PAST PROGRESSIVE.- -PERFECT.

115

great duration, but now passed. Or it may denote a single act of the least possible extent of time: the lightning flashed,' 'the tree was shivered.' The tense does not indicate how far back in the past the event took place.

52. The Past Progressive, like the Present, affirms continuance : 'I was musing;' he was speaking;' the sun was shining.'

་

The progressive tenses, both present and past, are often erroneously used for the indefinite. When the object is merely to specify an action, and not to point out the fact of its continuing for some time, the indefinite forms are to be preferred: I walk;' he rides; 'you go in the boat;' I read ;'he sketched; they stood by.' In all these expressions nothing further is intended than to assign to each party concerned their several actions: it is not meant to say whether the actions are of longer or shorter continuance. But, I am walking,' 'I was riding,' 'they were gazing at the scene,' signify that the action lasted for some time, and constituted the occupation of the persons concerned. When, therefore, without wishing to signify continuance or occupation, we employ a progressive tense, we violate the best English usage. The expressions, the master is calling you,' he is speaking to you,'' were you ringing?' 'I was supposing," he is not intending,' are Scotticisms for the master cails," he speaks to you,' did you ring?' 'I supposed,' he does not intend.' 'I talked yesterday with a foreigner,' I saw in the papers,' 'I heard in the morning,' are more in accordance with idiom than would be the progressive form in those instances, if we suppose no stress laid on the continuance of the action. He leaves town to-morrow,' is better than he is leaving town to-morrow.' 'He is leaving for India,' may be justified on the ground that he is to be occupied for some time with the preparations implied in so distant a migration.

6

The Perfect.

53. The Present Perfect expresses (1) an action just finished, (2) an action done in a space of time not yet exhausted, (3) something whose consequences still remain. 1. 'I have sent the letter;' the messenger has come.' 2. It has rained all the week (up to this time);' we have seen great events this year.' 3. 'I have been a great sinner;' meaning I was so in my youth, and now bear the consequences.

6

From expressing the finishing of an action, the perfect has been used to signify the state of vacuity that follows: he has been ;'' he is no more; he is dead' (vixit, he has lived'). I have been young,' is 'I am now old.'

The perfect of continued action, I have been working,' is correctly understood by combining the meaning of a progressive and of a perfect tense. It is an action expressed as going on up to the present time.

The so-called present intentional, 'I am going (or about) to write,' is the exact opposite of the perfect. The one is an action just finished, the other an action just commencing.

The perfect, by expressing that an action is finished or complete, indicates that it is past; but it is a mistake to use it to express past time without some of the accompaniments above described. This mode of expression has been formerly very much admired,' should be was.'

The Progressive Tenses of the Passive Voice.

54. In the Passive Voice, the Progressive Tenses are, 'I am being loved,' 'I was being loved;' but these forms, which are of recent introduction, are to be used as little as possible.

The English verb has no imperfect participle passive. Hence, although we can constitute a progressive tense in the active voice, by the active participle and the verb be,'-' he is living,' we have no corresponding passive form. To supply this want it had long been the usage to employ the active participle in a passive sense, as well as in the active: the house is building.' It is of course an evil to employ the same form in two meanings, which is now obviated by saying the house is being built.'

This form is objectionable, partly as being cumbrous and partly because it still fails to convey the sense of a progressive mood. 'Being built' really implies a finished action; as we may see in such a sentence as Napoleon, being defeated at Waterloo, surrendered to the English.'

Moreover, it is very seldom that the old usage causes any ambiguity or hesitation, as numberless examples would show. Johnson says my Lives are reprinting.' We constantly say the house is finishing,' the declaration was reading,' the debt is owing,' the paper is missing,' 'five pounds is wanting,' 'the cows are milking,' the drums are beating," the trumpets are sounding,' "the fountains are playing,' the fires are blazing,' the cannon are firing,' 'the troops are arming,' the walls are tumbling.'

The use of active forms in passive significations, a result of the absence of a passive inflection in English, is not confined to this pecu liar construction. We have it in such phrases as 'a house to let,'* 'hard to understand (to be understood),' good to eat,' books to sell," 'he is to blame,' 'drinking-water (fit to be drunk),'' a riding-horse ;'

These, and not a house to be let,' to be sold,' are the genuine English forms.

IRREGULARITIES OF CONJUGATION.

117

also in the expression, considering the shortness of life, it is presumptuous,' &c., for the shortness of life being taken into consideration.' Milton says, that cannot but by annihilating die.'

The old idiom allowed the forms, the house is a-building;' 'fortyand-six years was this temple in building.' The circumlocution 'in course of' serves the same purpose.

55. Intransitive verbs, properly speaking, have no passive voice, yet we find two forms capable of expressing active and passive meanings. We say 'has come,' 'is come;' the one is suitable to the case of an active agent,- John has come;' the other to something passive,

'the box is come.' Hence for the noble Brutus is ascended,' we should prefer has ascended.' This distinction recommends itself, although our best writers have not observed it. He was (had) entered into the connection' is a Scotticism.

In the phrase 'he is gone,' the participle may be interpreted as an adjective, and the expression is then equivalent to 'he is absent.' So in this house is built of stone,' 'built' is an adjective; built of stone' being a quality predicated of this house.' 'He was terrified at the sight' is another instance. Strong participles are the most liable to this construction.

Irregularities in the Conjugation of Verbs.

56. The New Verbs in English have the Past Tense and Perfect Participle formed by adding 'd,' 'ed,' or 't,' to the simple Verb: love, loved, loved;' 'learn, learned;' dip, dipt.'

It is necessary to modify the letter 'd' when the final letter of the verb is k, p, or 8, after which d is unpronounceable.

