"The horse is seen;"" The men are punished;""The man is carried."

Thirdly, of NEUTER NOMINATIVES: as, "The box lies on the table;""The horse remains in the field;""The men stay in the house;" "The man abides in the city."

Caroline. I think I now understand the difference between the active, passive, and neuter verbs. When a verb expresses the action of its nominative, it is an active verb; when it expresses the action received by its nominative, or done to its nominative, it is a passive verb and, when it expresses no action at all, but the mere existence of its nominative, or its state of existence, it is a verb, neither active nor passive, and is, therefore, called neuter.

George. So the verb takes its character from its nominative. If the verb has an active nominative, it is an active verb; if a passive nominative, it is a passive verb; and, if a • neuter nominative, it is a neuter verb.

Tutor. That is right. But I will now give you the conjugation of the neuter verb BE, through all its moods and tenses. When you understand this verb, so that you know it instantly, in all its moods and tenses, you will possess additional means for distinguishing the passive verb; because this neuter verb BE, is frequently used as an auxiliary, as well as a principal verb, and no passive verb can be formed without it. You will, therefore, find it, of great importance, to make this verb, which is the most irregular one in the English language, exceedingly familiar to you.

The auxiliary and neuter verb To be, is conjugated as follows:

This neuter verb BE, in the Subjunctive Mood, has two forms of the IMPERFECT, as well as of the present tense. All other verbs, in the subjunctive mood, have two forms of the present tense only.

The two forms of the subjunctive present and imperfect tenses of the neuter verb BE, are these :*

To understand the proper use of these, see sec. XX. and onwards.

The remaining tenses of this mood, are similar to the correspondent tenses of the Indicative Mood, with the exception which I have before given you, viz. that will and wilt are not used in the second future.

POTENTIAL MOOD.

Thou mayst or canst be,
He may or can be,

Singular.

Imperfect

I might, could, would, or should
be,
Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst,
or shouldst be,
He might, could, would, or
should be.

Singular.

Plural.

We may or can be.

or you may or can be. They may or can be.

Tense.

Plural.

We might, could, would, or should be.

Ye or you might, could, would, or should be. They might, could, would, or should be.

Perfect Tense.

I may or can have been, Thou mayst or canst have been,

He may or can have been,

Plural.

We may or have been.
Ye or you may or can have

been.

They may or can have been.

Be thou or do thou be,

Be ye or you, or do ye be.

Present. Being.

PARTICIPLES.

Compound Perfect.

A

I remarked to you, before I gave you the conjugation of this verb, that no passive verb can ever be formed without it. I will now tell you how the passive verb is formed: Add the perfect, or passive participle, of any verb that can be made transitive, when used in an active sense, to this neuter verb BE, and you will have a passive verb, in the same mood and tense that the neuter verb would be in, if the participle were not added. You cannot form a passive verb in any other way.

Caroline. I think I understand it. If I take the word forsaken, which is the perfect or passive participle of the active verb to forsake; for this verb can be made transitive: as, "I forsake him," "He forsakes me," &c. and place it after the neuter verb be: as, "I am forsaken; thou art forsaken; he is forsaken; I was forsaken, &c.; I have been forsaken, &c.; I had been forsaken, &c.; I shall be forsaken, &c.; I shall have been forsaken," &c.; I shall have a passive verb, from the active verb to forsake, in all the six tenses of the indicative mood. And I perceive, that the pronoun I, when connected with a passive verb, is not an active, but a passive nominative.

Fator. I believe, Caroline, that you understand how to form the passive verbs.

George. But there are many active verbs that are intransitive; such as go, fly, arrive, &c. Suppose that I should put the perfect participle of an active intransitive verb after the neuter verb be, and say, "He is gone;"" He is arrived;" "The bird is flown," &c.; what kind of a verb shall I have then?

Tutor. A neuter verb, in a passive form.

Caroline. Is this neuter verb be, ever used as an auxiliary connected with the present participle?

Tutor. Yes, very often. What is the rule which you give, when you parse the present participle?

Caroline. The active participle ending in ing, when not connected with a verb, refers to some noun, or pronoun, denoting the actor.

Tutor. That is right; but when it is added to the neuter verb be, be becomes an auxiliary, and marks the mood and tense of the verb, and the participle becomes the principal part of the verb, just as the passive participle does when you form a passive verb.

George. And what sort of a verb have we, when the present participle is added to the neuter verb be?

Tutor. Either an active transitive or intransitive verb, or a verb neuter. If the participle is derived from a transitive verb, you have an active transitive verb; if the participle is derived from an intransitive verb, then you have an intransitive verb; but, if it is derived from a verb neuter, you have a neuter verb: as, "I am writing a letter;" here you see that am writing, is a transitive verb from the verb to write, and governs letter in the objective case; "I am running :" here you see the verb is active, but intransitive, from the verb to run; and, "I am sitting; I am standing; I am lying on the bed;" you now perceive that the verbs are neuter, from the neuter verbs to sit, to stand, to lie. And I will remark to you, that this neuter verb be, is never used as an auxiliary, except with the present, or passive participles of other verbs.

I will now give you the conjugation of the regular verb to love, in the passive form.

A passive verb is conjugated by adding the perfect participle to the auxiliary to be, through all its changes of number, person, mood, and tense, in the following manner:

M