II. Those Verbs which modify the root-vowel, but drop e from the participial suffix en.

III. Those Verbs which modify the root-vowel, and are without any participial suffix.

IV. Those Verbs in which the three forms are the same.

V. Those Verbs which modify the root-vowel, and form the past tense and the perfect or passive participle by adding t or d.

VI. Those Verbs which end in d, and simply change. the d into t in the past tense and the perfect or passive participle.

VII. Those Verbs in which the past tense is weak, and the perfect or passive participle strong.

NOTE. (1) The grammatical classification of words is based on function, not on form, as the definitions in any text-books will show. It matters not what the form of a word may be, this does not affect it

as a "Part of Speech." The same word sometimes belongs to two or three parts of speech, according to the nature of the work which it performs. Because this classification of Verbs into Regular and Irregular, or Weak and Strong, is based on form and not on function, it is not, strictly speaking, grammatical, and is regarded by many as objectionable.

(2) "Many Verbs which were originally regular have become irregular by the bad practice of abbreviating or shortening in writing. We are always given to cut our words short, from the desire to make the pen correspond with the tongue. This has been the case with regard to the words dealt, dwelt (which were originally dealed, dwelled), and many others. When the love of contraction came to operate on such Verbs as to burst and to cast, it found such a clump of consonants already at the end of the words that it could add none. It could not enable the organs of even English speech to pronounce burst'd, cast'd. It therefore made really short work of it, and dropping the last syllable altogether, wrote burst and cast in the past tense and the passive or perfect participle."-(See Cobbett, § 109.)

§ (22) Defective Verbs are those which have not the full complement of moods and tenses. They are,

May, can, must, shall, will, ought.

To the Defective Verbs some grammarians add those which are conjugated fully, but in which deficiencies are supplied from another root. Such are,

Impersonal Verbs.

Be and go.

Sometimes the pronoun it does not appear to stand for any Noun whatever, but is used to point out a state of things, or the cause of something produced; for instance,-

"It freezed hard last night, and it was so cold that it was with

great difficulty the travellers kept on their journey."

Because the Pronoun it in these instances does not represent any person or thing, but a state of things, it is called an Impersonal Pronoun; and the Verbs of which it is the subject are called Impersonal Verbs.

An Impersonal Verb, then, is a Verb the subject of which is altogether wanting, but the place of which is supplied by the Impersonal Pronoun it.

Causative Verbs denote the cause of action.

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'I felled the tree," i.e., "I caused it to fall."

"I raised the boy," i.e., "I caused him to rise."

Fell, raise, and a few others are Causative Verbs.

Frequentative Verbs denote repetition of action. Such

are,

Glimmer, stagger, sparkle, twinkle, &c.

Verbs of this class frequently end in er and le.

II. Remarks on Voice.

§ (23) Voice is the form of a Verb which shows whether its subject denotes the doer or the sufferer of the action. When the subject of the Verb denotes the doer of the action, the Verb is in the Active Voice, as,—

"John killed James;" "William ran away."

When the subject of the Verb denotes the sufferer of the action, the Verb is in the Passive Voice, as,—

"John was killed;" "Mary was insulted."

Every form of a Verb in the Passive Voice is obtained by adding some part of the Verb to be to what is called the passive participle of the principal Verb. The Verb to be in these constructions is therefore an Auxiliary of Voice; and it is the only auxiliary of this kind we have.

Only Transitive Verbs can be in the Passive Voice. Intransitive Verbs are always Active.

Sometimes an Intransitive Verb, followed by a Preposition, acquires the force of a Transitive Verb, in which case may be used in the Passive Voice, as,

it

"I spoke to William." Spoke in this sentence is intransitive. sentence,

But in the

"William was spoken to on the subject,"

was spoken to is in the Passive Voice.

So also in the sentence,—

"His life was despaired of,"

despaired, followed by the Preposition of, is in the Passive Voice, although the Verb despair is mostly intransitive.

Sometimes we meet with a form of the Verb in which the subject of it does not denote either the doer or the sufferer of the action. The Verb seems to perform a middle kind of work, as it were, between the Active Voice and the Passive Voice. This is illustrated in the following sentences,

"The door opens;" "The book reads well."

In these sentences the subject does not exactly denote the doer or the sufferer of the action. The Verbs in these sentences are said to be in the Middle Voice.

The Verbs opens and reads are usually Transitive Verbs, but when they occur in the Middle Voice they become Intransitive in function.

III.-Remarks on Mood.

§(24) There are different modes or manners of expressing

action. Different forms of the Verb are used in order to express this difference in manner, and these different forms are called Moods.

Moods, then, are different forms of the Verb, by means of which the manner in which anything is said is indicated.

There are four different forms of the Verb for indicating the different manners in which anything can be said, that is to say, there are four Moods. These Moods are called respectively the Infinitive, the Indicative, the Imperative, and the Subjunctive or Conditional.

§ (25) (1) The Infinitive Mood is that form of the Verb which is used when what is said is expressed without reference to time, number, or person.

We meet with two forms of the Infinitive,

(1) The Infinitive which is not preceded by to.

(2) The Infinitive which is preceded by to.

(1) The Infinitive which is not preceded by to, is always used after one or other of the following Verbs, which are called Auxiliaries of Mood,—

Can, could, may, might, must, should, would.

For instance,

"I can write ;" "I may go;" "You must obey."

In these sentences write, go, and obey, are in the Infinitive Mood.

(2) The Infinitive which is preceded by to, is used after Principal Verbs, but it may also be used by itself as the subject or object of a sentence, e. J.,—

(a) "I wish to go home."

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(b) To err is human, to forgive divine."
(c) "I love to dance."

In (a) wish is the Principal Verb.

(b) To err and to forgive are both subjects.

(c) to dance is the object of the Verb.

After some Principal Verbs the to, in the Infinitive of this form, is omitted. These Verbs are,

Bid, dare, let, make, see, hear, feel, need.

Thus we have,—

"I bid him go home."

"I dare do all that does become a man."
"Let me enjoy myself."

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I saw him start yesterday."

&c., &c., &c.

Although the to is omitted after these Verbs, it may readily be seen that it is in reality the Infinitive of this form by which they are followed, by putting any of the Verbs in the above sentences in the passive voice, when the particle to immediately reappears.