Chapter XVI: Section I: Of the Nature of Verbs in General

The nature of Verbs in general, and that in all languages, is, that they are the most difficult things in the Grammar.

Verbs are divided into Active, Passive, and Neuter; and also into Regular, Irregular, and Defective. To these divisions we beg to add another; Verbs Comic.

A Verb Active implies an agent, and an object acted upon; as, to love; "I love Wilhelmina Stubbs." Here, I am the agent; that is, the lover; and Wilhelmina Stubbs is the object acted upon, or the beloved object.

A Verb Passive expresses the suffering, feeling, or undergoing of something; and therefore implies an object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon; as, to be loved; "Wilhelmina Stubbs is loved by me."

A {051}Verb Neuter expresses neither action nor passion, but a state of being; as, I bounce, I lie.

"Gracious, Major!"

Of Verbs Regular, Irregular, and Defective, we shall have somewhat to say hereafter.

Verbs Comic are, for the most part, verbs which cannot be found in the dictionary, and are used to express ordinary actions in a jocular manner; as, to "bolt," to "mizzle," which signify to go or to depart; to "bone," to "prig," that is to say, to steal; to "collar," which means to seize, an expression probably derived {052}from the mode of prehension, or rather apprehension characteristic of the New Police, as it is one very much in the mouths of those who most frequently come in contact with that body: to "liquor,"'or drink; to "grub," or eat; to "sell," or deceive, &c.

Under the head of Verbs Comic, the Yankeeisms, I "calculate," I "reckon," I "realise," I "guess," and the like, may also be properly enumerated.

Auxiliary, or helping Verbs (by the way we marvel that the New Englanders do not call their servants auxiliaries instead of helps) are those, by the help of which we are chiefly enabled to conjugate our verbs in English. They are, do, be, have, shall, will, may, can, with their variations; and let and must, which have no variation.

Let, however, when it is _anything but a helping_ verb, as, for instance, when it signifies to _hinder_, makes let-test and letteth. The phrase, "This House to Let," generally used instead of "to be let," meaning in fact, the reverse of what is intended to convey, is really a piece of comic English.

To verbs belong Number, Person, Mood, and Tense. These may be called the properties of a verb; and like those of opium, they are soporiferous properties. There are two very important objects which the writer of every book has, or ought to have in view, to get a reader who is wide awake, and to keep him so:--the latter of which, when Number, Person, Mood, and Tense are to be treated of, is no such easy matter; seeing that the said writer is then in some danger of going to sleep himself. Never mind. If we nod, let the reader wink. What can't be cured must be endured.

SECTION II. OF NUMBER AND PERSON.

Verbs {053}have two numbers, the Singular and the Plural: as, "I fiddle, we fiddle," &c.

In each number there are three persons; as,

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

First Person I love We love.

Second Person Thou lovest Ye or you love.

Third Person He loves They love.

What a deal there is in every Grammar about love! Here the following Lines, by a Young Lady, (now no more,) addressed to Lindley Murray, deserves to be recorded:--

"Oh, Murray! fatal name to me,
Thy burning page with tears is wet;
Since first 'to love' I learned of thee,
Teach me, ah! teach me to forget!'"