all nouns made by the union of the roots of verbs and the termination ing, do not belong to the class of verbals in ing or gerunds, though exactly agreeing with them in form. Concrete nouns are sometimes formed by adding ing to the root of the verb, as building, a something built; altogether distinct in meaning from the gerund building, the act asserted by the verb build; in the same manner many of these words in ing are used both as verbals and in another and often a concrete sense; for example, lodging, beginning, painting, &c. Let it be remembered that the verbals, which alone merit special attention on account of their peculiar relation to the verbs in meaning and in the modifications which they admit in common, are those which express that substantively which the verbs express assertively.

(20) Care must also be taken to distinguish these verbal nouns in ing from the verbal adjectives or participles which in modern English agree with them in form.

NOTE. The forms were originally distinct in our language, as the corresponding forms are still in the sister dialects. The verbal is not the participle usurped substantively, as most grammarians have incorrectly asserted. The verbal nouns had a place in the language in their present form-ending in ING or UNG centuries before verbal adjectives or participles had assumed or borrowed this ending.

The present, or rather imperfect participle, in Anglo-Saxon terminates in ende, and the termination ende or end, more frequently written ande or and, was retained in old English, and consequently the distinction in form between these participles and the verbal nouns in ing till near the times of Wiclif and Chaucer. Participles in and occur in authors who wrote in the northern parts of Britain till a much later period. We subjoin examples from an old gloss which we find quoted in Bagster's Hexapla, p. 7: "And he prechyde sayande, a stalworther thane I schal come efter me, of whom I am not worthi downfallande or kneelande," &c. "And pleside to Harowde, and also to the sittande at mete," &c. Observe that in the last quotation the participle sittande is employed substantively to mean the persons sitting at meat. If our nouns in ing had been, as supposed by the gram

be classed as gerunds? Tell what is said of other nouns so formed, and how the gerund may be distinguished from them.

(20) What other class of words has assumed the same form with the gerunds, and how are the gerunde to be distinguished from these?

marians, participles used substantively, this, of which we have herc an example, must have been their use, viz., to indicate, not the abstract action of the verb, as they in fact do, but, as here, the agent or actor. This is invariably the use of the corresponding participle, employed substantively in all other languages. We select from Mr. R. Taylor, to whom we are indebted for a complete elucidation of this matter, a few examples in which the verbal noun and the participle both occur in their distinct forms:

& 1

Such thyngis that are likand

Tyll mannys heryng are plesand."-Barb. Bruce (1357), b. 1, 1. 9.
"Hors, or hund, or othir thing,

That war plesand to thar liking."-Barb. Bruce, 1. 207.

"Full low inclinand to their queen full clear,

Whom for their noble nourishing they thank."-Dunbar.

See more examples, and a full and (to me) satisfactory exposition of this matter in Mr. Taylor's valuable additional notes to the Diversions of Purley.-T. Tegg, Lond. 1840.

The learner will distinguish the verbal noun from the verbal adjective, by the test given above (§ 20: 3), and from the other nouns in ing, by attending to the remarks we have just been making on these nouns.

EXERCISE I.-Let the learner distinguish the gerunds from the other nouns in ing, and from the verbal adjectives in the following sentences. To assist in distinguishing the nouns from the verbal adjectives, we use the former only in their function of subject nouns. If, therefore, the word in ing is subject or main part of the subject of the proposition, it is a noun (whether gerund or not remains for the pupil to determine); if, on the contrary, some other word is the main part of the subject, the word in ing is a verbal adjective. When the word in ing can take an infinitive as a substitute, it is a gerund. This writing is blotted. The boy writing to his father told him, &c. Writing is a fatiguing employment. The beginning of the exercise is better than the end. Beginning a good course requires effort. Telling falsehoods is mean. Speaking the truth is commendable. The man saying this departs. Saying and doing are very different things. This saying is hard. Loving our enemies is a difficult duty. Reading is less laborious than writing. Wasting time is as bad as wasting money. Giving is sometimes easier than forgiving; and forgiving is easier than forgetting.

In going through the preceding exercise, it will be proper

to point out the verb first in each proposition, and next the subject noun. Next show to which class the word ending in ing belongs.

MODEL." This writing is blotted." Which is the verb, or assertive word? Ans. Is. Which is the subject noun? Ans. "Writing," because it is about writing that the assertion in the proposition is made. Is writing here the gerund? Ans. No; because it does not mean the action writing, but something that is written. It is here a concrete noun or name of a substance. Observe that several of the propositions at the end are double propositions, one of the verbs being suppressed. "Reading is less laborious than writing." Supply is after writing; and so of the rest.

EXERCISE II.-Point out, or rather write out all the infinitives and gerunds in a given portion of any book used by the pupil or by a class of pupils.

EXERCISE III.-Form a given number of propositions with infinitives or gerunds for their subjects. Let the learner continue these exercises till he becomes perfectly familiar with this class of words.

