120. The Potential Mood implies possibility or liberty, power, will, or obligation; as, "It may rain" "He might go;" "We can read;" "He would walk; "They should learn.”

Obs. 1.-In English, the Potential is formed by the combination of the auxiliaries may, might, can, could, should, would, must, with the principal verb, of which they are considered merely as signs. But in translation, Arnold observes that "they are not always verbs of mood [or auxiliaries], but they are often used as indicative verbs, to express permission, power, duty, etc., as actually existing states or conditions."

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Obs. 2.-The Potential Mood is also used in asking questions; as, May I go?"" Can he write ?" "Must they perish ?"

Obs. 3.-For the uses of may, might, can, could, etc., see the “ Observations on the Auxiliary Verbs." p. 95.

121. The Subjunctive Mood implies a condition, supposition, or uncertainty, and it is always dependent on another verb; as, "If men persevere, they must succeed."1

Obs. 1.-Here the fact that men "must succeed," is dependent on the condition, "if they persevere," consequently the verb expressing that condition is in the Subjunctive Mood.2

Obs. 2.-The only instance of a true subjunctive inflection in English is that of were and wert, as opposed to the indicative forms was, and wast.

1 The Subjunctive Mood is so called (from the Latin subjungĕre, to subjoin) because it is subjoined to the principal clause, to render the meaning of the sentence complete.

2 The present tendency of the English language, is to reject the distinction of the Subjunctive Mood. Hence most of the tenses of the Indicative and of the Subjunctive Moods are identical in form, the difference consisting in the sense in which the verb is employed. (see. 184.),

D

122. The simple Infinitive is the verb itself in its unaltered form, unlimited by number or person, and it is usually preceded by the sign to; as, "to call."

Obs. 1.—The Infinitive does not assert (see 97. obs.), it only defines the act. To, before the Infinitive is considered merely as a sign, in every other situation it is a preposition.

Obs. 2.-The Infinitive is properly a verbal noun, and as such it can form either the subject or the object of a verb; as, "To study improves the mind;" "Some like to study." It differs from a noun in the following particulars. (a). It is used in the singular number only, as being an abstract noun. (h). It shows whether the action is complete or incomplete. (c). If it be a transitive verb, it can govern an objective case; as, "I like to hear music."2 SECTION II.—PARTICIPLES.

123 A Participle is a verbal adjective, differing from a common adjective by implying the idea of action and time; as, " Writing quickly;" "Accom plished in haste."

Obs. 1.—In the above examples, the participles, "writing", and "accomplished," convey the ideas of action and time. But if we say "A writing master:" "An accomplished scholar;” we have participial adjectives which convey no idea of action going on at any particular time, but which merely qualify their respective (see 61. c.)

nouns.

Obs. 2.-A Participle differs from a verb, in not taking any subject or nominative, consequently it cannot assert, as a verb does. (see 97. obs.) Participles connect the act with an agent; infinitives define only the act.

1 The Infinitive is not properly a mood, for it represents no mo dification of the notion of the verb, but the simple notion itself. It is reckoned, however, amongst the moods, just as the nominative is amongst the cases. ARNOLD'S English Grammar.

2 In Anglo-Saxon, the Infinitive was declined, the Nominative ending in -an; as, writ-an to write, and the Dative in ―anne; as, writ-anne for writing. The Dative form, (usually called the gerund) was always preceded by to. When, in later times, the inflections were lost, the preposition to was inaccurately applied to all cases of the Infinitive. The verbs, may, can, shall, will, do, dare, bid, let, make, must, hear, feel, see, and have, were originally followed by the Nominative form (which had not to prefixed), consequently they still omit to before the verb following them.

124. There are three Participles in the Active Voice; the Imperfect or Incomplete, the Perfect or Complete, and the Compound-Perfect.

125. The Imperfect or Incomplete Participle always ends in ing, and expresses the continuance of an action, state, or being, or action not completed; as, Moving, sleeping.

Obs.-The Incomplete participle is sometimes called present, and the complete participle, past, but this distinction is not accurate, because both terms are used with words descriptive of present, past, or future time. It is called imperfect, not because it belongs to the imperfect tense, but because it denotes action not perfect or completed.

126. The Participle in ing is active, when the subject connected with it is a sentient being, or capable of action; as, "The men are building the house." "The publishers are selling the book."

Obs. In the phrase "The men are building the house," the term building is an active participle connected with the subject, "men." In the phrase "The house is building," we speak of it as a thing from its very nature not acting of itself, and the term building implies a passive progressive condition of the house. No ambiguity can arise from the use of such an expression.

