The Grammar of English Grammars

by Goold Brown

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Those verbs which, in their simple form, imply continuance, do not admit the compound form: thus we say, "I respect him;" but not, "I am respecting him." This compound form seems to imply that kind of action, which is susceptible of intermissions and renewals. Affections of the mind or heart are supposed to last; or, rather, actions of this kind are complete as soon as they exist. Hence, to love, to hate, to desire, to fear, to forget, to remember, and many other such verbs, are incapable of this method of conjugation.[265] It is true, we often find in grammars such models, as, "I was loving, Thou wast loving, He was loving," &c. But this language, to express what the authors intend by it, is not English. "He was loving," can only mean, "He was affectionate:" in which sense, loving is an adjective, and susceptible of comparison. Who, in common parlance, has ever said, "He was loving me," or any thing like it? Yet some have improperly published various examples, or even whole conjugations, of this spurious sort. See such in Adam's Gram., p. 91; Gould's Adam, 83; Bullions's English Gram., 52; his Analyt. and Pract. Gram., 92; Chandler's New Gram., 85 and 86; Clark's, 80; Cooper's Plain and Practical, 70; Frazee's Improved, 66 and 69; S. S. Greene's, 234; Guy's, 25; Hallock's, 103; Hart's, 88; Hendrick's, 38; Lennie's, 31; Lowth's, 40; Harrison's, 34; Perley's, 36; Pinneo's Primary, 101.

OBS. 2.—Verbs of this form have sometimes a passive signification; as, "The books are now selling."—Allen's Gram., p. 82. "As the money was paying down."—Ainsworth's Dict., w. As. "It requires no motion in the organs whilst it is forming."—Murray's Gram., p. 8. "Those works are long forming which must always last."—Dr. Chetwood. "While the work of the temple was carrying on."—Dr. J. Owen. "The designs of Providence are carrying on."—Bp. Butler. "A scheme, which has been carrying on, and is still carrying on."—Id., Analogy, p. 188. "We are permitted to know nothing of what is transacting in the regions above us."—Dr. Blair. "While these things were transacting in Germany."—Russell's Modern Europe, Part First, Let. 59. "As he was carrying to execution, he demanded to be heard."—Goldsmith's Greece, Vol. i, p. 163. "To declare that the action was doing or done."—Booth's Introd., p. 28. "It is doing by thousands now."—Abbott's Young Christian, p. 121. "While the experiment was making, he was watching every movement."—Ib., p. 309. "A series of communications from heaven, which had been making for fifteen hundred years."—Ib., p. 166. "Plutarch's Lives are re-printing."—L. Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 64. "My Lives are reprinting."—DR. JOHNSON: Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict., p. xlvi. "All this has been transacting within 130 miles of London."—BYRON: Perley's Gram., p. 37. "When the heart is corroding by vexations."—Student's Manual, p. 336. "The padlocks for our lips are forging."—WHITTIER: Liberator, No. 993. "When his throat is cutting."—Collier's Antoninus. "While your story is telling."—Adams's Rhet., i, 425. "But the seeds of it were sowing some time before."—Bolingbroke, on History, p. 168. "As soon as it was formed, nay even whilst it was forming."—Ib., p. 163. "Strange schemes of private ambition were formed and forming there."—Ib., p. 291. "Even when it was making and made."—Ib., 299. "Which have been made and are making."—HENRY CLAY: Liberator, ix, p. 141. "And they are in measure sanctified, or sanctifying, by the power thereof."—Barclay's Works, i, 537. "Which is now accomplishing amongst the uncivilized countries of the earth."—Chalmers, Sermons, p. 281. "Who are ruining, or ruined, [in] this way."—Locke, on Ed., p. 155. "Whilst they were undoing."—Ibid. "Whether he was employing fire to consume [something,] or was himself consuming by fire."—Crombie, on Etym. and Syntax, p. 148. "At home, the greatest exertions are making to promote its progress."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. iv. "With those [sounds] which are uttering."—Ib., p. 125. "Orders are now concerting for the dismissal of all officers of the Revenue marine."—Providence Journal, Feb. 1, 1850. Expressions of this kind are condemned by some critics, under the notion that the participle in ing must never be passive; but the usage is unquestionably of far better authority, and, according to my apprehension, in far better taste, than the more complex phraseology which some late writers adopt in its stead; as, "The books are now being sold."—"In all the towns about Cork, the whiskey shops are being closed, and soup, coffee, and tea houses [are] establishing generally."—Dublin Evening Post, 1840.