§ 28. THIRD CLASS: PRONOUNS. (1) Another class of words comes under our definition of nouns (that is, of words which serve to express the subjects or leading parts of the subjects of propositions), which, because of their peculiar function in language, have been generally treated as a distinct part of speech. Some have called them, very appropriately, nouns of the second order; but they are commonly known by the name of PRONOUNS. (2) This class of words, as the name indicates (pro-noun to the English for-noun), is employed for nouns; that is, to represent nouns, or names. [(3) Let it be remembered that all the nouns, hitherto noticed, are the representatives, or signs of things existing in nature, or conceived by the mind as existing in nature. (4) These nouns, or names, are so associated with the things, classes of things, substances, attributes, existences, &c., which they represent, that, when uttered, they serve to recall them to the minds of those who understand the particular language to which these names belong. (5) The pronouns, on the

$28. (1) What is said of a third class of words, which come under our definition of nouns; and what have they been commonly called? (2) Tell what the name pronoun signifies, and the purpose for which this class of words is employed? [(3) Of what are the nouns hitherto noticed the signs? (4) What is said in illustration of the connection between these nouns and what they represent? (5) Of what are pronouns the representa

contrary, are only the representatives of nouns, not the direct signs of things. (6) As the same pronoun may be used to represent an unlimited number of nouns, that is, the names of an unlimited variety of things, the pronouns are not associated in the memory, by the use of language, with any objects or classes of objects exclusively, but are used to represent the names, now of one, now of another object, or class of objects. (7) Thus every man employs the pronoun I to represent his own name-to indicate himself, when he has occasion to express any assertion of which he is the subject. We use thou or you to represent any individual whom we address. Thus I is employed to represent the unlimited number of individuals who may have occasion to speak of themselves; and thou or you to represent the unlimited number of persons, to whom others 'may have occasion to address any assertion having the person or persons addressed for its subject. He, again, represents the names of all beings in the universe recognised as males, when (not addressed, but) spoken of individually to others; she the names of all the females; and it all objects that are not recognised as either male or female. So that these three little words, he, she, it, together, represent the names of all persons and things in the universe singly or individually considered; and the single pronoun they represents them all, when assertions are to be made in regard to a number of them taken together.

(8) It follows from this account of the functions of pronouns, that the mind must always refer back from the pronoun which represents the person spoken of, to the noun which it represents, in order to know what is intended to be designated. (9) When language is skilfully employed, this reference can always be readily made by proper attention to the connection and arrangement of the words in discourse, and to the recognised usages of speech. (10) If on any occasion we cannot determine to what particular noun a pronoun has reference, we fail completely of catching the meaning of the speaker or writer.

tives? (6) What farther is said of the pronouns? (7) Illustrate; and tell what the pronouns I, thou or you, he, she, it, and they, may severally represent. Divide the question. What does I represent? &c.

(8) How do we ascertain what is designated by a pronoun? (9) In what case is the reference of a pronoun readily made, and how is it made? (10) If we fail altogether in dis

(11) If we cannot determine this reference with certainty and with promptitude, we complain justly of obscurity. Our mind, in this case, is diverted from the subject matter of the discourse to the irksome occupation of unravelling the perplexities of the construction—a result fatal to the success of either orator or author, except his matter is possessed of more than common interest, and the hearer or reader possessed of more than common patience. Even then, such obscurity occasions annoyance and waste of time, and sometimes greatly diminishes the effect of sound argument and profound research. (12) Let us here add, that there is nothing in which inexperienced writers more frequently fail, than in securing by a lucid arrangement the certain and easy reference of pronouns of the third person, as they are called, to the nouns which they are intended to represent. (13) If a writer wishes to be easily and clearly understood, let him take care never to employ a pronoun in such a way, that an intelligent reader can hesitate to decide to what it refers. (14) It is particularly in the use of the pronouns, he, she, it, and they, that this precaution is necessary. The other pronouns can scarcely be so employed as to occasion obscurity.]

NOTE.-Much of what is said about the pronouns seems to apply more strictly to what are called the pronouns of the third person-he, she, it, and they—than to those of the first and second persons, those which represent the speaker and the party addressed, I, we, thou, you. It may even be questioned whether the name pronoun (representative of noun) can with strict propriety be given to these last. They can scarcely be said either to stand for nouns or to refer to nouns. They are signs as directly indicating the parties engaged in discourse, as the names of these parties would be: they indicate them more clearly, more explicitly, than their proper names in the circumstances would do. There is no need of a reference to the names of the parties in order to understand who is designated. Nay, the names may be unknown, and yet no want of perspicuity be occasioned; as when persons enter into conversation on the road, who do not know each

covering the reference of a pronoun, what is the consequence? (11) What is the conse quence if we cannot discover it promptly? (12) In what is it alleged that inexperienced writers often fail? (13) Mention the precaution to be observed by a writer, that he may be easily and clearly understood. (14) In reference to what pronouns is this precaution particularly required?]