§ (82) Some words ending in ing may be either Nouns, Adjectives, or Participles, (1) 66 Walking is a healthy exercise " (Noun). (2) "I have bought a walking-stick" (Adjective). (3) "You were caught walking over the grass" (Participle). § (83) Some Verbs, although intransitive, at times seem to be used transitively, and take an object derived from the same root as themselves, which is called a Cognate object, i.e., "I ran a race." "I have fought a good fight." § (84) The, one, off, since, who. The is sometimes a Demonstrative Adjective, sometimes an Adverb of Degree. (1) "I like the horse very well" (Demonstrative Adjective). (2) "The more, the merrier" (Adverb of Degree, see § 53). One is used as a Numeral Adjective, and as an Indefinite Pronoun, (1) "I have one apple" (Numeral Adjective). (2) "One hardly knows what to do" (Indefinite Pronoun). Off is sometimes an Adverb, sometimes a Preposition,— (1) "I shall send you off without notice" (Adverb). (2) "The child fell off the table" (Preposition). We sometimes hear such expressions as,― "He fell off of the horse." These expressions are, of course, vulgarisms. Since is used both as a Conjunction and a Preposition,— (1) "Since you will not obey me I shall call your father' (Conjunction). (2) "I have not seen you since the day you left" (Preposition). Who is sometimes used indefinitely, and is given by Adams as one of the Indefinite Pronouns, e.g., "Who knows how the matter may end?" PECULIAR CONSTRUCTIONS AND USES OF WORDS. § (85) In such phrases as, "Bread to eat ;" "House to let ;" we have the active form of the Infinitive, which in such cases is the Gerund or Supine, but it has a passive signifi The Verbs, in both instances, are transitive, and in such constructions the infinitive has the force of an Adjective. It should be parsed thus, taking for instance, Bread to eut, To eat Supine or Gerund, with active form but passive signification, transitive, imperfect, qualifying the Noun "Bread." The same form of the infinitive is seen in, "I have a horse to sell," i.e., "to be sold," and similar sentences. In Latin, the deponent verbs have a passive form with an active signification; in the case of the above use of the infinitive just the opposite is seen; it has an active form with a passive signification. § (86) Sure, afraid, and worth. Sure and afraid are Adjectives which take an indirect object. "He is sure to succeed" (Infinitive, indirect object). "I am sure that you are mistaken" (Noun sentence, indirect object). "I am afraid to try" (Infinitive, indirect object). "I am afraid you will make a mistake" (Noun sentence, indirect object). In the sentence, "The loaf is worth sixpence," worth is an Adjective, qualifying loaf, and taking the adverbial. object sixpence, denoting how much the loaf is worth. Worthy, another form of this Adjective, is generally followed by the passive infinitive which it governs, or by a prepositional phrase, as, "He is worthy to be elected." "He is worthy of praise." Worth is sometimes used with the apparent meaning of becoming or meet for, as,— "Woe worth the day;" that is, "Woe becoming the day;" § (87) Ago. This word is in reality the perfect participle of the Verb go. In Anglo-Saxon the passive and perfect participle had a prefix ge, which sometimes assumed the forms i and y. The a in ago, is a corruption of this prefix. So that, "Three weeks ago" means "Three weeks gone," or "having gone." "It happened long ago," means "It happened a long (time having gone since)." This prefix is retained in yclept which means "called;" e.g.— 66 Ye Annuale Whytebaite Dinner of Hyr Majestye's Ministers, On Wednesdaie, ye 14th August, 1878, Ye Shippe, atte Greenwiche." This is written in ancient English, but the participle yclept still survives in the same form. The meaning of the last two lines of the above is,— . "At the hostelry (here hotel) called the Ship, at Greenwich.” How the form ago has been obtained will be seen from the following, Perfect participle of Anglo-Saxon, gan = go. (Gegangen, gegan, gan), i-gan, a-gan, a-gone, a-go. $(88) If, well, alone. The Conjunction if is derived from gif, the imperative of gifan, and is equivalent to given or granted. When we say, "If the man who has money makes good use of it," we mean, "Given or granted (or allow that) the man who has money makes good use of it." It has already been said (§ 32) that if is frequently used to introduce a sentence containing a Verb in the Subjunctive Mood. This, however, is not invariably the case. If the sentence which it introduces does not express doubt or condition, the Verb is in the Indicative Mood. Thus we say,— "If the man has money, why should he spend it?" (Indicative). Here there is no doubt whatever, we know for a fact that the man has money. But in the sentence,— "If he have money, he will surely pay his debts" (Subjunctive); it is uncertain whether or not he has money; doubt is. implied, and for this reason the subjunctive is used. Well and alone are Adjectives which never qualify attributively; they are never placed before the Nouns they qualify. The state indicated by these Adjectives is always predicated of the things to which they refer, thus, "He is well;" "He is alone." Sometimes well qualifies factitively, e.g., "The medicine made him well." The Adjective qualifies factitively when it is used in such a way as to denote that the state of things indicated by it is. the result of an action. Other Adjectives used like well and alone, are, Averse, afraid, conformable, &c. § (89) The forms meseems and methinks have been already alluded to. They are Impersonal Verbs. The Verb think, in methinks, must not be confounded with the regular verb think, the past tense of which is I thought, and the perfect participle thought. In Anglo-Saxon there are two Verbs, thencan, think, which is the ordinary Verb, and thincan, seem. The latter is found only in the 3rd person. The Pronoun usually found before it is in the dative case, and the subject is the sentence that follows the Verb (see Adams, § 376). In the sentence,— "Methinks the lady doth protest too much," the subject of the Verb is, "The lady doth protest too much ;" and the whole may be rendered,— "It (viz., that the lady doth protest too much ') seems to me." Although therefore the Verb is spoken of as an impersonal Verb, the subject of the Verb is really expressed, and it is only in apposition with it. |