OBS. 3.—The question here is, Which is the most correct expression, "While the bridge was building,"—"While the bridge was a building,"—or, "While the bridge was being built?" And again, Are they all wrong? If none of these is right, we must reject them all, and say, "While they were building the bridge;"—"While the bridge was in process of erection;"—or resort to some other equivalent phrase. Dr. Johnson, after noticing the compound form of active-intransitives, as, "I am going"—"She is dying,"—"The tempest is raging,"—"I have been walking," and so forth, adds: "There is another manner of using the active participle, which gives it a passive signification:[266] as, The grammar is now printing, Grammatica jam nunc chartis imprimitur. The brass is forging, Æra excuduntur. This is, in my opinion," says he, "a vitious expression, probably corrupted from a phrase more pure, but now somewhat obsolete: The book is a printing, The brass is a forging; a being properly at, and printing and forging verbal nouns signifying action, according to the analogy of this language."—Gram. in Joh. Dict., p. 9.

OBS. 4.—A is certainly sometimes a preposition; and, as such, it may govern a participle, and that without converting it into a "verbal noun." But that such phraseology ought to be preferred to what is exhibited with so many authorities, in a preceding paragraph, and with an example from Johnson among the rest, I am not prepared to concede. As to the notion of introducing a new and more complex passive form of conjugation, as, "The bridge is being built," "The bridge was being built," and so forth, it is one of the most absurd and monstrous innovations ever thought of. Yet some two or three men, who seem to delight in huge absurdities, declare that this "modern innovation is likely to supersede" the simpler mode of expression. Thus, in stead of, "The work is now publishing," they choose to say, "The work is now being published."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 82. This is certainly no better English than, "The work was being published, has been being published, had been being published, shall or will be being published, shall or will have been being published;" and so on, through all the moods and tenses. What a language shall we have when our verbs are thus conjugated!

OBS. 5.—A certain Irish critic, who even outdoes in rashness the above-cited American, having recently arrived in New York, has republished a grammar, in which he not only repudiates the passive use of the participle in ing, but denies the usual passive form of the present tense, "I am loved, I am smitten" &c., as taught by Murray and others, to be good English; and tells us that the true form is, "I am being loved, I am being smitten," &c. See the 98th and 103d pages of Joseph W. Wright's Philosophical Grammar, (Edition of 1838,) dedicated "TO COMMON SENSE!" [267] But both are offset, if not refuted, by the following observations from a source decidedly better: "It has lately become common to use the present participle passive [,] to express the suffering of an action as continuing, instead of the participle in -ing in the passive sense; thus, instead of, 'The house is building,' we now very frequently hear, 'The house is being built.' This mode of expression, besides being awkward, is incorrect, and does not express the idea intended. This will be obvious, I think, from the following considerations.

"1. The expression, 'is being,' is equivalent to 'is,' and expresses no more; just as, 'is loving,' is equivalent to, 'loves.' Hence, 'is being built,' is precisely equivalent to, 'is built.'

"2. 'Built,' is a perfect participle; and therefore cannot, in any connexion, express an action, or the suffering of an action, now in progress. The verb to be, signifies to exist; 'being,' therefore, is equivalent to 'existing.' If then we substitute the synonyme, the nature of the expression will be obvious; thus, 'the house is being built,' is, in other words, 'the house is existing built,' or more simply as before, 'the house is built;' plainly importing an action not progressing, but now existing in a finished state.

"3. If the expression, 'is being built,' be a correct form of the present indicative passive, then it must be equally correct to say in the perfect, 'has been being built;' in the past perfect, 'had been being built;' in the present infinitive,'to be being built;' in the perfect infinitive,'to have been being built;' and in the present participle, 'being being built;' which all will admit to be expressions as incorrect as they are inelegant, but precisely analogous to that which now begins to prevail."—Bullions's Principles of English Gram., p. 58.