In several verbs the vowel is shortened or otherwise changed, and sometimes also the consonant is modified, before the d or t is added; as 'feel, felt;' 'lose, lost;' 'flee, fled;' tell, told;' 'seek, sought;' teach, taught.' The following are of this class: 'bereave,' beseech,' 'bring,' 'buy,' 'catch,' 'cleave,' 'creep,' 'deal,' dream,' 'hear,' 'keep, kneel,' 'leap,' leave,' lose,' 'mean,' reave,' say,' 'seek,' 'sell,' 'shoe,' 'sleep,' sweep,' 'teach,' 'tell,' 'think,' 'weep,'' work.'

Along with these might be classed verbs like 'meet, met;' 'lead, led;' bend, bent; send, sent;' 'cut, cut;' 'set, set;' 'let, let.' To account for their present form we must go back to the Anglo-Saxon. In that language the past tense was formed by adding, noted,' but 'de' (or 'te' if the preceding consonant was a sharp letter, as 't'). Thus læde (I lead), ledde' (I led); 'mete (I meet), mette' (I met). As the Anglo-Saxon passed into modern English, the final 'e' ceased to be pronounced, and with it the additional 'd' or 't' disappeared as useless. 'Made' is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon macode,' and 'had' of 'hæfde.' 'Could' ought to have been 'coud;' the 'I' was inserted from a mistaken resemblance of the word to 'should' and 'would.'

The following, like 'bend,' 'send,' simply change the 'd' into 't:' 'blend,' 'build,'' gild,' 'gird,' 'lend,' rend,'' spend,' wend.'

The foregoing irregularities do not prevent the verbs from being classed under the first conjugation, called also the new conjugation, in contrast to the commonly called irregular verbs, which are said to be of the old conjugation. It is by the addition of ed that all newly formed verbs are conjugated, all that are derived from other languages, and the greater number even of the Saxon verbs.

57. The Old, improperly called Irregular, Verbs are conjugated by internal changes in the words, which cannot be reduced to general rules. The most general process has been to modify the root vowel for the past tense, and to add en for the perfect participle: 'rise, rose, risen;' 'write, wrote, written;" 'cleave, clove, cloven;' tear, tore, torn.'

This shows the original tendency of the language, and applies to a very large number of the old verbs; as arise,' beget,' 'bid,' 'bite,' 'break,' 'chide,' 'choose,' 'drink,' 'drive,' 'eat,' fall,' forbid,' forsake,' 'freeze,' 'get,' 'give,' 'hide,' 'hold,' 'ride,' rise,' shake,' shrink,' 'shrive,' sink,' 'smite,' 'speak,' 'steal,' 'stride,' strike,' 'take,' thrive,' tread,' 'weave.'

Some have dropped the e from the participle; as 'bear,' 'blow,' 'draw,' 'fly,' 'grow,' 'know,' 'lie,' see,' slay,' 'swear,' 'tear,' 'throw,' 'wear.'

6

A considerable number, while modifying the root vowel, have dropped the en entirely, although in old English many of them still possessed that termination; as come, came, come' (old English, comen'); fight, fought, fought' (old English, foughten'). The verbs of this class are 'awake,' begin,' behold,' bide,' 'bind,' 'bleed,' 'breed,' 'cling,' 'dig,' ' feed,' 'find,' 'fling,' 'grind,' lead,' read,' 'ring,' run,' shine,' shoot,' sing, sit, slide,' sling, slink,' 'spin,'' spring,' 'spit,' stand,' stave,' stick,' sting,' "stink,' string,' 'swim,' 'wake,' 'win,' ' wind,' 'wring.'

The following form the participle by adding en, but in the past tense take ed, like the new or regular verbs: 'lade (laded, laden),' "mow,' 'rive,' 'saw,' 'sew,' 'show,' 'sow,' 'strew,' wax (waxed, waxen).'

6

6

A small number of verbs neither modify the root vowel nor add en 'beat,' 'bet,' 'bid,' 'burst,' 'cast,' 'cut,' 'durst,' 'hit,' 'hurt,' let,' 'put,' 'rid,'' set,' shed,' 'shred,' shut,' slit,' 'split,' 'spread,' thrust,' 'wed.' Some of them may have had modifications now disused, while others never appear in any other shape than they have

now.

A considerable number of verbs have passed from the old or strong conjugation to the new: abide (abode), carve (carf, carven), climb (clomb, clomben), clothe (clad), crow (crew), fold (fald), fret (frat), gnaw (gnew), grave (grove), hang (hung), heat (het), heave (hove,

ERRORS IN THE IRREGULAR VERBS.

119

hoven), help (halp, holp), knit (knat), laugh (leugh), light (lit), leap (lap, luppen), melt (molt), reach (raught), shape (shope), speed (sped), stretch (straught), sweat (swat), swell (sual, swol), &c.*

This list shows the tendency of the English to reject the old formation in favour of the new.

The chief

The

The following are a few of the most common errors in the conjugation of the more irregular verbs, whether old or new. misleading circumstance is that in the new verbs we are habituated to the identity of the past tense and the past participle; whence we are apt to apply the same rule to the old verbs. letter was wrote (for written); the wine was drank (for drunk);' 'he has broke (broken) the window;' I have much mistook your passion; I have struck' is now in use for the ancient form, I have stricken;' 'I had neither ate nor drank,' should be eaten nor drunk ;' and now the years a numerous train have ran' (for run). There is a confusion between the verbs 'lay' and 'lie,' and we see such errors as the book lays (for lies) on the table.' To have forgot (forgotten);' 'I begun (began);' 'I have gotten (got);' 'could be proven (proved).'

Adams on the English Language, second edition, pp. 115, 121.