBS: "Smack went the whip, round went the wheels."—Cowper. "For then the farmers came jog, jog, along the miry road."—Id. "Crack! went something on deck."—Robinson Crusoe. "Then straight went the yard slap over their noddle."—Arbuthnot. (6.) PARTICIPLES: "Like medicines given scalding hot."—Dodd. "My clothes are almost dripping wet."—"In came Squire South, stark, staring mad."—Arbuthnot. "An exceeding high mountain."—Matt., iv, 8. "How sweet, how passing sweet, the hour to me!"—Ch. Observer. "When we act according to our duty."—Dr. Johnson. "A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees."—Psal., lxxiv, 5. (7.) CONJUNCTIONS: "Look, as I blow this feather from my face."—Shak. "Not at all, or but very gently."—Locke. "He was but born to try the lot of man."—Pope. (8.) PREPOSITIONS: "They shall go in and out."—Bible. "From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it."—Ib. These are actually adverbs, and not prepositions, because they govern nothing. (9.) INTERJECTIONS are never used as adverbs, though the Greek grammarians refer them nearly all to this class. The using of other words for adverbs, (i. e., the adverbial use of any words that we do not actually call adverbs,) may be referred to the figure enallage:[307] as,
"Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed, Splash, splash, across the sea."—Burger.
OBS. 5.—As other parts of speech seem sometimes to take the nature of adverbs, so adverbs sometimes, either really or apparently, assume the nature of other parts of speech. (1.) Of NOUNS: as, "A committee is not needed merely to say Yes or No; that will do very little good; the yes or the no must be accompanied and supported by reasons."—Dr. M'Cartee. "Shall I tell you why? Ay, sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore."—Shak. (2.) Of ADJECTIVES: as, "Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, and reduced it to an almost desert."—Wood's Dict., w. Moab. "The then bishop of London, Dr. Laud, attended on his Majesty."—Clarendon. "With upward speed his agile wings he spread."—Prior. "She lights the downward heaven, and rises there."—Dryden. (3.) Of PRONOUNS: as, "He liked the ground whereon she trod."—Milton. "Wherein have you been galled by the king?"—Shak. "O how unlike the place from whence they fell!"—Par. Lost, B. i, l. 75. Here whereon is exactly equivalent in sense to on which; wherein, to in what; and whence, to which: but none of them are actually reckoned pronouns. (4.) Of VERBS: as, "If he be hungry, more than wanton, bread alone will down."—Locke. "To down proud hearts that would not willing die."—Sidney. "She never could away with me."—Shak. "Away, and glister like the god of war."—Id. "Up, get ye out of this place."—Gen., xix, 14. (5.) Of CONJUNCTIONS: as, "I, even I, am he."—Isaiah, xliii, 25. "If I will that he tarry till I come."—John, xxi, 22. "I will go and see him before I die."—Gen., xlv, 28. "Before I go whence I shall not return."—Job, x, 21. (6) Of PREPOSITIONS: as, "Superior to any that are dug out the ground."—Eames's Lect., p. 28. "Who act so counter heavenly mercy's plan."—Burns. Better perhaps, "out of" and "counter to." (7.) Of INTERJECTIONS: as, "Up, up, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"—Scott. "Down, down, cried Mar, your lances down!"—Id. "Off! or I fly for ever from thy sight."—Smith.
OBS. 6.—In these last examples, up, and down, and off, have perhaps as much resemblance to imperative verbs, as to interjections; but they need not be referred to either of these classes, because by supplying a verb we may easily parse them as adverbs. I neither adopt the notion of Horne Tooke, that the same word cannot belong to different parts of speech, nor refer every word to that class to which it may at first sight appear to belong; for both of these methods are impracticable and absurd. The essential nature of each part of speech, and every important peculiarity of its individual terms, it is hoped, will be sufficiently explained in some part or other of this work; but, as the classification of words often depends upon their construction, some explanations that go to determine the parts of speech, must be looked for under the head of Syntax.
