I dreamed that Greece might still be free.-Byron.

The merry lark has poured

His early song against yon breezy sky.-Keats.

195. The person or thing towards which the action is directed is called the object of the verb:

I'll smoothly steer my little boat.-Keats.

196. When the action is directed towards some specified object, the verb is termed transitive; when the verb has no object, it is called intransitive or neuter :

The sea-bird rises, as the billows rise.-Landor.

197. Intransitives sometimes take an object of the same nature as the verb:

I dreamed a dream which was not all a dream.

Sleep the sleep that knows not waking.-Scott.

Byron.

These objects are known as cognate accusatives. Sometimes a verb is used transitively and intransitively: the boy swims;'

The wild horse swims the wilder stream.-Byron.

198. When the source of the action is not specified, the verb is said to be impersonal. There are no such verbs in English. In me-seems and me-thinks, i. e. 'it appears to me,' the subject is expressed in the words that follow the verb:

Methinks [the lady doth protest too much].

Shakspere.

i. e. 'It appears to me that the lady doth protest too much.'

The only instance in which the subject is not expressed in English is the second person of the present imperative:

Be wise to-day: 'tis madness to defer.-Young.

199. When the object of a transitive verb is the same person or thing as the subject, the verb is called reflective:

Thou hast undone thyself.-Shakspere.

200. In most languages reflectives are formed by suffixing to the active verb the reflective pronoun, i. e. a pronoun used solely to represent the subject of the proposition. As there is no reflective pronoun in English, there is no special form for reflective verbs. In old English the words him, her, hit, hem, are employed for this purpose:

Than hath he don his frend, ne him, no schame.

Chaucer.

And occasionally in modern English, ‘he sat him down;' but the usual process is to add the word self to the pronoun:

Bid him arm himself.-Shakspere.

201. When the subject of the verb denotes the source of the action, the verb is called active; as, 'the boy killed the bird.'

202. It is sometimes convenient not to mention

the subject. Hence a new form of expression arose. The object of the active verb is made the subject of a reflective: the bird killed itself,' i. e. met with its death. This vague reflective meaning was finally lost, and the more definite expression was killed' adopted. Such verbs are called passive.

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203. As passive verbs have grown out of reflectives, and reflectives have no special form in English, there can be no special form for the passive. They are expressed by a combination of the verb be and the perfect participle.

204. As the subject of the passive was once the object of an active verb, passives can be formed only from transitives: 'I shot the albatross,' or 'the albatross was shot by me.'

205. An active verb is commonly said to be of the active voice; a passive verb of the passive voice.

Mood.

206. Mood, from the Latin modus, manner,' is a grammatical term, signifying the manner of expressing an action, i. e. the way in which we speak of it.

207. The simple assertion that an action has, or has not, been performed is called the Indicative mood: The morn was fair;

Bright shone the sun, the birds sung cheerily,

And all the fields looked lovely in the spring.

F

Southey.

208. When we command an action to be performed, we use the Imperative mood, or manner of speaking:

Rear up his body; wring him by the nose.

Shakspere.

209. When we speak of an action as dependent upon another action, we employ the Subjunctive mood, or subjoined manner of expressing the proposition. Thus, 'It was so' is Indicative;

If it were so, it is a grievous fault (Shakspere),

is Subjunctive.

210. The Infinitive mood is properly a verbal noun, and as such can form either the subject or the object of a verb. To play delights the child;' 'the child likes to play. It differs, however, from an ordinary noun in the following particulars:

(a) It is capable of showing whether the action is complete, incomplete, intended, &c. (§ 226.)

(b) If the verb from which it is derived is active and transitive, it takes an object marking the direction of the action.

(c) It is used in the singular number only, because it expresses but a single action.

Tense.

211. Tense, from the Latin tempus, 'time,' means the time when an action is performed.

212. As every action must take place at one of the three divisions of time, the Present, the Past, or

the Future, there are naturally three Tenses,-the Present Tense, the Past Tense, and the Future Tense.

213. It is possible to speak of an action at any time as unfinished. Thus, 'I am writing now' (Present); 'I was writing at one o'clock yesterday' (Past); 'I shall be writing at one o'clock to-morrow' (Future). An unfinished action is said to be Imperfect, from

a Latin word meaning 'unfinished.'

214. It is possible to speak of an action at any time as finished: 'I have written my letter now' (Present); I had written my letter at one o'clock yesterday' (Past); 'I shall have written my letter at one o'clock to-morrow' (Future).

A finished action is said to be Perfect, from a Latin word meaning 'finished.'

215. An action may be mentioned in an indefinite manner as simply Present, Past, or Future, without specifying any conditions: 'I write' (Present); ‘I wrote' (Past); 'I shall write' (Future).

216. We may intimate at any time our intention to perform a certain action: 'I am going to write' (Present); 'I was going to write' (Past); 'I shall be going to write' (Future).

217. The Indefinites (with the exceptions mentioned in § 220) strictly refer to a point of time and to a single act; the Imperfects are in their nature continuous. The Perfect and the Intentional have each a second form, to show that the action has lasted for a certain time, or been continuous up to the time specified in the tense. Thus, 'I have been writin