the forms by sending of them, by the sending them; though these latter are frequently met with in the language.

The form what do you think of my horse's running to-day? is a correct form of expression, rather than the form what do you think of my horse running to-day?

Note I.-The present participles of Transitive verbs are not unfrequently used in a Passive sense; as, "The nation had cried out loudly against the crime while it was committing."-BOLINGBROKE on History, Letter 8. "My Lives are reprinting."-Dr. JOHNSON. The house is building."

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If we use the phrase "the house is building," we speak of it as a thing, from its very nature, not acting itself, and we use the term building as expressive of a passive progressive condition of the house. If we say the "men are building," we then have active instruments, and the term building is an active participle, requiring to be followed by a noun; as, "Building a wall, a castle."

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Expressions like the following have for some years been stealing into the language: "While the house was being burned," instead of "while the house was burning while the battle was being fought," instead of "while the battle was fought." Some expressions like these are awkward, and difficult to be dealt with. Is it not better to say, "He will find the house will be building," than to say, "He will find the house will be being built?" Is it not better to say, "I knew the house to be building," than to say, "I knew the house to be being built”?

These expressions are not yet sanctioned by the highest authority. On the other hand, the best writers of the present time use expressions like "is making," "is doing," instead of "is being made," "is being done." The analogous use of verbs in the active form with a passive meaning we have in the following expressions: "The verses you sent me read well," "you will easily find a house to let." See Section DXI.

Note II.-A participle is sometimes used absolutely, without any noun, pronoun, or sentence on which it depends; as, "It is not possible to act otherwise, considering the weakness of our nature;" "Generally speaking, the heir at law is not bound by the will of the testator."

Note III.-The Past participle and the Preterit are sometimes indiscriminately used: Thus, begun is improperly used for the preterit began, and the preterit spoke is improperly used for the past participle spoken.

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XXXVII. (PARTICIPLES.)

RULE XXXVII.-a. Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices: so climbing is performed in the same posture as creeping.-SWIFT. C. S.

b. The enjoying of the goods of fortune is more coveted than the winning of them. C. S.

c. The public were dissatisfied with the Premier for having bestowed offices upon mere party grounds. C. S.

d. The period of Napoleon's leading an army into Italy has already been described. C. S.

e. The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. C. S.

Note I.-a. When in Cheltenham, I saw Trinity Church while it was building. C. S. b. In three months from this date the new Town Hall will be being built. F. S. c. The house has been being built for nine months. F. S.

Note II.-a. The articles of this charge, considering by whom it was brought, were not of so high a nature as was to be expected. C. S.

b. Speaking generally of that generation of authors, it may be said that, as poets, they had no force or greatness of fancy, no pathos, no enthusiasm; and as philosophers, Lo comprehensiveness, depth, or originality.-Lord JEFFREY.

C. S.

F. S.

Note III.- -a. From liberty each nobler science sprung;
A Bacon brightened, and a Spenser sung.

b. Philosophers have often mistook the true source of happiness. F. S.

SECTION DXXII.-CERTAIN USES OF THE VERB.

1. He IS DRINKING, indicates a Present action; he drinks, may indicate a habit. He drinks wine at dinner, means that he does so habitually; while he is drinking wine at dinner, confines the act to a particular occasion.

2. DOEST is a form which occurs when the verb is used as a principal; DOST, when it is used as an auxiliary: "Which doest great things past finding out;" "He loves not play as thou dost."

3. DON'T is a contraction of do not, and not of does not. Don't for does not is a vulgarism. Contractions like haven't have not, isn't is not, should not be encouraged.

4. DOTH and HATH, in the place of does and has, are sometimes used to express solemn and tender associations, or to avoid the too frequent repetition of the letter s.

5. I WOULD RATHER and I had rather are both in use. The first is preferable, of which I'd rather is an abbreviation.

6. SHALL and WILL are sometimes improperly used the one for the other, as, in the case of the drowning Irishman, "I will be drowned, and nobody shall help me."

7. MIGHT is improperly used for MAY: "The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight."

8. The THIRD person is improperly used for the SECOND:

"Thou great First Cause least understood,

Who all my sense confined

To know but this, that thou art good,

And that myself am blind;

Yet gave me, in this dark estate,

To see the good from ill;

And binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will."

9. HAD is, in some instances, improperly omitted: "No respite was given; but, whenever the operation ceased, the whole table was covered and appeared perfectly black, as if so much soot thrown upon it." It should be had been thrown.