OBS. 7.—The proper classification, or subdivision, of adverbs, though it does not appear to have been discovered by any of our earlier grammarians, is certainly very clearly indicated by the meaning and nature of the words themselves. The four important circumstances of any event or assertion, are the when, the where, the how-much, and the how; or the time, the place, the degree, and the manner. These four are the things which we usually express by adverbs. And seldom, if ever, do we find any adverb the notion of which does not correspond to that of sometime, somewhere, somewhat, or somehow. Hence, the general classes of this sort of words ought to be formed under these four heads. The classification heretofore most commonly adopted in English grammar, has every fault which the spirit of awkwardness could possibly give it. The head of it is this: "Adverbs, though very numerous, may be reduced to certain classes, the chief of which are those of Number, Order, Place, Time, Quantity, Manner or Quality, Doubt, Affirmation, Negation, Interrogation, and Comparison."—Murray's Gram., p. 115; Comly's, 66; Kirkham's, 86; R. C. Smith's, 34; Hall's, 26; and others.
CLASSES.
Adverbs may be reduced to four general classes; namely, adverbs of time, of place, of degree, and of manner. Besides these, it is proper to distinguish the particular class of conjunctive adverbs.
I. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, When? How long? How soon? or, How often? including these which ask.
OBS.—Adverbs of time may be subdivided as follows:—
1. Of time present; as, Now, yet, to-day, nowadays, presently, instantly, immediately, straightway, directly, forthwith.
2. Of time past; as, Already, just now, lately, recently, yesterday, formerly, anciently, once, heretofore, hitherto, since, till now, long ago, erewhile, erst.
3. Of time to come; as, To-morrow, hereafter, henceforth, henceforward, by-and-by, soon, erelong, shortly.
4. Of time relative; as, When, then, first, just, before, after, while, whilst, meanwhile, as, till, until, seasonably, betimes, early, late, whenever, afterward, afterwards, otherwhile, otherwhiles.
5. Of time absolute; as, Always, ever, never, aye, eternally, forever, perpetually, continually, incessantly, endlessly, evermore, everlastingly.
6. Of time repeated; as, Often, oft, again, occasionally, frequently, sometimes, seldom, rarely, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, annually, once, twice, thrice, or three times. Above this, we use only the phrases four times, five times, six times, &c. Whether these ought to be reckoned adverbs, or not, is questionable: times, for repetitions, or instances, may be supposed a noun; but such phrases often appear to be used adverbially.
II. Adverbs of place are those which answer to the question, Where?
Whither? Whence? or, Whereabout? including these which ask.
OBS.—Adverbs of place may be subdivided as follows:—
1. Of place in which; as, Where, here, there, yonder, above, below, about, around, somewhere, anywhere, elsewhere, otherwhere, everywhere, nowhere, wherever, wheresoever, within, without, whereabout, whereabouts, hereabout, hereabouts, thereabout, thereabouts.
2. Of place to which; as, Whither, hither, thither, in, up, down, back, forth, aside, ashore, abroad, aloft, home, homewards, inwards, upwards, downwards, backwards, forwards. Inward, homeward, upward, downward, backward, and forward, are also adverbs, as well as adjectives; but some critics, for distinction's sake, choose to use these only as adjectives.
3. Of place from which; as, Whence, hence, thence, away, out, off, far, remotely.
4. Of the order of place; as, First, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, &c. Thus, secondly means in the second place; thirdly, in the third place; &c. For order, or rank, implies place, though it may consist of relative degrees.
III. Adverbs of degree are those which answer to the question, How much?
How little? or, to the idea of more or less.
OBS.—Adverbs of degree may be subdivided as follows:—
1. Of excess or abundance; as, Much, more, most, too, very, greatly, far, besides; chiefly, principally, mainly, mostly, generally; entirely, full, fully, completely, perfectly, wholly, totally, altogether, all, quite, clear, stark; exceedingly, excessively, extravagantly, intolerably; immeasurably, inconceivably, infinitely.
