EXERCISES.

1. Name the verbs and subjects in the following sentences:

John walks.

John walks fast. John walked. John has walked. John will walk. William reads. William reads instructive books. The horse gallops. The horse gallops through the wood. Cæsar was killed. Cæsar was killed by Brutus. The sun shines. The sun has shone. The sun will shine. The sun shines through the clouds. You study. You study diligently. You study your lesson diligently. Has Joseph come? Joseph has come. Has Joseph come home? Joseph has come home. Mary will learn. Will Mary learn?

2. Put a verb in the place of each of the following blanks: Sarah.... her book. Harriet . . .

her mother. John

• ...

Margaret. Jane. . . . on a chair. Benjamin
a letter. Henry

.

his

just.

. . a knife. Eliza
Florence.

a bed.
George
good girl. Alexander . . . . Darius. Susan

....

3. Put a subject in the place of each of the following blanks:

Verbs are either transitive or intransitive.

A TRANSITIVE VERB is a verb that expresses an action exerted directly upon some object; as, "John struck George;" "George was struck by John."

An INTRANSITIVE VERB is a verb that does not express an action exerted directly upon some object; as, "Peter sleeps;" "Mary is good;" "The horse runs." (See Note J.)

Remarks.-1. The word transitive means passing over; and verbs of this class are so called because the action is represented as passing over from the actor to the object acted upon.

2. As the object of a transitive verb in the active voice is in the objective case, any verb which makes sense with me, thee, him, her, us, or them is a transitive verb. Thus we may know that strikes is a transitive verb by its making sense with him after it; as, "John strikes him;" but "John sleeps him" does not make sense.

FINITIVE

OS.

hich of the following verbs are transitive and which intransitive, and eet of each transitive verb. The words in italics are prepositions: ed the cow. Jane broke the chair. James lies on the bed. shot a deer. Whales swim in the sea. Erasmus wrote a

writers use the terms weak and strong instead of regular and irregular; new verb introduced into the language immediately takes the termina

containlu nuonon to sell this the mogulan wov and the vorh a regular verb

Emma remained in the house.

letter. The tailor spoiled the coat. Anna spoke to her. The pen fell from his hand. John went to town. The servant broke the plate.

The horse has gone into the stable. He has eaten the corn. The dog caught the raccoon. Robert looked at me. Smoke rises in the air. He sharpens knives. The sun has parched the earth. The boy waits for her. A tiger will attack a man. The serpent crushed the tiger. The bird sat on the fence.

Brutus killed Cæsar. Mummius destroyed Corinth. God created the world. Washington commanded the army. Birds fly through the air. He stepped into the water. The good man avoids vice. The boy fell over the bench. She confessed her sins. He walked in the mud. He ran up the hill.

The mother loves her babe. The oxen draw the wagon. He owes twenty dollars. I have some money. The boy turns the wheel. He possesses a large estate. The boy turns to the fire. I see John. I see through his plans. I met him. I met with a misfortune. This book cost ten dollars.

2. Put a transitive verb in the place of each of the following blanks: William . . . . his parents. James. . . . the cow. Ella. . . . her lesson. That man

money. We

a book.

God.

The robber . . . . the traveler. The dog . . . . the squirrel. sin. Jane. black eyes.

man

Augustus.

knife. I

The clouds.

the

us.

That noise.

3. Put an intransitive verb in the place of each of the following blanks: The dog. ... on the grass. Time . . . . swiftly. He. . . . into the water. Benjamin . . . . into the house. She . . . . for a change. We. on the grass. John . . . . diligently. Mary. sweetly. Horses.

Henry . .

far. God.

good. She . . . . happy.

The book . . . . on the table.

4. The following verbs are in the past tense; tell whether they belong to regular or irregular verbs:

Jane wrote a letter. Edmund had a book.

James found a dollar. I saw an elephant. Mary took my book. That man was here. The boys heard a noise. Eugenia said so. He lay on the grass. I gave it to him. Thomas did so. Stephen ran very fast. William drank The tree bore fruit. The dog caught the fox. The man lost his way. I spent a dollar.

some water.

