W

“ I was presented to Lord and Lady W—— in society, and visited them more than once at their place near Manchester. But before I had made Lord W——'s acquaintance, he was an object of wondering admiration to me, not altogether unmixed with a slight sense of the ridiculous, only because it passed my comprehension how any real, live man could be so exactly like the description of a particular kind of man, in a particular kind of book. ”

“ Thus the consonant sounds of w and y, even when expressed by other letters, require a and not an before them.
A common noun, when taken in its widest sense, usually admits no article: as, "A candid temper is proper for man; that is, for all mankind."--Murray. ”

“ FAMILIAR VERSE.
here is a species of verse, hitherto not classified distinctively, for which it seems desirable to find a name. In the first place, it may be necessary, perhaps, to emphasize once more the simple distinction between verse and poetry. There are, indeed, excellent and happy people for whom there is no difference between the two—for whom all that is not prose is poetry, and who recognise no other varieties in literature. Fortunate are they, and great is their reward. ”

“ CHAPTER VI VERBS § 72. The MHG. verb has the following independent forms:—one voice (active) , two numbers, three persons, two tenses (present and preterite) , two complete moods (indicative and subjunctive, the latter originally the optative) , besides an imperative which is only used in the present tense; two verbal nouns (the present infinitive, and the gerund, generally called the inflected infinitive) , a present participle with active meaning, and one verbal adjective (the past participle) . ”

“ As thus: “a, b, c, d . . . . g (a pause) . Spirit raps. So with e, with o, r, g, e, and every letter comprising the various answers. And taking note of this from the beginning, I was able to compose those answers in my mind, and would have undertaken to rap them out with my knuckles, in my present earthly and corporeal state, to the full as accurately as I (and the reader, for the matter of that) may be expected to sound our replies, when summoned into some Chicago or Melbourne drawing-room by a Mrs. Marshall of the twentieth century. ”

“ In his letters, flowing on in the old, sweet, fresh English, one perceives the rare literary faculty, the shy humor, the discrimination, the sound sense, all the many graces of style and many virtues of intrinsic worth, that have long been familiar to scholars; and, more than that, one gladly recognizes again the companionable, soft-hearted, pathetic man whose pastimes, whether in gardening, or poetry, or caring for his pets, were a refuge from the most poignant anguish ”

“ In this way the Romans expressed differences in tense, mood, voice, person, and number.
120. The Tenses. The different forms of a verb referring to different times are called its tenses. The chief distinctions of time are present, past, and future:
121. The Moods. Verbs have inflection of mood to indicate the manner in which they express action. The moods of the Latin verb are the indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and infinitive.
a. A verb is in the indicative mood when it makes a statement or asks a question about something assumed as a fact. ”

“ Verbs are farther distinguished by grammarians into active, passive, and neuter, as being expressive of actions, passions, or neither the one or the other, but mere being or existing, as, I love, am loved, live, walk, or stand; tho’ according to the signification of words, there does not seem to be any real ground for the latter distinction, for to love, to be loved, to live, sleep or rest, must signify either actions, active passions and energies, or their privation and passiveness. ”

“ ‘Do you spell it with a “V” or a “W”?’ inquired the judge.
‘That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord,’ replied Sam; ”

“ The only inflexion of the original form of the verb is in the formation of the Passive Voice, and consists in the addition of a Passive termination to the Active form.
Differences of Tense are denoted by certain auxiliary particles, the same form in each case serving for all persons and numbers. Some of these particles vary, or are differently used in negative sentences, and some of the tenses have their own peculiar negative adverb, and admit of no other, as will be seen in the following example. ”

“ That we are in the constant habit of putting together two independent vocables to form a compound word, is an obvious and familiar fact. Instances of such words are fear-inspiring, god-like, break-neck, house-top. They are substitutes for the equivalent phrases inspiring fear, like a god, apt to break one's neck, top of a house. ”

“ Thus, by a change of form in the words employed, we have from house a plural houses; and in like manner men from man. We give also a particular form to a noun in order to mark its value as indicating the possessor of anything: thus man’s, men’s, from man and men; and, in most pronouns, we make a change of form to signify the objective relation as distinguished from that of subject: thus, me, us, him, her, them, whom, as compared with I, we, he, she, they, who. ”

“ To the same class of words belong pains, news, and perhaps some others. Every person who has read good English authors, or lived where the language is spoken in purity, must have observed that the word pains is usually preceded by much, and followed by a verb in the singular number; much pains was taken. If the word is a plural noun, it should neither be followed by a singular verb, nor preceded by much; for we never prefix much to plurals. The most untutored ear would be offended at much papers, much labors. But do we not always say much pains? ”

“ How independent of all etymological aid is our conventional sense of the meaning of the words we familiarly use may be shown by a great variety of facts in our language. It is convenient to have the various conjugational and declensional parts of our verbs and nouns agree in form as in sense; where we say I love, to say also he loves, we love, they loved, having loved; where we say man, to say also man's, men, men's ”

“ The information that you have destroyed my letters is any thing but gratifying; one and all being more or less marked with Divine Truth, calculated if properly and seriously considered, to benefit your immortal Soul. ”

“ The hand in them is scarcely perceptible, let alone the voice or the scowl. Ah, but when the post knocks and the letter comes always the miracle seems repeated—speech attempted. Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost. ”

“ The English verb suffers very few inflections or changes of termination, to express the different circumstances of person, number, time and mode. Its inflections are confined to the three persons of the singular number, in the present tense, indicative mode, and the first and second persons of the past tense; unless we consider the irregular participles as a species of inflection belonging to the verb. All the other varieties of person, number, time and mode, are expressed by prefixing other words, by various combinations of words, or by a particular manner of utterance. ”

