answer.

upper room. She lived in an age of chivalry. A great and a good man looks forward to eternity. The book is equally fitted to the old and young. The Old and New Testament. The Bible tells us of another and a better world. He gave me some such an Let us practise the patience and the long-suffering. Her father received the title of a lord. He claimed the title of a gentleman. Avoid the whispering when you are required to study. He was addicted to the smoking segars. The Old and the New Testaments. All words which are signs of complex ideas create mistake. The ecclesiastical and secular powers concurred. Neither the man nor boy was wrong. Scott, the watchmaker and the jeweller, went with us. A lion is generous, a fox is cunning. Pliny younger is a celebrated writer; so is Cowper, poet. Wisest inen sometimes say least. The gold is the root of much evil. The large number of immigrants arrived. Peter Hermit led the crusades. Read the first and second book of Geometry. We should cultivate graceful and courteous. The silver is not so val

uable as the gold. He formed an union. A man is noblest work of Creator. The guilty man ascended a scaffold. Benedict Arnold is Catiline of America. Daniel Webster is Demosthenes of America. Business advances claims to not little attention. A few men are so learned as he. Stay with me few hours. A man may be a better linguist than a mathematician. Fire is a better servant than master. He owned a small and large house. The old and new method of writing. He had compassion on the poor and the needy. A joyful and a pleasant thing it is to be thankful. From the chief priests, scribes, and elders. David, the father of Solomon, and the father of Absalom. And are choked with cares and riches, and pleasures of this life. I saw the General and Adjutant. Arithmetic is an important branch of the mathematics.

LESSON XIV.

THE VERB-CLASSES OF VERBS.

1. The Verb is a word which affirms or declares. That of which it affirms something is called its subject; as, Rain

falls, Sickness will come. Here rain and sickness are subjects of the affirmations made.

2. Sometimes the verb asks a question; as, Are you going? Sometimes it takes the form of command; as, Go, Samuel. Sometimes it takes the form of a wish; as, May you excel. Sometimes that of a condition; as, Should he arrive, I will accompany him.

3. Verbs may be variously classified.

(1.) Into Regular and Irregular. The former make their past tense and participle with the ending of ed; the latter, do not; as, "I ascended;" "I saw."

The former are not

(2.) Into Transitive and Intransitive. complete in their meaning without the addition of a noun, as the object upon which the action expressed by the verb rests or falls; as, "He has performed his task." Here the sense of the verb performed would be imperfect without task as an object.

But "he walked," is intransitive, as the action is limited to the subject he, and does not terminate on an object.

(3.) Transitive verbs are either in the Active or Passive form. "He has performed his task," is active; "His task has been performed," is passive; the object of the verb in the active form of the sentence, being made the subject of the verb in the passive form. In the active form, the subject is represented as acting; in the passive, as acted upon.

Hence, intransitive verbs cannot regularly be used in the passive form.

Some intransitive verbs express simply the idea of existence or being; as, I am, he is, we shall be. Thomas is active.

Any verb which makes sense with a pronoun after it in the objective form, may be known as being a transitive verb; as, He rewards him.

(4.) Some verbs are used both in a transitive and in an intransitive sense; as, "We returned from the city" (intransitive); "We returned the favor" (transitive).

(5.) Intransitive verbs admit after them, as an object, a noun possessing a meaning like that of the verb; as, "He ran a race;" and such an objective case may be converted into a subjective

case with the passive form of the verb; as, "A race was run by him."

These verbs will be referred to again in a future lesson.

(6.) The infinitive mood is sometimes the subject or the object of a verb; as, 66 To write well is a fine accomplishment." "He has

learned to write well."

(7.) Some intransitive verbs are construed passively; as, "He was laughed at;" ""The business is to be looked after;" "The decision was appealed from;" "He is not to be scoffed at;" "These are lessons to be practised on;" "Duty was lost sight of;" "The money was made use of by the servant."

EXERCISES.

1. Supply the following verbs with an appropriate Subject:

3. Express the following facts by changing the verbs to the passive form:

The farmer ploughed his field. John deprived James of his rights. The class learned the last lesson well. Wealth sometimes produces misery. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Read the book. Do not nsult him. Conduct your affairs prudently. They fought a duel.

4. Convert the following statements into the active form:

She was pitied by me. The country is overrun with locusts. Christianity has ever been opposed by the wicked. Bonaparte

was defeated by the Duke of Wellington. The teacher was greatly respected by his scholars. The Bible should be read by all.

5. Supply the blanks with a subject phrase, containing a verb in the infinitive mood:

is the highest duty of man.

good citizen.

is the part of every should be the endeavor of the young. is base.

is the design of this exercise.

is honorable.

6. Supply the blanks with an object phrase, containing a verb in the infinitive mood:

I hate

He regretted

It is dishonorable

He ambitiously sought

LESSON XV.

AUXILIARY VERBS.-ERRONEOUS USE OF THEM.

Of these, some have no other office than to assist in forming certain tenses of Principal Verbs; these are, may, can, shall, could, might, would, should, ought, must. Others are sometimes, also, Principal Verbs themselves; as, will, have, had, do, did, let, be.

1. Am and was are sometimes used improperly. "From which we are severed," should be "have severed." "Was also ceased," should be "Had also ceased."

2. Am and was may be used as auxiliaries only when the principal verb implies motion, or change of condition; as, “I was gone;" "I was fallen;" "I am come;" "He is fled."

"You was," instead of "You were," is inadmissible, though some grammarians justify the phrase.

3. Sometimes do and did stand in the place of the principal verbs to which they refer; as, "He loves not play as thou dost ;" that is, as 66 thou lovest." Sometimes do and did are used for emphasis; as, “I do love thee;" "Nay, but thou didst call me."

Don't, when used for does not, is a vulgarism. It is properly a contraction of do not, and not of does not.

Were and did are improperly used for would be and should in the following sentence: "It were an intolerable spectacle, did they Dehold one of their fellows in the agonies of death."

Doth and hath, in serious compositions, are properly used instead of does and has. They have the merit, also, of being more smooth and soft in pronunciation.

I'd rather, in familiar discourse, stands, properly, not for I had rather, but for I would rather.

4. Care should be taken, when an ellipsis is made, that the construction be the same as if the omitted words were introduced; for example, "He always has been, and now is, a sober man." It would not answer to say, "He always has, and now is, a sober man;" nor to say, "I am, and always have taken, great pains." Here am does not suit taken great pains. The meaning to be conveyed was, "I am taking, and always," &c. Each clause must be complete in itself where auxiliaries are used.

5. Shall and Will.-These are apt to be used, the one for the other, erroneously; as in the case of the drowning foreigner, who, sinking in the Thames, exclaimed, “I will be drowned, and no one shall help me;" or again, as in the case of a common expression of Irish servants, "Shall you take tea, and will I bring it to you?"

Even so good a writer as Dr. Blair sometimes confounds these words; as, "Without having attended to this, we will be at a loss," &c. "There are no two words we would naturally take,” &c. Shall and should are the proper words. Again, “Think what reflection shall most probably arise." Will is here the proper word.

"In the first person, simply shall foretells;
In will a threat, or else a promise dwells:
Shall, in the second and third, does threat;
Will simply, then, foretells the future feat."

BRIGHTLAND.

Shall, from the Saxon, originally means to owe, to be under oōligation to a superior. "Thou shalt not kill," means, "Thou art under obligation not to kill. "You shall go," implies an obligation resulting from the command of another. As the being obliged or compelled to do a thing implies that the act is future, this word sometimes expresses only the idea of futurity as to the act