Part 3

In English both the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect, or Passive, are formed by adding to the Verb _ed_; or _d_ only when the Verb ends in _e_: as, _turn_, _turned_; _love_, _loved_. The Verbs that vary from this rule, in either or in both cases, are esteemed Irregular.

The nature of our language, the Accent and Pronunciation of it, inclines us to contract even all our Regular Verbs: thus _loved_, _turned_, are commonly pronounced in one syllable, _lov’d_, _turn’d_; and the second Person which was originally in three syllables, _lovedest_, _turnedest_, is become a dissyllable, _lovedst_, _turnedst_: for as we generally throw the accent as far back as possible towards the first part of the word, (in some even to the fourth syllable from the end,) the stress being laid on the first syllables, the rest are pronounced in a lower tone, more rapidly and indistinctly; and so are often either wholly dropt, or blended into one another.

It sometimes happens also, that the word which arises from a regular change does not sound easily or agreeably; sometimes by the rapidity of our pronunciation the vowels are shortened or lost; and the consonants which are thrown together do not easily coalesce with one another, and are therefore changed into others of the same organ, or of a kindred species: this occasions a further deviation from the regular form: thus, _loveth_, _turneth_, are contracted into _lov’th_, _turn’th_, and these for easier pronunciation immediately become _loves_, _turns_.

Verbs ending in _ch_, _ck_, _p_, _x_, _ll_, _ss_, in the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive admit the change of _ed_ into _t_; as, _snatcht_, _checkt_, _snapt_, _mixt_, dropping also one of the double letters, _dwelt_, _past_; for _snatched_, _checked_, _snapped_, _mixed_, _dwelled_, _passed_: those that end in _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, after a diphthong, moreover shorten the diphthong, or change it into a single short vowel; as, _dealt_, _dreamt_, _meant_, _felt_, _slept_, &c: all for the same reason; from the quickness of the pronunciation, and because the _d_ after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with the preceding consonant. Those that end in _ve_ change also _v_ into _f_; as, _bereave_, _bereft_; _leave_, _left_; because likewise _v_ after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with _t_.

All these, of which we have hitherto given examples, are considered not as Irregular, but as Contracted only; and in all of them the Intire as well as the Contracted form is used.

The formation of Verbs in English, both Regular and Irregular, is derived from the Saxon.

The Irregular Verbs in English are all Monosyllables, unless Compounded; and they are for the most part the same words which are Irregular Verbs in the Saxon.

As all our Regular Verbs are subject to some kind of Contraction, so the first Class of Irregulars is of those that become so from the same cause.

I.

Irregulars by Contraction.

Some Verbs ending in _d_ or _t_ have the Present, the Past Time, and the Participle Perfect and Passive, all alike, without any variation: as, Beat, burst[27], cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, lift[28], put, read[29], rent, rid, set, shed, shred, shut, slit, spread, thrust, wet[28].

These are Contractions from _beated_, _bursted_, _casted_, &c; because of the disagreeable sound of the syllable _ed_ after _d_ or _t_[30].

Others in the Past Time, and Participle Perfect and Passive, vary a little from the Present by shortening the diphthong, or changing the _d_ into _t_: as, Lead, led; sweat, swet; meet, met; bleed, bled; breed, bred; feed, fed; speed, sped; bend, bent[28]; lend, lent; rend, rent; send, sent; spend, spent; build, built[28]; geld, gelt[28]; gild, gilt[28]; gird, girt[28].

Others not ending in _d_ or _t_ are formed by Contraction; have, _had_, for _haved_; make, _made_, for _maked_; flee, _fled_, for _flee-ed_.

The following beside the Contraction change also the Vowel; Sell, sold; tell, told; clothe, clad[28].

Stand, stood; and dare, durst, (which in the Participle hath regularly _dared_;) are directly from the Saxon, _standan_, _stod_; _dyrran_, _dorste_.

II.

Irregulars in _ght_.