OBS. 6.—It may be replied, that the verbs to be and to exist are not always synonymous; because the former is often a mere auxiliary, or a mere copula, whereas the latter always means something positive, as to be in being, to be extant. Thus we may speak of a thing as being destroyed, or may say, it is annihilated; but we can by no means speak of it as existing destroyed, or say, it exists annihilated. The first argument above is also nugatory. These drawbacks, however, do not wholly destroy the force of the foregoing criticism, or at all extenuate the obvious tautology and impropriety of such phrases as, is being, was being, &c. The gentlemen who affirm that this new form of conjugation "is being introduced into the language," (since they allow participles to follow possessive pronouns) may very fairly be asked, "What evidence have you of its being being introduced?" Nor can they, on their own principles, either object to the monstrous phraseology of this question, or tell how to better it![268]

OBS. 7.—D. H. Sanborn, an other recent writer, has very emphatically censured this innovation, as follows: "English and American writers have of late introduced a new kind of phraseology, which has become quite prevalent in the periodical and popular publications of the day. Their intention, doubtless, is, to supersede the use of the verb in the definite form, when it has a passive signification. They say, 'The ship is being built,'—'time is being wasted,"—'the work is being advanced,' instead of, 'the ship is building, time is wasting, the work is advancing.' Such a phraseology is a solecism too palpable to receive any favor; it is at war with the practice of the most distinguished writers in the English language, such as Dr. Johnson and Addison. "When an individual says, 'a house is being burned,' he declares that a house is existing, burned, which is impossible; for being means existing, and burned, consumed by fire. The house ceases to exist as such, after it is consumed by fire. But when he says, 'a house is burning,' we understand that it is consuming by fire; instead of inaccuracy, doubt, and ambiguity, we have a form of expression perfectly intelligible, beautiful, definite, and appropriate."—Sanborn's Analytical Gram., p. 102.

OBS. 8.—Dr. Perley speaks of this usage thus: "An attempt has been made of late to introduce a kind of passive participial voice; as, 'The temple is being built.' This ought not to be encouraged. For, besides being an innovation, it is less convenient than the use of the present participle in the passive sense. Being built signifies action finished; and how can, Is being built, signify an action unfinished?"—Perley's Gram., p. 37.

OBS. 9.—The question now before us has drawn forth, on either side, a deal of ill scholarship and false logic, of which it would be tedious to give even a synopsis. Concerning the import of some of our most common words and phrases, these ingenious masters,—Bullions, Sanborn, and Perley,—severally assert some things which seem not to be exactly true. It is remarkable that critics can err in expounding terms so central to the language, and so familiar to all ears, as "be, being, being built, burned, being burned, is, is burned, to be burned," and the like. That to be and to exist, or their like derivatives, such as being and existing, is and exists, cannot always explain each other, is sufficiently shown above; and thereby is refuted Sanborn's chief argument, that, "is being burned," involves the contradiction of "existing, burned," or "consumed by fire." According to his reasoning, as well as that of Bullions, is burned must mean exists consumed; was burned, existed consumed; and thus our whole passive conjugation would often be found made up of bald absurdities! That this new unco-passive form conflicts with the older and better usage of taking the progressive form sometimes passively, is doubtless a good argument against the innovation; but that "Johnson and Addison" are fit representatives of the older "practice" in this case, may be doubted. I know not that the latter has anywhere made use of such phraseology; and one or two examples from the former are scarcely an offset to his positive verdict against the usage. See OBS. 3rd, above.

OBS. 10.—As to what is called "the present or the imperfect participle passive,"—as, "being burned," or "being burnt,"—if it is rightly interpreted in any of the foregoing citations, it is, beyond question, very improperly thus named. In participles, ing denotes continuance: thus being usually means continuing to be; loving, continuing to love; building, continuing to build,—or (as taken passively) continuing to be built: i. e., (in words which express the sense more precisely and certainly,) continuing to be in process of construction. What then is "being built," but "continuing to be built," the same, or nearly the same, as "building" taken passively? True it is, that built, when alone, being a perfect participle, does not mean "in process of construction," but rather, "constructed" which intimates completion; yet, in the foregoing passive phrases, and others like them, as well as in all examples of this unco-passive voice, continuance of the passive state being first suggested, and cessation of the act being either regarded as future or disregarded, the imperfect participle passive is for the most part received as equivalent to the simple imperfect used in a passive sense. But Dr. Bullions, who, after making "is being built precisely equivalent to is built," classes the two participles differently, and both erroneously,—the one as a "present participle," and the other, of late, as a "past,"—has also said above, "'Built,' is a perfect participle: and THEREFORE cannot, in any connexion, express an action, or the suffering of an action, now in progress." And Dr. Perley, who also calls the compound of being a "present participle," argues thus: "Being built signifies an action, finished; and how can Is being built, signify an action unfinished?" To expound a passive term actively, or as "signifying action," is, at any rate, a near approach to absurdity; and I shall presently show that the fore-cited notion of "a perfect participle," now half abandoned by Bullions himself, has been the seed of the very worst form of that ridiculous neology which the good Doctor was opposing.