2. Of equality or sufficiency; as, Enough, sufficiently, competently, adequately, proportionally, equally, so, as, even, just, exactly, precisely.
3. Of deficiency or abatement; as, Little, less, least, scarcely, hardly, scantly, scantily merely, barely, only, but, partly, partially, nearly, almost, well-nigh, not quite.
4. Of quantity in the abstract; as, How, (meaning, in what degree,) however, howsoever, everso, something, anything, nothing, a groat, a sixpence, a sou-markee, and other nouns of quantity used adverbially.
IV. Adverbs of manner are those which answer to the question, How? or, by affirming, denying, or doubting, show how a subject is regarded.
OBS.—Adverbs of manner may be subdivided as follows:—
1. Of manner from quality; as, Well, ill, wisely, foolishly, justly, wickedly, and many others formed by adding ly to adjectives of quality. Ly is a contraction of like; and is the most common termination of English adverbs. When added to nouns, it forms adjectives; but some few of these are also used adverbially; as, daily, weekly, monthly, which denote time.
2. Of affirmation or assent; as, Yes, yea, ay, verily, truly, indeed, surely, certainly, doubtless, undoubtedly, assuredly, certes, forsooth,[308] amen.
3. Of negation; as, No, nay, not, nowise, noway, noways, nohow.
4. Of doubt or uncertainty; as, Perhaps, haply, possibly, perchance, peradventure, may-be.
5. Of mode or way; as, Thus, so, how, somehow, nohow, anyhow, however, howsoever, like, else, otherwise, across, together, apart, asunder, namely, particularly, necessarily, hesitatingly, trippingly, extempore, headlong, lengthwise.
V. Conjunctive adverbs are those which perform the office of conjunctions, and serve to connect sentences, as well as to express some circumstance of time, place, degree, or the like. This class embraces a few words not strictly belonging to any of the others: as, (1.) The adverbs of cause; why, wherefore, therefore; but the last two of these are often called conjunctions. (2.) The pronominal compounds; herein, therein, wherein, &c.; in which the former term is a substitute, and virtually governed by the enclitic particle.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—Conjunctive adverbs often relate equally to two verbs in different clauses, on which account it is the more necessary to distinguish them from others; as, "And they feared when they heard that they were Romans,"—Acts, xvi, 38. Here when is a conjunctive adverb of time, and relates equally to feared and to heard. "The right of coming on the shore for their purposes in general, as and when they please."—Holroyd. Here as is a conjunctive adverb of manner, and when, of time; both relating equally to coming and to please.
OBS. 2.—The following words are the most frequently used as conjunctive adverbs: after, again, also, as, before, besides, consequently, else, ere, even, furthermore, hence, how, however, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, since, so, still, till, then, thence, therefore, too, until, when, where, wherefore, whither, and while, or whilst.
OBS. 3.—Adverbs of time, place, and manner, are generally connected with verbs or participles; those of degree are more frequently placed before adjectives or adverbs: the latter, however, sometimes denote the measure of actions or effects; as, "And I wept much"—Rev., v, 4. "And Isaac trembled very exceedingly"—Gen., xxvii, 33. "Writers who had felt less, would have said more"—Fuller.
"Victors and vanquished, in the various field,
Nor wholly overcome, nor wholly yield."—Dryden.
OBS. 4.—The adverbs here, there, and where, when compounded with prepositions, have the force of pronouns, or of pronominal adjectives: as, Hereby, for by this; thereby, for by that; whereby, for by which, or by what. The prepositions which may be subjoined in this manner, are only the short words, at, by, for, from, in, into, of, on, to, unto, under, upon, and with. Compounds of this kind, although they partake of the nature of pronouns with respect to the nouns going before, are still properly reckoned adverbs, because they relate as such to the verbs which follow them; as, "You take my life, when you do take the means whereby I live."—Shak. Here whereby is a conjunctive adverb, representing means, and relating to the verb live.[309] This mode of expression is now somewhat antiquated, though still frequently used by good authors, and especially by the poets.