The Irregulars of the Second Class end in _ght_, both in the Past Time and Participle; and change the vowel or diphthong into _au_ or _ou_: they are taken from the Saxon, in which the termination is _hte_.

Saxon. Bring, brought: Bringan, brohte. Buy, bought: Bycgean, bohte. Catch, caught: Fight, fought: Feotan, fuht. Teach, taught: Tæchan, tæhte. Think, thought: Thencan, thohte. Seek, sought: Secan, sohte. Work, wrought: Weorcan, worhte.

_Fraught_ seems rather to be an Adjective than the Participle of the Verb _to freight_, which has regularly _freighted_. _Raught_ from _reach_ is obsolete.

III.

Irregulars in _en_.

The Irregulars of the Third Class form the Past Time by changing the vowel or diphthong of the Present; and the Participle Perfect and Passive by adding the termination _en_, beside, for the most part, the change of the vowel or diphthong. These also derive their formation in both parts from the Saxon.

Present. Past. Participle.

_a_ changed into _e_.

Fall, fell, fallen.

_a_ into _o_.

Awake, awoke, [awaked.]

_a_ into _oo_.

Forsake, forsook, forsaken. Shake, shook, shaken. Take, took, taken.

_aw_ into _ew_.

Draw, drew, drawn[31].

_ay_ into _ew_.

Slay, slew, slayn[31].

_e_ into _a_ or _o_, _o_.

Get, gat, or got, gotten. Help, [helped,] holpen. Melt, [melted,] molten[28]. Swell, [swelled,] swollen[28].

_ea_ into _a_ or _o_.

Eat, ate, eaten. Bear, bare, or bore, born. Break, brake, or broke, broken. Cleave, clave, or clove[28], cloven[28]. Speak, spake, or spoke, spoken. Swear, sware, or swore, sworn. Tear, tare, or tore, torn. Wear, ware, or wore, worn. Heave, hove[28], hoven. Shear, shore, shorn. Steal, stole, stolen, or stoln. Tread, trode, trodden. Weave, wove, woven.

_ee_ into _o_, _o_.

Creep, crope, [creeped, or crept.] Freeze, froze, frozen. Seethe, sod, sodden.

_ee_ into _aw_.

See, saw, seen.

_i_ long into _i_ short, _i_ short.

Bite, bit, bitten. Chide, chid, chidden. Hide, hid, hidden. Slide, slid, slidden.

_i_ long into _o_, _i_ short.

Abide, abode. Drive, drove, driven. Ride, rode, ridden. Rise, rose, risen. Shine, shone, [shined.] Shrive, shrove, shriven. Smite, smote, smitten. Stride, strode, stridden. Strive, strove[28], striven[28]. Thrive, throve, thriven. Write[32], wrote, written.

_i_ long into _u_, _i_ short.

Strike, struck, stricken, or strucken.

_i_ short into _a_.

Bid, bade, bidden. Give, gave, given. Sit[33], sat, sitten. Spit, spat, spitten.

_i_ short into _u_.

Dig, dug[28], [digged.]

_ie_ into _ay_.

Lie[34], lay, lien, or lain.

_o_ into _e_.

Hold, held, holden.

_o_ into _i_.

Do, did, done, i. e. doen.

_oo_ into _o_, _o_.

Choose, chose, chosen[35].

_ow_ into _ew_.

Blow, blew, blown. Crow, crew, [crowed.] Grow, grew, grown. Know, knew, known. Throw, threw, thrown.

_y_ into _ew_, _ow_.

Fly[36], flew, flown.

The following are Irregular only in the Participle; and that without changing the vowel.

Bake, [baked,] baken[28]. Grave, [graved,] graven[28]. Hew, [hewed,] hewen, or hewn[28]. Lade, [laded,] laden. Load, [loaded,] loaden[28]. Mow, [mowed,] mown[28]. Rive, [rived,] riven. Saw, [sawed,] sawn[28]. Shave, [shaved,] shaven[28]. Shew, [shewed,] shewn[28]. Sow, [sowed,] sown[28]. Straw, -ew, or -ow, [strawed, &c.] strown[28]. Wax, [waxed,] waxen[28].