OBS. 11.—These criticisms being based upon the meaning of certain participles, either alone or in phrases, and the particular terms spoken of being chiefly meant to represent classes, what is said of them may be understood of their kinds. Hence the appropriate naming of the kinds, so as to convey no false idea of any participle's import, is justly brought into view; and I may be allowed to say here, that, for the first participle passive, which begins with "being," the epithet "Imperfect" is better than "Present," because this compound participle denotes, not always what is present, but always the state of something by which an action is, or was, or will be, undergone or undergoing—a state continuing, or so regarded, though perhaps the action causative may be ended—or sometimes perhaps imagined only, and not yet really begun. With a marvellous instability of doctrine, for the professed systematizer of different languages and grammars, Dr. Bullions has recently changed his names of the second and third participles, in both voices, from "Perfect" and "Compound Perfect," to "Past" and "Perfect." His notion now is, that, "The Perfect participle is always compound; as, Having finished, Having been finished."—Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Grammar, 1849, p. 77. And what was the "Perfect" before, in his several books, is now called the "Past;" though, with this change, he has deliberately made an other which is repugnant to it: this participle, being the basis of three tenses always, and of all the tenses sometimes, is now allowed by the Doctor to lend the term "perfect" to the three,—"Present-perfect, Past-perfect, Future-perfect,"—even when itself is named otherwise!

OBS. 12.—From the erroneous conception, that a perfect participle must, in every connexion, express "action finished," action past,—or perhaps from only a moiety of this great error,—the notion that such a participle cannot, in connexion with an auxiliary, constitute a passive verb of the present tense,—J. W. Wright, above-mentioned, has not very unnaturally reasoned, that, "The expression, 'I am loved,' which Mr. Murray has employed to exhibit the passive conjugation of the present tense, may much more feasibly represent past than present time."—See Wright's Philosophical Gram., p. 99. Accordingly, in his own paradigm of the passive verb, he has formed this tense solely from what he calls the participle present, thus: "I am being smitten, Thou art being smitten," &c.—Ib., p. 98. His "Passed Tense," too, for some reason which I do not discover, he distinguishes above the rest by a double form, thus: "I was smitten, or being smitten; Thou wast smitten, or being smitten;" &c.—P. 99. In his opinion, "Few will object to the propriety of the more familiar phraseology, 'I am in the ACT,—or, suffering the ACTION of BEING SMITTEN;' and yet," says he, "in substance and effect, it is wholly the same as, 'I am being smitten,' which is THE TRUE FORM of the verb in the present tense of the passive voice!"—Ibid. Had we not met with some similar expressions of English or American blunderers, "the act or action of being smitten," would be accounted a downright Irish bull; and as to this ultra notion of neologizing all our passive verbs, by the addition of "being,"—with the author's cool talk of "the presentation of this theory, and [the] consequent suppression of that hitherto employed,"—there is a transcendency in it, worthy of the most sublime aspirant among grammatical newfanglers.

OBS. 13.—But, with all its boldness of innovation, Wright's Philosophical Grammar is not a little self-contradictory in its treatment of the passive verb. The entire "suppression" of the usual form of its present tense, did not always appear, even to this author, quite so easy and reasonable a matter, as the foregoing citations would seem to represent it. The passive use of the participle in ing, he has easily disposed of: despite innumerable authorities for it, one false assertion, of seven syllables, suffices to make it quite impossible.[269] But the usual passive form, which, with some show of truth, is accused of not having always precisely the same meaning as the progressive used passively,—that is, of not always denoting continuance in the state of receiving continued action,—and which is, for that remarkable reason, judged worthy of rejection, is nevertheless admitted to have, in very many instances, a conformity to this idea, and therefore to "belong [thus far] to the present tense."—P. 103. This contradicts to an indefinite extent, the proposition for its rejection. It is observable also, that the same examples, 'I am loved' and 'I am smitten,'—the same "tolerated, but erroneous forms," (so called on page 103,) that are given as specimens of what he would reject,—though at first pronounced "equivalent in grammatical construction," censured for the same pretended error, and proposed to be changed alike to "the true form" by the insertion of "being,"—are subsequently declared to "belong to" different classes and different tenses. "I am loved," is referred to that "numerous" class of verbs, which "detail ACTION of prior, but retained, endured, and continued existence; and therefore, in this sense, belong to the present tense." But "I am smitten," is idly reckoned of an opposite class, (said by Dr. Bullions to be "perhaps the greater number,") whose "ACTIONS described are neither continuous in their nature, nor progressive in their duration; but, on the contrary, completed and perfected; and [which] are consequently descriptive of passed time and ACTION."—Wright's Gram., p. 103. Again: "In what instance soever this latter form and signification can be introduced, their import should be, and, indeed, ought to be, supplied by the perfect tense construction:—for example, 'I am smitten,' [should] be, 'I have been smitten.'"—Ib. Here is self-contradiction indefinitely extended in an other way. Many a good phrase, if not every one, that the author's first suggestion would turn to the unco-passive form, his present "remedy" would about as absurdly convert into "the perfect tense."