10. The form of the THIRD PERSON of the verb should not be changed in the same sentence: "It is for their sake that human law hath interposed in some countries of the world, and, by creating and ordaining a right for them, has endeavoured to make good the defi'ciency of nature."

11. "Its tufted flowers and leafy bands
In one continuous curve expands,
When herb or floweret rarely smile."
The wrong number of the verb is here used.

12. " They deck it with silver and with gold, that it move not." Here an end is proposed, and the subjunctive is the proper form. 13. "Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." Here an individual fact is indicated, and not a confirmed habit. The subjunctive is therefore used.

14. "For these mid hours, till evening rise,
I have at will."

Rise, not rises, is used, because a future event is indicated.

15. "If any of my readers has looked with so little attention upon the world around him." Certainty is here implied. The indicative mode is therefore used.

16. "If the leg does not come off, take the turkey to yourself." "Madam," replied the man in black, "I don't care a farthing whether the leg or the wing comes off." It should be do and come; for the parties are disputing upon the result of the lady's carving, and not upon the actual state of the turkey.

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certainly," indeed;" 166 Will you

17. "To BE SURE venture out in this snow-storm?

as,

To be sure I will."

18. WOULD is often used to express a wish; as, were a sword in

66 hand;" my

"Ye would none of my reproof."

I would to God that

19. "For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." Till he have.

20. HAD is often used for would have; as, "Had he done this he had escaped" he would have escaped.

21. In familiar language, will represents the Present tense of the principal verb, and would the Past:

"The isle is full of noises.

Sometimes a thousand twanging instruments
Will hum about my ears." "SHAKESPEARE.

"His listless length at noontide would he stretch.”—GRAY.

22. DID is used improperly for should; as, "It were an intolerable spectacle, even to the inmates of a felon's cell, did they behold one of their fellows in the agonies of death."-CHALMERS. Were ought to be replaced by would, and did by should.

23. "This dedication will serve for almost any book that has, is, or shall be published." It ought to be, "that has been or shall be published.

24. "The Court of Chancery frequently mitigates and breaks the teeth of the common law." It would be better to say, " mitigates the common law, and breaks the teeth of it."

25. "Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Might is improperly put for may.

26. "If these persons had intended to deceive, they would have taken care to have avoided what would expose them to the objections of their opponents." Had and the second have should be omitted, and avoid be used instead of avoided.

27. "For they feared the people lest they should have been stoned." [Should be.]

28. "Let us suppose a man convinced, notwithstanding the disorders of the world, that it was under the direction of an infinitely perfect Being." Was is improperly used for is.

CHAPTER VI.

SECTION DXXIII.-SYNTAX OF ADVERBS.

RULE XXXVIII.-ADVERBS modify Verbs, Adjectives, and other Adverbs; as, "He acted judiciously," "He is a truly good man;"" He was most kindly treated."

An Adverb, in some cases, modifies a whole Sentence, or a Noun, or a Preposition; as, Unfortunately for the lovers of antiquity, no remains of Grecian paintings have been preserved;" "Blessed be God, even the Father," "Just below the surface."

Note I.-Adverbs are sometimes used as Adjectives; as, "Will you have the goodness to look over the above statement;" "call to mind that the then secretary had just come into office." Forms like these are not to be encouraged, though they are sometimes convenient.

Note II.-Adverbs are sometimes used as Nouns; as, "He travelled from thence by land;""There are upward of two thousand people present;" "Since when" = since which time; "Worth their while" worth their time and pains; "Now is the time" the present is the time.

Note III.-Certain Adjectives are used as Adverbs; as, "Full well he knows the folly of his course." A question may even arise whether a word is an adverb or an adjective: "After life's fitful fever he sleeps well," after life's fitful fever he is well. Is well the same part of speech in these two cases? Most grammarians would say no; some would say yes, and correctly. It makes a part of the predicate. See Section-ccccxc.

The termination ly was originally adjectival. At present it is a derivational syllable, by which we convert an adjective into an adverb. When, however, an adjective ends in ly, the formation is awkward. I eat my daily bread, is unexceptionable. "I eat my bread dailily," is exceptionable. One of two things must here take place: the two syllables lily are packed into one, or else the construction is that of an adjective deflected. Thus, godly is used as an adverb instead of godlily.—LATHAM.