Some Verbs which change _i_ short into _a_ or _u_, and _i_ long into _ou_, have dropt the termination _en_ in the Participle.

_i_ short into _a_ or _u_, _u_.

Begin, began, begun. Cling, clang, or clung, clung. Drink, drank, drunk, or drunken. Fling, flung, flung. Ring, rang, or rung, rung. Shrink, shrank, or shrunk, shrunk. Sing, sang, or sung, sung. Sink, sank, or sunk, sunk. Sling, slang, or slung, slung. Slink, slunk, slunk. Spin, span, or spun, spun. Spring, sprang, or sprung, sprung. Sting, stung, stung. Stink, stank, or stunk, stunk. String, strung, strung. Swim, swam, or swum, swum. Swing, swung, swung. Wring, wrung, wrung.

In many of the foregoing the original and analogical form of the Past Time in _a_, which distinguished it from the Participle, is grown quite obsolete.

_i_ long into _ou_, _ou_.

Bind, bound, bound, or bounden. Find, found, found. Grind, ground, ground. Wind, wound, wound.

That all these had originally the termination _en_ in the Participle, is plain from the following considerations. _Drink_ and _bind_ still retain it; _drunken_, _bounden_; from the Saxon, _druncen_, _bunden_: and the rest are manifestly of the same analogy with these. _Begonnen_, _sonken_, and _founden_, are used by Chaucer; and some others of them appear in their proper shape in the Saxon; _scruncen_, _spunnen_, _sprungen_, _stungen_, _wunden_. As likewise in the German, which is only another off-spring of the Saxon: _begunnen_, _geklungen_, _getruncken_, _gesungen_, _gesuncken_, _gespunnen_, _gesprungen_, _gestuncken_, _geschwummen_, _geschwungen_.

The following seem to have lost the _en_ of the Participle in the same manner:

Hang, hung, hung. Shoot, shot, shot. Stick, stuck, stuck. Come, came, come. Run, ran, run. Win, won, won.

_Hangen_, and _scoten_, are the Saxon originals of the two first Participles; the latter of which is likewise still in use in its first form in one phrase; a _shotten_ herring. _Stuck_ seems to be a contraction from _stucken_, as _struck_ now in use for _strucken_. Chaucer hath _comen_ and _wonnen_: _becommen_ is even used by Lord Bacon[37]. And most of them still subsist intire in the German; _gehangen_, _kommen_, _gerunnen_, _gewonnen_.

To this third Class belong the Defective Verbs, Be, been; and Go, gone; i. e. goen.

From this Distribution and account of the Irregular Verbs, if it be just, it appears, that originally there was no exception whatever from the Rule, That the Participle Præterit, or Passive, in English ends in _d_, _t_, or _n_. The first form included all the Regular Verbs, and those which are become Irregular by Contraction ending in _t_. To the second properly belonged only those which end in _ght_, from the Saxon Irregulars in _hte_. To the third, those from the Saxon Irregulars in _en_, which have still, or had originally, the same termination.

The same Rule affords a proper foundation for a division of the English Verbs into Three Conjugations, of which the three different Terminations of the Participle might respectively be the Characteristics. The Contracted Verbs, whose Participles now end in _t_, might perhaps be best reduced to the first Conjugation, to which they naturally and originally belonged; and they seem to be of a very different analogy from those in _ght_. But as the Verbs of the first Conjugation would so greatly exceed in number those of both the others, which together make but about 110[38]; and as those of the third Conjugation are so various in their form, and so incapable of being reduced to one plain Rule; it seems better in practice to consider the first in _ed_ as the only Regular form, and the others as deviations from it; after the example of the Saxon and German Grammarians.

