8. Scrooge's diary, for two days before and two days after Christmas (Dickens's "Christmas Carols"). 9. Henry Hudson's journal, as found in a bottle picked up in Hudson Bay. 10. Joseph's diary, kept while his brothers visited him (Gen. xliii., xliv., xlv.).

VERBALS

854. A verbal is a word that is derived from a verb and partakes of its nature, and is used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

See "Verbals,” p. 325.

CLASSES OF VERBALS

Regular and Irregular Verbals

855. Read

1. Sing, to sing, singing. 2. Walk, to have walked, having walked. 3. Try, having tried. 4. Study, to study.

Is "sing" a regular verb? Is "to sing" regular? "Singing"? "Walk"? "Having walked"?

856. Verbals, like verbs, are divided according to their form into regular verbals and irregular verbals.

857. A regular verbal is a verbal derived from a regular verb; as, to walk, walking; to have studied, having studied. (583.)

858. An irregular verbal is a verbal derived from an irregular verb; as, to fly, flying; to have gone, having gone. (584.)

EXERCISE

859. Which of the following verbals are regular, and which irregular?

To ring, running, seeing, having sawed, shown, acquired, to prove, having gone, to climb, to have learned.

Definite and Indefinite Verbals

860. Read the following sentences:

1. The workman desires to be employed. 2. His hands refuse to labor. 3. Minerals containing silica are called silicates. 4. To reign is worth ambition. 5. Ordinary glass is made by melting together quartz sand and soda.

Name the verbals in the foregoing sentences. Who desires to be employed? What refuse to labor? Does "to labor" express action? As expressing action, what noun does it refer to? What does "refer" mean? As an action word, to what noun does "containing" refer? What contain silica? Does "to reign" refer to a preceding noun or pronoun? In the fifth sentence, does any word denote who does the act of melting? Does "melting" refer to a preceding noun or pronoun?

861. Verbals, classed with reference to preceding nouns and pronouns, may be divided into definite verbals and indefinite verbals.

862. A definite verbal is a verbal that refers to a pre

ceding noun or pronoun.

EXAMPLES.

"Sandstone is a rock made of sand." learned to hew the shaft, etc.— Bryant. to seek and to save that which was lost.

Ere man

The Son of man is come
Luke xix. 10. Slow rises

All men desire to be immor

worth by poverty depressed.—Johnson. tal. Parker. "To save him from being defeated by the caucus nominee, will require great effort." "I cannot help being an admirer of beauty." We at length ended our distressful voyage by arriving at Naples, after having escaped a thousand dangers. — Goldsmith. After the period of pure Anglo-Saxon, there was written an irregular dialect called Semi-Saxon. - March.

863. A verbal that refers to a noun or a pronoun generally follows it; as, “I want to be an angel."

864. An indefinite verbal is a verbal that is used without reference to a preceding noun or pronoun.

EXAMPLES.

Lamb.

To err is human; to forgive, divine. Pope. To be or not to be, that is the question. — Shak. To spend too much time in studies is sloth. - Bacon. To be a poet is to be a man. The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed. Spectator. Reading without purpose is sauntering. Bulwer. "To save him from being defeated by the caucus nominee, will require great effort." "The folly of becoming a politician is often seen."

EXERCISE

865. In the following sentences, point out four definite and three indefinite verbals.

1. We should try to do right. 2. It is cowardly to tell a lie. 3. I assured him he would have to encounter a winged dragon, compared to which the largest of those in the French romances was but a dragon fly. — Scott. trying to become a scholar difficult? 5. I came not here

to talk.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbals

866. Read the following sentences:

I. Minerals containing silica are called silicates.

4.

Is

2. I

desire to begin promptly.

Has "containing" a direct object? Has "to begin" a direct object? What part of speech is "containing "? "To begin"?

867. Verbals, like verbs, are divided according to their use as related to objects, into transitive verbals and intransitive verbals.

Mohammed.

868. A transitive verbal is a verbal that has a direct object; as, To resist evil by evil is evil. "His success in promoting learning," etc.

(598.)

869. An intransitive verbal is a verbal that does not have a direct object; as, "To read well is an accomplishment." "He escaped punishment by running away." (599.)

870. Verbals, like verbs, may be transitive in one sentence and intransitive in another; as, "He desires to study grammar" (tr.). "He desires to study" (intr.). (600.)

871. Some transitive verbals are followed by two objects, a direct and an indirect object; as, "He tried to tell me (indir.) the story" (dir.). "By bringing me the book," etc. (602.)

EXERCISE

872. Which of the following verbals are transitive, and which intransitive?

1. The atrocious crime of being a young man I shall not attempt to palliate nor to deny. 2. You taught me first to beg. 3. His own history, after leaving France, was brief and melancholy. Scott. 4. I began to perceive that it would be no light matter to break it up. 5. Being asked why he came, he replied, "To speak with the king."

PROPERTIES OF VERBALS

873. The properties of verbals are voice, form, and tense.

Voice

874. Read the following sentences:

3. Minerals

I. The infantry were deployed to protect the batteries. 2. The batteries required to be protected. containing silica are called silicates. 4. Sandstone is a rock made of sand. 5. To be employed is to be happy. 6. To save him from being defeated, etc.

Point out the verbals in the foregoing sentences. To what preceding noun does "to protect" refer? From what verb is it derived? In "The infantry protect the batteries," is "protect" transitive or intransitive? In what voice is it? In what voice may "to protect" be considered to be? To what preceding noun does "to be protected" refer? From what verb is it derived? In "The batteries are protected," is "are protected" transitive or intransitive? In what voice is it? In what voice may "to be protected" be considered to be? In "Minerals contain silica," in what voice is "contain"? is "containing," in the third sentence? From what verb is "to be employed" derived? In "He is employed," in what voice is "is employed"? In what voice may "to be employed" be said to be? In "We save him," in what voice is "save"? In what voice is "to save"?

In what voice

875. Transitive verbals, like transitive verbs, have two voices: the active and the passive.