(iii) it may be governed by a preposition. It has two functions : that of a noun, and that of a verb-that is, it is itself a noun, and it has the governing power of a verb. (i) Reading is pleasant. (ii) I like reading. (iii) He got off by crossing the river. In this last sentence, crossing is a noun in relation to by, and a verb in relation to river. Gerund comes from the Lat. gero, I carry on; because it carries on the power or function of the verb. (ii) The Gerund must be carefully distinguished from three other kinds of words: (a) from the verbal noun, which used to end in ung; (b) from the present participle; and (c) from the infinitive with to. The following are examples : (a) "Forty and six years was this temple in building." Here building is a verbal noun. (b) "Dreaming as he went along, he fell into the brook." Here dreaming is an adjective agreeing with he, and is therefore a participle. (c) "To write is quite easy, when one has a good pen." Here to write is a present infinitive, and is the nominative to is. (It must not be forgotten that the oldest infinitive had no to, and that it still exists in this pure form in such lines as "Better dwell in the midst of alarms, than reign in this horrible place." (a) "He was punished for robbing the orchard." Here robbing is a gerund, because it is a noun and also governs a noun. (b) "He was tired of dreaming such dreams." Here dreaming is a gerund, because it is a noun and governs a noun. (c) "He comes here to write his letters." Here to write is the gerundial infinitive ; it is in the dative case; and the O.E. form was to writanne. Here the to has a distinct meaning. This is the socalled "infinitive of purpose;" but it is a true gerund. In the seventeenth century, when the sense of the to was weakened, it took a for,-"What went ye out for to see?" (iii) The following three words in ing have each a special function :- 18. A Participle is a verbal adjective. There are two participles: the Present Active and the Perfect Passive. The former (i) has two functions: that of an adjective and that of a verb. The latter (ii) has only the function of an adjective. (i) "Hearing the noise, the porter ran to the gate." In this sentence, hearing is an adjective qualifying porter, and a verb governing noise. (ii) Defeated and discouraged, the enemy surrendered. 1. We must be very careful to distinguish between (a) the gerund in ing, and (b) the participle in ing. Thus running in a "running stream" is an adjective, and therefore a participle. In the phrase, "in running along," it is a noun, and therefore a gerund. Milton says "And ever, against eating cares, Lap me in soft Lydian airs!" Here eating is an adjective, and means fretting; and it is therefore a participle. But if it had meant cares about eating, eating would have been a noun, and therefore a gerund. So a fishing-rod is not a rod that fishes; a frying-pan is not a pan that fries; a walking-stick is not a stick that walks. The rod is a rod for fishing; the pan, a pan for frying; the stick, a stick for walking; and therefore fishing, frying, and walking are all gerunds. 2. The word participle comes from Lat. participāre, to partake of. The participle partakes of the nature of the verb. (Hence also participate.) TENSE. 19. Tense is the form which the verb takes to indicate time. There are, in human life, three times: past, present, and future. Hence there are in a verb three chief tenses: Past, Present, and Future. These may be represented on a straight line: TENSES. Past. I wrote. Present. I write. Future. I shall write. (i) The word tense comes to us from the French temps, which is from the Lat. tempus, time. Hence also temporal, temporary, etc. (The modern French word is temps; the old French word was tens.) 20. The tenses of an English verb give not only the time of an action or event, but also the state or condition of that action or event. This state may be complete or incomplete, or neither—that is, it is left indefinite. These states are oftener called perfect, imperfect, and indefinite. The condition, then, of an action as expressed by a verb, or the condition of the tense of a verb, may be of three kinds. It may be (i) Complete or Perfect, as (ii) Incomplete or Imperfect, as Written. Writing. Write. (i) The only tense in our language that is formed by inflexion is the past indefinite. All the others are formed by the aid of auxiliaries. (a) The imperfect tenses are formed by be the imperfect participle. (b) The perfect tenses are formed by have the perfect participle. (ii) Besides had written, have written, and will have written, we can say had been writing, have been writing, and will have been writing. These are sometimes called Past Perfect (or Pluperfect) Continuous, Perfect Continuous, and Future Perfect Continuous. (iii) “I do write," "I did write," are called Emphatic forms. NUMBER. 21. Verbs are modified for Number. There are in verbs two numbers: (i) the Singular and (ii) the Plural. (i) We say, "He writes" (with the ending s). (ii) We say, “They write" (with no inflectional ending at all). PERSON. 22. Verbs are modified for Person—that is, the form of the verb is changed to suit (i) the first person, (ii) the second person, or (iii) the third person. (i) "I write." (ii) "Thou writest." (iii) CONJUGATION. "He writes." 23. Conjugation is the name given to the sum-total of all the inflexions and combinations of the parts of a verb. The word conjugate comes from the Lat. conjugare, to bind together. 24. There are two conjugations in English-the Strong and the Weak. Hence we have: (i) verbs of the Strong Conjugation, and (ii) verbs of the Weak Conjugation, which are more usually called Strong Verbs and Weak Verbs. These verbs are distinguished from each other by their way of forming their past tenses. 25. The past tense of any verb determines to which of these classes it belongs; and that by a twofold test-one positive and one negative. 26. (i) The positive test for the past of a Strong Verb is that it changes the vowel of the present. (ii) The negative test is that it never adds anything to the present to make its past tense. (i) Thus we say write, wrote, and change the vowel. (ii) But in wrote there is nothing added to write. 27. (i) The positive test for the past tense of a Weak Verb is that d or t is added to the present. (ii) The negative test is that the root-vowel of the present is generally not changed. (i) There are some exceptions to this latter statement. Thus tell, told; buy, bought; sell, sold, are weak verbs. The change in the vowel does not spring from the same cause as the change in strong verbs. Hence (ii) It is as well to keep entirely to the positive test in the case of weak verbs. However "strong" or 'irregular" may seem to be the verbs teach, taught; seek, sought; say, said, we know that they are weak, because they add a d or a t for the past tense. (iii) In many weak verbs there seems to be both a change of vowel and also an absence of any addition. Hence they look very like strong verbs. In fact, the long vowel of the present is made short in the past. Thus we find meet, met; feed, fed. But these verbs are not strong. The old past was mette and feddë; and all that has happened is that they have lost the old inflexions te and de. It was owing to the addition of another syllable that the original long vowel of the verb was shortened. Compare nation, national; vain, vanity. (iv) The past or passive participle of strong verbs had the suffix en and the prefix ge. The suffix has now disappeared from many strong verbs, and the prefix from all. But ge, which in Chaucer's time had been refined into a y (as in ycomen, yronnen), is retained still in that form in the one word yclept. Milton's use of it in star-y-pointing is a mistake. |