Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/339

 loves''. VERBS are so called, from the Latin Verbum, a Word; because the verb is that word which most essentially contains what is said in any clause or sentence.

An English verb has four CHIEF TERMS, or PRINCIPAL PARTS, ever needful to be ascertained in the first place; namely, the Present, the Preterit, the Imperfect Participle, and the Perfect Participle. The Present is that form of the verb, which is the root of all the rest; the verb itself; or that simple term which we should look for in a dictionary: as, ''be, act, rule, love, defend, terminate''.

The Preterit is that simple form of the verb, which denotes time past; and which is always connected with some noun or pronoun, denoting the subject of the assertion: as, I was, I acted, I ruled, I loved, I defended.

The Imperfect Participle is that which ends commonly[221] in ing, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion: as, ''being, acting, ruling, loving, defending, terminating''.

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''.

CLASSES.

Verbs are divided, with respect to their form, into four classes; regular and irregular, redundant and defective.

I. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed; as, love, loved, loving, loved.

II. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed; as, see, saw, seeing, seen.

III. A redundant verb is a verb that forms the preterit or the perfect participle in two or more ways, and so as to be both regular and irregular; as, thrive, thrived or throve, thriving, thrived or thriven.

IV. A defective verb is a verb that forms no participles, and is used in but few of the moods and tenses; as, beware, ought, quoth.

Verbs are divided again, with respect to their signification, into four classes; active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive, and neuter.

I. An active-transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object; as, "Cain slew Abel."--"Cassius loved Brutus."

II. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has no person or thing for its object; as, "John walks."--"Jesus wept."

III. A. passive verb is a verb that represents its subject, or what the nominative expresses, as being acted upon; as, "I am compelled."--"Cæsar was slain."

IV. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being; as, "There was light."--"The babe sleeps."

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--So various have been the views of our grammarians, respecting this complex and most important part of speech, that almost every thing that is contained in any theory o