To the Irregular Verbs are to be added the Defective; which are not only for the most part Irregular, but are also wanting in some of their parts. They are in general words of most frequent and vulgar use; in which Custom is apt to get the better of Analogy. Such are the Auxiliary Verbs, most of which are of this number. They are in use only in some of their Times, and Modes; and some of them are a Composition of Times of several Defective Verbs having the same signification.

Present. Past. Participle. Am, or Be, was, been. Can, could. Go, went, gone. May, might. Must. Ought, ought. Quoth, quoth. Shall, should. Weet, wit, or wot; wot. Will, would. Wist, wist.

There are not in English so many as a Hundred Verbs, (being only the chief part, but not all, of the Irregulars of the Third Class,) which have a distinct and different form for the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive. The General bent and turn of the language is towards the other form, which makes the Past Time and the Participle the same. This general inclination and tendency of the language, seems to have given occasion to the introducing of a very great Corruption; by which the Form of the Past Time is confounded with that of the Participle in these Verbs, few in proportion, which have them quite different from one another. This confusion prevails greatly in common discourse, and is too much authorised by the example of some of our best Writers[39]. Thus it is said, _He begun_, for _he began_; _he run_, for _he ran_; _he drunk_, for _he drank_: the Participle being used instead of the Past Time. And much more frequently the Past Time instead of the Participle: as, _I had wrote_, _it was wrote_, for _I had written_, _it was written_; _I have drank_, for _I have drunk_; _bore_, for _born_; _chose_, for _chosen_; _bid_, for _bidden_; _got_, for _gotten_; &c. This abuse has been long growing upon us, and is continually making further incroachments: as it may be observed in the example of those Irregular Verbs of the Third Class, which change _i_ short into _a_ and _u_; as, Cling, clang, clung; in which the original and analogical form of the Past Time in _a_ is almost grown obsolete; and, the _u_ prevailing instead of it, the Past Time is now in most of them confounded with the Participle. The Vulgar Translation of the Bible, which is the best standard of our language, is free from this corruption, except in a few instances; as, _hid_ is used for _hidden_; _held_, for _holden_, frequently: _bid_, for _bidden_; _begot_, for _begotten_, once or twice: in which, and a few other like words, it may perhaps be allowed as a Contraction. And in some of these Custom has established it beyond recovery. In the rest it seems wholly inexcusable. The absurdity of it will be plainly perceived in the example of some of these Verbs, which Custom has not yet so perverted. We should be immediately shocked at _I have knew_, _I have saw_, _I have gave_, &c: but our ears are grown familiar with _I have wrote_, _I have drank_, _I have bore_, &c. which are altogether as barbarous.

ADVERB.

ADVERBS are _added to Verbs_ and Adjectives to denote some modification or circumstance of an action or quality: as, the manner, order, time, place, distance, motion, relation, quantity, quality, comparison, doubt, affirmation, negation, demonstration, interrogation.

In English they admit of no Variation; except some few of them, which have the degrees of Comparison: as,[40] “often, oftener, oftenest;” “soon, sooner, soonest.”

An Adverb is sometimes joined to another Adverb to modify or qualify its meaning; as, “very much; much too little; not very prudently.”

PREPOSITION.

PREPOSITIONS, so called because they are commonly _put before_ the words to which they are applied, serve to connect words with one another, and to shew the relation between them.

One great use of Prepositions in English, is to express those relations which in some languages are chiefly marked by Cases, or the different endings of the Noun.

Most Prepositions originally denote the relation of Place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations. Thus, _out_, _in_, _through_, _under_, _by_, _to_, _from_, _of_, &c. _Of_ is much the same with _from_; “ask _of_ me,” that is, _from_ me: “made _of_ wood;” “Son _of_ Philip;” that is, sprung _from_ him. _For_, in its primary sense, is _pro_, _loco alterius_, in the stead, or place, of another. The notion of Place is very obvious in all the rest.

CONJUNCTION.

The Conjunction connects or _joins together_ Sentences; so as out of two to make one Sentence.

