English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 34

II. Of Pa.s.sIVE NOMINATIVES; as, "The _boy_ is beaten; The _lady_ is loved; The _ball_ is rolled; The _man_ was killed."

III. Of NEUTER NOMINATIVES; as, "The _boy_ remains idle; The _lady_ is beautiful; The _ball_ lies on the ground; The _man_ lives in town."

You may now proceed to the conjugation of pa.s.sive verbs.

Pa.s.sive Verbs are called _regular_ when they end in _ed_; as, was _loved_; was _conquered_.

All Pa.s.sive Verbs _are formed_ by adding the _perfect participle_ of an active-transitive verb, to the neuter verb _to be_.

If you place a perfect participle of an active-transitive verb after this neuter verb _be_, in any mood or tense, you will have a _pa.s.sive_ verb in the same mood and tense that the verb _be_ would be in if the participle were not used; as, I am _slighted_; I was _slighted_; he will be _slighted_; If I be _slighted_; I may, can, _or_ must be _slighted_, &c. Hence you perceive, that when you shall have learned the conjugation of the verb _be_, you will be able to conjugate any pa.s.sive verb in the English language.

The regular pa.s.sive verb to _be loved_, which is formed by adding the perfect participle _loved_ to the neuter verb to _be_, is conjugated in the following manner:

TO BE LOVED.--INDICATIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense _Sing_. I am loved, thou art loved, he is loved.

_Plur_. We are loved, ye _or_ you are loved, they are loved.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. I was loved, thou wast loved, he was loved.

_Plur_. We were loved, ye _or_ you were loved, they were loved.

Perfect Tense.

_Sing_. I have been loved, thou hast been loved, he has been loved.

_Plur_. We have been loved, you have been loved, they have, &c.

Pluper. Tense _Sing_. I had been loved, thou hadst been loved, he had been, &c.

_Plur_. We had been loved, you had been loved, they had been, &c.

First Future.

_Sing_. I shall _or_ will be loved, thou shall _or_ wilt be loved, he, &c.

_Plur_. We shall _or_ will be loved, you shall _or_ will be loved, they, &c.

First Future.

_Sing_. I shall have been loved, thou wilt have been loved, he, &c.

_Plur_. We shall have been loved, you will have been loved, &c.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense _Sing_. If I be loved, if thou be loved, if he be loved.

_Plur_. If we be loved, if ye _or_ you be loved, if they be loved.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. If I were loved, if thou wert loved, if he were loved.

_Plur_. If we were loved, if you were loved, if they were loved.

This mood has six tenses:--See conjugation of the verb to _be_.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense.

_Sing_. Be thou loved, _or_ do thou be loved.

_Plur_. Be ye _or_ you loved, _or_ do ye be loved.

POTENTIAL MOOD.

Pres. Tense.

_Sing_. I may, can, _or_ must be loved, thou mayst, canst, _or_ must, &c.

_Plur_. We may, can, _or_ must be loved, you may, can, _or_ must, &c.

Imperf. Tense.

_Sing_. I might, could, would, _or_ should be loved, thou mightst, &c.

_Plur_. We might, could, would, or should be loved, ye _or_ you, &c.

Perfect Tense.

_Sing_. I may, can, _or_ must have been loved, thou mayst, canst, &c.

_Plur_. We may, can, _or_ must have been loved, you may, can, &c.

Plup. Tense.

_Sing_. I might, could, would, _or_ should have been loved, thou mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst have _Plur_. We might, could, would, _or_ should have been loved, you might, could, would, _or_ should have been loved, they, &c.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

Pres. Tense. To be loved. Perf. Tense. To have been loved.

PARTICIPLES.

Present, Being loved. Perfect _or_ Pa.s.sive, Loved.

Compound, Having been loved.

NOTE. This conjugation of the pa.s.sive verb _to be loved_, is called the _pa.s.sive, voice_ of the regular active-transitive verb _to love_.

Now conjugate the following pa.s.sive verbs; that is, speak them in the first pers. sing, and plur. of each tense, through all the moods, and speak the participles; "to be loved, to be rejected, to be slighted, to be conquered, to be seen, to be beaten, to be sought, to be taken."

NOTE 1. When the perfect participle of an _intransitive_ verb is joined to the neuter verb _to be_, the combination is not a pa.s.sive verb, but a _neuter_ verb in a _pa.s.sive form_; as, "He _is gone_; The birds _are flown_; The boy _is_ grown_; My friend _is arrived_."

The following mode of construction, is, in general, to be preferred; "He _has_ gone; The birds _have_ flown; The boy _has_ grown; My Friend _has_ arrived."

2. Active and neuter verbs may be conjugated by adding their present participle to the auxiliary verb _to be_, through all its variations; as, instead of, I teach, thou teachest, he teaches, &c., we may say, I am teaching, thou art teaching, he is teaching, &c.; and, instead of, I taught, &c.; I was teaching, &c. This mode of conjugation expresses the continuation of an action or state of being; and has, on some occasions, a peculiar propriety, and contributes to the harmony and precision of language. When the present participle of an active verb is joined with the neuter verb to be, the two words united, are, by some grammarians, denominated an active verb, either transitive or intransitive, as the case may be; as, "I am writing a letter; He is walking:" and when the present participle of a neuter verb is thus employed, they term the combination a neuter verb; as, "I am sitting; He is standing."

Others, in constructions like these, pa.r.s.e each word separately.

Either mode may be adopted.

III. DEFECTIVE VERBS.

DEFECTIVE VERBS are those which are used only in some of the moods and tenses.

The princ.i.p.al of them are these.

_Pres. Tense. Imperf. Tense. Perfect or Pa.s.sive Participle is wanting_.

May, might. ------------ Can, could. ------------ Will, would. ------------ Shall, should. ------------ Must, must. ------------ Ought, ought. ------------ ----- quoth. ------------

NOTE. _Must_ and _ought_ are not varied. _Ought_ and _quoth_ are never used as auxiliaries. _Ought_ is always followed by a verb in the infinitive mood, which verb determines its tenses. _Ought_ is in the _present_ tense when the infinitive following it is in the present; as, "He _ought_ to do it;" and _ought_ is in the _imperfect_ tense when followed by the perfect of the infinitive; as, "He _ought_ to have done it."

Before you proceed to the a.n.a.lysis of the following examples, you may read over the last _three_ lectures carefully and attentively; and as soon as you become acquainted with all that has been presented, you will understand nearly all the principles and regular constructions of our language. In parsing a verb, or any other part of speech, be careful to pursue the _systematic order_, and to conjugate every verb until you become familiar with all the moods and tenses.