“ The d of loved, as we have already seen, is by origin the imperfect did; I loved means etymologically 'I did or performed a loving;' the d has been converted from an independent word into a formative element, indicative of past action, by being compounded with love, and then, in the relation which it sustained toward that word, losing its distinctive force and meaning, and assuming the value of a temporal modification merely. ”

“ A beggar asking alms under the name of a poor scholar, a gentleman to whom he applied himself, asked him a question in, Latin. The fellow, shaking his head, said he did not understand him. "Why," said the gentleman, "did you not say you were a poor scholar?"—"Yes," replied the other, "a poor one indeed, sir, for I do not understand one word of Latin." ”

“ The Termination of every other Tense, Number or Person, is the same with the Infinitive.
[25]
Of a VERB Active.
A Verb Active regular is conjugated by the auxiliary Signs, the auxiliary Verbs, and the general Rules foregoing.
To LOVE.
Indicative MOOD.
Present Tense.
Sing. I love, or do love; thou lovest, or dost love; he loveth, or loves, or doth love. Plur. We love, or do love; ye love, or do love; they love, or do love. ”

“ Neverout, hold your Tongue for once, if it be possible; one would think, you were a Woman in Man’s Cloaths, by your prating.
Neverout. No, Miss; it is not handsome to see one hold one’s Tongue: Besides, I should slobber my Fingers. ”

“ English verbs are active, as I love; or neuter, as I languish. The neuters are formed like the actives.
Most verbs signifying action may likewise signify condition or habit, and become neuters; as I love, I am in love; I strike, I am now striking.
Verbs have only two tenses inflected in their terminations, the present, and simple preterit; the other tenses are compounded of the auxiliary verbs, have, shall, will, let, may, can, and the infinitive of the active or neuter verb.
The passive voice is formed by joining the participle preterit to the substantive verb, as I am loved. ”

“ Wallis, and sometimes endeavour to supply his detects, and rectify his errours.
Nouns are derived from verbs.
The thing implied in the verb, as done or produced, is commonly either the present of the verb; as to love, love; to fright, a fright; to fight, a fight; or the preterit of the verb, as to strike, I strick or strook, a stroke.
The action is the same with the participle present, as loving, frighting, fighting, striking. ”

“ Withal there is such dash and spirit, such mastery of language, such marvellous descriptive power, such subtle pauses and breaks, carrying echoes beyond the letter—as laid hold on men and women—specially on women—in a way that was new and strange. ”

“ This was our poet's chance, the hour of need,
When rhymes and stories we were used to read.
One day a whisper round the teacups stole,—
"No scrap of paper in the silver bowl!"
(Our "poet's corner" may I not expect
My kindly reader still may recollect?)
"What! not a line to keep our souls alive?"
Spoke in her silvery accents Number Five. ”

“ If we know the present tense form, the past, and the perfect participle of any verb, we can tell to which conjugation it belongs, and can give all its inflections of person, number, tense, and mode, therefore the present tense form, the past and the perfect participle, are called the principal parts of the verb. When we give all the inflections of a verb, or indicate them by the principal parts, we conjugate it. ”

“ Howbeit, though no scholar, I am not one of those who misuse the English speech, and, being foolishly led by the hasty custom of scriveners and printers to write the letters "T" and "H" joined together, which resembleth a "Y," do incontinently jump to the conclusion the THE is pronounced "Ye,"—the like of which I never heard in all England. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The third of all vowels, the ninth of all letters,
Take their place in the rest of the train:
My WHOLE is a thing you never should do,—
At least, you don’t like it, if tried upon you! Answer
293.
A word which always speaks of shame
I pray you, reader, now to name:
Eleven parts my whole contains,
To guess them you must take some pains.
Three groups there be which stand related;
The first with many a word is mated:
The second speaks of favor rare ”

“ Two or more singular nouns connected by and take a verb in the plural; as, James and Mary are here. Music and drawing were taught during the term.
If two or more singular nouns connected by and are preceded by each, every, or no, the verb is in the singular, because they refer to things considered separately; as, Every man and woman was lost. ”

“ Oh, there's our poet seated at his side,
Beloved of ladies, soft, cerulean-eyed.
Poets are prosy in their common talk,
As the fast trotters, for the most part, walk.
And there's our well-dressed gentleman, who sits,
By right divine, no doubt, among the wits,
Who airs his tailor's patterns when he walks,
The man that often speaks, but never talks. ”

“ Again, let our scheme of verbal inflection be as imperfect as it may, so long as we continue to say I love, thou lovest, he loves, and to set you love against thou lovest, and they love against he loves, so long shall we continue to attribute person and number to our verbs, through their whole conjugation. ”

“ Action of the emotions, denoted by such verbs as hate, love, revere; as, “When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as he loved his life.”
3. Action of the senses, denoted by the verbs see, hear, feel, smell, taste; as, “To see a good man and hear his [Pg 172] voice once a week would be reason enough for building churches and pulpits.”—Holmes.
Verbs of saying, like tell, remark, declare, exclaim, are followed by a direct object, usually a quotation or a noun clause telling just what was said ”

“ I was a little shocked to discover that neither genius nor death removed us beyond the temptation to asperity, but said: Master, have you met the poets of the English tongue that have come into your groves? ”

“ Be is used in the imperative and infinitive moods correctly, by every body who employs language. "Be here in ten minutes." "Be it far from thee." "I will be in Boston before noon." If there is any action in going from Providence to Boston at rail-road speed, in two hours, or before noon, it is all expressed by the verb be, which we are told expresses no action. ”