NOTE IV. Adverbs of REST IN A PLACE, namely, here, there, and where, are often used instead of adverbs of motion toward a place, namely, hither, thither, whither, when the latter would be more strictly accurate; as, "He came here," instead of" he came hither." In dignified language and in poetry this substitution is not so frequent.

Note V.-Before adverbs of motion from a place, namely, hence, thence, whence, the preposition from is often used. But its use is pleonastic, because hence, thence, whence are equivalent to "from this place;" "from that place;" from which place."

Note VI.-As to the use of the adverbs never and ever, when followed by so, authorities are divided, some being in favour of the first, as in the scriptural expression, "charm he never so wisely," on the ground that it is more expressive; and some being in favour of substituting for it the expression charm he ever so wisely." Usage, at least ancient usage, justifies the scriptural expression. Grammarians, at least many of them, prefer the other form, and to this modern usage inclines, though without any strong reason in its favour. Either form is correct.

Note VII.-HERE, THERE, and WHERE, formerly denoting place, have now a more extensive application, corresponding with their pronominal derivation, HERE having the force of this or these; THERE the force of that or those; and WHERE the force of at which or in which; as, "It is not so with respect to volitions and actions; here the coalescence is intimate;" "I will visit my friends; there I shall find comfort;""Tell me the place where it happened." The antecedent is often omitted; as, "Tell me where it happened." The adverb THERE may be used when we wish the nominative case to stand after its verb: "There followed Him great multitudes." "Will

Note VIII. The adverbs YES, YEA, AY, NO, NAY, are used independently; as, he consent? ?" "Yes." "Will he go?" "No." These words are reach of them equivalent to a whole sentence. The word amen is also used independently.

YEA and NAY are also used in another sense; as, "A good man always profits by his ende avours; yea, when he is absent; nay, when dead, by his example and memory.' Here yea is nearly equivalent to this; so is nay.

"Nor

Note IX.-Two NEGATIVES in English are equivalent to an Affirmative; as, did he not perceive them" - he did perceive them; "His manners are not inelegant" are elegant. When two negatives, as in the last example, are used to express an affirmative, they denote the quality only in a moderate degree.

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In popular language, two negatives are frequently used for a negation, according to the practice of the ancient Greeks and the modern French. This idiom was primitive, and was retained in the Anglo-Saxon; as, "Oc se Kinning Peada ne rixade nane while."Saxon Chronicle. "And the King Peada did not reign none while." "He did not owe nothing," in vulgar language, is equivalent to "he owed nothing," in the style of the learned.

Note X.-No is sometimes improperly used for NOT; as, "Whether love be natural or no,' replied my friend, gravely, it contributes to the happiness of every society into which it is introduced.' No properly never qualifies a verb.

Adverbial phrases are treated generally in the same manner as adverbs; as, “The many letters I receive do not a little encourage me." Here A LITTLE modifies the verb encourage.

In Imperative sentences the verb is sometimes suppressed, and is indicated by an adverb which seems to supply its place; as, "Down with him!' cried false Sextus, with a smile on his pale face." See Section DVI.

SECTION DXXIV.-THE COLLOCATION OF ADVERBS.

1. They are placed before adjectives and participles, and the adverbs which they modify; as, "He was exceedingly modest;" greatly beloved;" "not only wisely, but firmly."

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2. They usually follow a verb when single; as, " He spoke eloquently;" and if a verb is transitive, with an object following, the adverb follows the object; as, "John received the present gratefully." To this rule there are many exceptions.

"He

3. When an auxiliary and a participle are used, the adverb is usually placed between them, or it follows the participle; as, was graciously received," or, "He was received graciously."

4. When two auxiliaries are used, the adverb is usually after the second; as, "We have been kindly treated." But it may follow the participle; as, "We have been treated kindly;" and in some instances it may precede the auxiliaries; as, "And certainly you must have known."

5. An Adverb is sometimes put emphatically at the beginning of a sentence; as, "Never was a man so used."

6. The negative adverb NOT follows, and NEVER, in modern usage, precedes, the principal verb to which it refers. We cannot now say She not denies it," as in Shakespeare.

7. The words ONLY and MERELY sometimes have a wrong location; as, "The first (pestilence) could be only imputed to the just indignation of the gods. It should be," only to the just indignation of the gods."

8. The adverb ENOUGH is always placed after the adjective which it modifies, and the adjective and the adverb after the substantive; as, "A house large enough."

9. The adverb How should not be used before the conjunction THAT, nor instead of it; as, "He said how that he should be in Hull." "He said how he would be in Norwich."