127. The Participle in ing is passive, when the subject connected with it is inanimate, or when, from its very nature, it cannot be considered as acting of itself; as, "The house is building." "The book is selling."

1 Some writers, in order to avoid giving a passive signification to the participle in ing, have endeavoured to substitute the complete participle for it; as, "the house is being built." The latter mode of expression is not merely foreign to our language and not sanctioned by long established usage, but it is also extremely inconvenient in its application, and perfectly ungrammatical. Built implies an act accomplished; being implies a continuous condition; being built, therefore, includes incompatible terms, progression and accomplishment. It combines perfect and imperfect action. See PICKBOURN's Dissertation on the English Verb, p. 78; HARRISON'S English Language, p. 328; and MARSH'S Lectures on the English Language. Lect. xxix.

128. The Incomplete Participle is formed by adding ing to the verb; as, fall, falling; fly, flying.

Obs. 1. Verbs ending in single e omit the e when ing is added, except hoe, hoeing, shoe, shoeing, and singe, singeing. Dye (to stain) makes dyeing, in order to distinguish it from die (to expire,) which makes dying. Verbs ending in ie change ie into y before ing; as, lie, lying.

Obs. 2. Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant before the affix ing, as, drop, dropping.1

129. The Perfect or Complete Participle denotes the completion of an action; as, planted, taught, written.2

Obs. 1. The Complete Participle of the Modern or Weak Conjugation ends in ed, as planted, and sometimes in t, as spilt. In the Ancient or Strong Conjugation, it generally ends in t or n, as, taught, written.

Obs. 2. The Complete Participle of a transitive verb has a passive meaning. It always retains this passive signification, when joined with the verb to be; as "I am praised." But when joined with the verb to have, it forms a compound tense, and the combined expression has a transitive or active meaning; thus, "I have praised,” is in this respect, equivalent to "I praised."

130. The Compound Perfect Participle of the Active Voice denotes the completion of an action before some other action. It is formed by prefixing the participle having to the complete participle of the verb; as, "Having called."

1 See the "English Practical Spelling-Book," p. 71.

2 This participle denotes the completion of the being, action, or passion implied by the verb. But this completion may be spoken of as present, past, or future, because the participle itself has no tense, and makes no distinction of time, nor should the name be supposed to refer to the perfect tense. This participle has a passive signification, except when used in forming the compound tenses of the active verb. Hence the difference between the sentences, "I have written a letter," (implying, that I myself have completed the act of writing,) and "I have a letter written," (implying, that the letter may have been written by some other person)—the former being equivalent to scripsi | literas, and the latter to sunt mihi literæ scripta. BROWN's Institutes of English Grammar.

131. There are two Participles in the Passive Voice, the Imperfect or Incomplete, and the Compound-Perfect.

132. The Incomplete Participle Passive is formed by prefixing the word being to the perfect participle ; as," Being praised."

Obs.-The prefix being is sometimes omitted; as, these promises, he surrendered;" that is, being induced.

Induced by

133. The Compound-Perfect Participle Passive implies the completion of an action before some other action, as, "The battle having been fought, the troops encamped."

VERBAL OR PARTICIPIAL NOUNS.

134. A Verbal or Participial Noun has the same form as a Participle, but it expresses a substantive meaning. Those ending in ing, may be preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or pronoun in the possessive case, as, "The writing is good." "Careless writing is inexcusable." "John's writing is good."

Obs. The incomplete participle of a transitive verb immediately preceded by a preposition is not converted into a noun, and may govern an objective case; as, "I thank you for assisting him." Participles in this construction correspond with the Latin gerund, and are sometimes called gerunds or gerundives, (See 25. e. and note thereon.)

1 These forms in ing suggest a remark of importance—that there seems to be in English, as there was in Anglo-Saxon, a gerundial infinitive ending in ing, or with the prefix for to, or to, or a ; as, "What went ye out for to see?" "And fools who came to scoff remained to pray.' "I go a fishing." These forms are thus distinguished from the simple infinitive and from nouns and participles in ing. (a) Infinitives are always either the subject or object of a verb; as, To err

as,

is human." "He told me to go." (b) These gerundial forms are often connected with adjectives or nouns, and apparently governed by them; "Apt to teach." "A house to let." (c) If ending in ing they may be governed by a preposition, and may themselves govern a case; as, "He spent his fortune in educating his son for the bar." The primary object of the gerundial form is, to express purpose, fitness, etc. The Handbook of the English Tongue.