PROPERTIES OF VERBS.

To verbs belong voice, mood, tense, number, and person.

VOICE.

VOICE is a property of transitive verbs founded on the relation of the subject to the action.

There are two voices, the active and the passive.

When the word denoting the actor is the subject the verb is in the ACTIVE VOICE; as, "Brutus killed Cæsar."

When the word denoting the object acted upon is the subject the verb is in the PASSIVE VOICE; as, "Cæsar was killed by Brutus."

The two expressions, "Brutus killed Cæsar" and "Cæsar was killed by Brutus," convey the same idea; but in the former the attention is directed to Brutus as performing the action, in the latter to Cæsar as affected by the action. In the former the subject Brutus is active, in the latter the subject Cæsar is passive.

Any sentence containing a transitive verb in the active voice may be so altered as to convey the same sense with the verb in the passive voice.

That which is the object in the active becomes the subject in the passive; and the subject of the active is put in the objective case after the preposition by. Thus, "The dog bit the cat" may be changed into "The cat was bitten by the dog."

ACTIVE VOICE.

Mummius destroyed Corinth;
Cæsar defeated Pompey;

God governs the world;

PASSIVE VOICE.

Corinth was destroyed by Mummius.
Pompey was defeated by Cæsar.
The world is governed by God.

Remarks.-1. Some make passive verbs a distinct class. But the passive voice is a form which every transitive verb may assume and should be considered merely a modification. In both voices there are the same two things regarded in connection with the action, namely, the actor and the object acted upon; and the distinction of voice arises from the particular way in which these two things are presented.

2. The word passive is derived from a Latin word which means to suffer; and the name is given to this form because the subject is represented as suffering or undergoing the action.

3. When the active voice is used the object may be omitted; thus we may say, "Peter reads," without affirming whether he reads a book, a newspaper, or a letter.

When the passive is used the name of the agent may be omitted; thus we may s "The book is read," without declaring by whom.

4. It is convenient to use this form when we do not know or do not wish to na the agent; as, "My pen has been spoiled." The same idea, however, may be rep sented, though not so well, by the active with an indefinite subject; as, "Somebo has spoiled my pen."

5. The passive is sometimes used merely to give variety, when the active wou express the meaning as well.

6. An intransitive verb can not be used in the passive form, since it has object in the active to become the subject of the passive. But intransitive ver followed by prepositions are sometimes treated as if they formed with the prep sition a compound verb, which, being transitive, is used in the passive, the obje of that which is the preposition in the active voice becoming the subject of th passive. Thus, to smile is intransitive, and we can not say, "He was smiled b her;" but we may say, "She smiled on him;" "He was smiled on by her."

7. Some would call on an adverb in the passive form, but not correctly; wa smiled on should be considered a compound verb, for the passive is used only becaus smiled on in the active is treated as a transitive verb. In parsing the active, however we should parse the words as they are-smiled as an intransitive verb and on as a preposition.

8. Sometimes even a verb, a noun, and a preposition are treated as a compound verb and used in the passive voice; as, "His character was lost sight of in that transaction." "The cakes were done liberal justice to."-Sir W. Scott.

9. Intransitive verbs are sometimes followed by the objective case of a noun of kindred signification to their own, and this objective may become the subject of the passive; as, "John ran a race;" "A race was run by John."

EXERCISES.

1. Change the following sentences so as to convey the same meaning with the verb in the passive voice:

Active Voice.-" Columbus discovered America."

Passive Voice.-"America was discovered by Columbus." Columbus discovered America. Washington commanded the army. God created the world. The wind shakes the tree. Nero burned Rome. Brutus loved Portia. Dissipation will ruin him. Water allays thirst. Time changes all things. He will deceive you. The mowers have cut the grass. Virtue produces happiness. The smith made the shoe. Thomas had seen Emma.

2. Change the following sentences so as to convey the same meaning with the verb in the active voice:

Passive Voice.-"A beautiful light is given by the moon."
Active Voice. "The moon gives a beautiful light."

A beautiful light is given by the moon. Pompey was defeated by Cæsar. An oration was delivered by Cicero. The plant was killed by