PART III. THE VERB. 119. The Verb has two Voices. 1. The ACTIVE Voice; as, I love. The Verb has two Parts : I. FINITE. 2. INFINITE. I. The Verb Finite has three Moods, that is, modes or ways in which an action or condition may be stated : I. The INDICATIVE, stating a fact :— Marriage comes by destiny.-All's, 1, 3, 66. 2. The IMPERATIVE, stating a command :— Come unto these yellow sands.-Temp. 1, 2, 376. 3. The SUBJUNCTIVE, stating a supposition: If once he come to be a cardinal.-H. 6. A.; 5, 1, 32. Time is expressed by Tenses, that is, time-words, and these are 1. Simple; as, I come (Present), I came (Past); or, 2. Compound; as, I was coming, I shall come. Tenses have each (1) two Numbers, Singular and Plural; and (2) three Persons in each Number. The First Person speaks; as, I come, we came. The Second Person is spoken to; as, thou comest, ye came. The Third Person is spoken of; as, he comes, they came. II. The Verb Infinite consists of— 1. The INFINITE MOOD, stating an action or condition in an indefinite manner; as, to come, or come :— Go and entreat my wife 85. To come to me forthwith.-Shrew, 5, 2, Say, I command her come.-Shrew, 5, 2, 96. 2. The PRESENT PARTICIPLE; as, coming: Coming and going with thy honey breath. Tit. 2, 4, 25. 3. The PAST PARTICIPLE; as, come :— H. 6. A. ; 2, 5, 32. THE VOICES. 120. The boys are at cricket. One bowls the ball, one strikes it, one stops it and throws it, one catches it. Here are five Transitive Verbs, each expressing the action of a Subject (one of the players) on an Object (the ball). The forms of the Verb in which we express the action of a Subject on or towards an Object are called the Active Voice of the Transitive Verb. Now put the sentences in this form: The ball is bowled by one, is struck by another, is stopped and is thrown by another, is caught by another. The Object of the action is now the Subject of the sentence, and the forms of the Verb suitable to the new arrangement are called the Passive Voice of the Transitive Verb. Intransitive Verbs have, of course, no Passive forms. THE ACTIVE VOICE. 121. The Verb in English has but few inflexions. The part that remains when the inflexions have been removed is called the Stem. A complete scheme showing the inflexions is called the Conjugation of the Verb. 122. There are two classes into which the Verbs are divided, the Weak and the Strong. To explain this distinction it must first be observed that in Old English there were two classes of Verbs. 1. Verbs in which the Past tense was formed by adding de (a contraction of dide-did) to the Verbal Stem; thus 2. Verbs in which the Past tense was formed by a change in the fundamental vowel of the stem, without any addition to the end thus of the stem; 123. In modern English Weak Verbs are— 1. Those in which a new sound of d, t, or ed has been added to the stem of the Verb to form 2. Those with stems ending in d or t, which in Old English had a Past tense ending in de or te, added to the stem. When the final e was no longer sounded the d or t was dropped. Examples are bleed, of which the Past tense is bled (in Old English bledde). 124. Strong Verbs are those in which the Past tense has been formed by a change of the fundamental vowel of the stem, without any addition having been made to the end of the stem; thus know, of which the Past tense is knew. 125. In Old English the endings of the Past Participle were 1. For Weak Verbs ed or d; as haeled, healed; macod, made. 2. For Strong Verbs en; as— bunden, bound; sungen, sung. 126. In modern English 1. The weak forms of the Past Participle usually end in d or t; as loved, told, said; felt, hit, split. NOTE.-Made, the Past Participle of make, is a contraction of the Old English Past tense macode. 2. The strong forms end in en or n; as risen, chosen, given, torn, mown, spun. N.B. In many of the strong forms the final en or n has been dropped; as in drunk, sung, sunk, fought, come. |