Thus, “You, _and_ I, _and_ Peter, rode to London,” is one Sentence made up of these three by the Conjunction _and_ twice employed; “You rode to London; I rode to London; Peter rode to London.” Again, “You _and_ I rode to London, _but_ Peter staid at home,” is one Sentence made up of three by the Conjunctions _and_ and _but_: both of which equally connect the Sentences, but the latter expresses an Opposition in the Sense. The first is therefore called a Conjunction Copulative; the other a Conjunction Disjunctive.

The use of Copulative Conjunctions is to connect, or to continue, the Sentence, by expressing an addition, _and_; a supposition, or condition, _if_, _as_; a cause, _because_[41], _then_; a motive, _that_; an inference, _therefore_; &c.

The use of Disjunctives is to connect and to continue the Sentence; but to express Opposition of meaning in different degrees: as, _or_, _but_, _than_, _altho’_, _unless_, &c.

INTERJECTION.

Interjections, so called because they are _thrown in_ between the parts of a sentence without making any other alteration in it, are a kind of Natural Sounds to express the affection of the Speaker.

The different Passions have for the most part different Interjections to express them.

The Interjection _O_ placed before a Substantive expresses more strongly an address made to that person or thing; as it marks in Latin what is called the Vocative Case.

SENTENCES.

A SENTENCE is an assemblage of words, expressed in proper form, and ranged in proper order, and concurring to make a complete sense.

Concord, or agreement of words, is when one word is required to be in like case, number, gender, or person, with another.

Regimen, or government, is when a word causeth a following word to be in some case, or mode.

Sentences are Simple, or Compounded.

A Simple Sentence hath in it but one Subject, and one Finite Verb; that is, a Verb in the Indicative, Imperative, or Subjunctive Mode.

A Phrase is two or more words rightly put together in order to make a part of a Sentence; and sometimes making a whole Sentence.

* * * * *

The most common PHRASES used in simple Sentences are as follows:

1st Phrase: The Substantive before a Verb Active, Passive, or Neuter; when it is said what thing _is_, _does_, or _is done_: as, “I am;” “Thou writest;” “Thomas is loved:” where _I_, _Thou_, _Thomas_, are the Nominative[42] Cases; and answer to the question _who_, or _what?_ as, “Who is loved? Thomas.” And the Verb agrees with the Nominative Case in number and person[43]; as, _Thou_ being the Second Person Singular, the Verb _writest_ is so too.

2d Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Neuter or Passive; when it is said, that such a thing _is_, or _is made_, or _thought_, or _called_, such _another thing_; or, when the Substantive after the Verb is spoken of the same thing or person with the Substantive before the Verb: as, “a calf becomes an ox;” “Plautus is accounted a Poet;” “I am He.” Here the latter Substantive is in the Nominative Case as well as the former; and the Verb is said to govern the Nominative Case: or, the latter Substantive may be said to agree in Case with the former.

3d Phrase: The Adjective after a Verb Neuter or Passive, in like manner: as, “Life _is short_, and Art _is long_.” “Exercise _is esteemed wholesome_.”

4th Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Active, or Transitive: as when one thing is said to _act_ upon, or _do_ something to another: as, “to open a door;” “to build a house;” “Alexander conquered the Persians.” Here the thing acted upon is in the Objective[44] Case; as it appears plainly when it is expressed by the Pronoun, which has a proper termination for that Case; “Alexander conquered _them_;” and the Verb is said to govern the Objective Case.

5th Phrase: A Verb following another Verb; as, “boys love to play:” where the latter Verb is in the Infinitive Mode.

6th Phrase: When one thing is said to belong to another; as, “Milton’s poems:” where the thing to which the other belongs is placed first, and is in the Possessive Case; or else last with the Preposition _of_ before it; as, “the poems of Milton.”

7th Phrase: When another Substantive is added to express and explain the former more fully; as, “Paul the Apostle;” “King George:” where they are both in the same case; and the latter is said to be put in Apposition to the former.