OBS. 14.—But Wright's inconsistency, about this matter, ends not here: it runs through all he says of it; for, in this instance, error and inconsistency constitute his whole story. In one place, he anticipates and answers a question thus: "To what tense do the constructions, 'I am pleased;' 'He is expected;' 'I am smitten;' 'He is bound;' belong?" "We answer:—So far as these and like constructions are applicable to the delineation of continuous and retained ACTION, they express present time; and must be treated accordingly."—P. 103. This seems to intimate that even, "I am smitten," and its likes, as they stand, may have some good claim to be of the present tense; which suggestion is contrary to several others made by the author. To expound this, or any other passive term, passively, never enters his mind: with him, as with sundry others, "ACTION," "finished ACTION," or "progressive ACTION," is all any passive verb or participle ever means! No marvel, that awkward perversions of the forms of utterance and the principles of grammar should follow such interpretation. In Wright's syntax a very queer distinction is apparently made between a passive verb, and the participle chiefly constituting it; and here, too, through a fancied ellipsis of "being" before the latter, most, if not all, of his other positions concerning passives, are again disastrously overthrown by something worse—a word "imperceptibly understood." "'I am smitten;' 'I was smitten;' &c., are," he says, "the universally acknowledged forms of the VERBS in these tenses, in the passive voice:—not of the PARTICIPLE. In all verbal constructions of the character of which we have hitherto treated, (see page 103) and, where the ACTIONS described are continuous in their operations,—the participle BEING is imperceptibly omitted, by ellipsis."—P. 144.

OBS. 15.—Dr. Bullions has stated, that, "The present participle active, and the present participle passive, are not counterparts to each other in signification; [,] the one signifying the present doing, and the other the present suffering of an action, [;] for the latter always intimates the present being of an ACT, not in progress, but completed."—Prin. of Eng. Gram., p. 58. In this, he errs no less grossly than in his idea of the "action or the suffering" expressed by "a perfect participle," as cited in OBS. 5th above; namely, that it must have ceased. Worse interpretation, or balder absurdity, is scarcely to be met with; and yet the reverend Doctor, great linguist as he should be, was here only trying to think and tell the common import of a very common sort of English participles; such as, "being loved" and "being seen." In grammar, "an act," that has "present being," can be nothing else than an act now doing, or "in progress;" and if, "the present being of an ACT not in progress," were here a possible thought, it surely could not be intimated by any such participle. In Acts, i, 3 and 4, it is stated, that our Saviour showed himself to the apostles, "alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; and, being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem." Now, of these misnamed "present participles," we have here one "active," one "passive," and two others—(one in each form—) that are neuter; but no present time, except what is in the indefinite date of "pertaining." The events are past, and were so in the days of St. Luke. Yet each of the participles denotes continuance: not, indeed, in or to the present time, but for a time. "Being seen" means continuing to be seen; and, in this instance, the period of the continuance was "forty days" of time past. But, according to the above-cited "principle of English Grammar," so long and so widely inculcated by "the Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., Professor of Languages," &c.,—a central principle of interpretation, presumed by him to hold "always"—this participle must intimate "the present being of an act, not in progress, but completed;"—that is, "the present being of" the apostles' act in formerly seeing the risen Saviour!

OBS. 16.—This grammarian has lately taken a deal of needless pains to sustain, by a studied division of verbs into two classes, similar to those which are mentioned in OBS. 13th above, a part of the philosophy of J. W. Wright, concerning our usual form of passives in the present tense. But, as he now will have it, that the two voices sometimes tally as counterparts, it is plain that he adheres but partially to his former erroneous conception of a perfect or "past" participle, and the terms which hold it "in any connexion." The awkward substitutes proposed by the Irish critic, he does not indeed countenance; but argues against them still, and, in some respects, very justly. The doctrine now common to these authors, on this point, is the highly important one, that, in respect to half our verbs, what we commonly take for the passive present, is not such—that, in "the second class, (perhaps the greater number,) the present-passive implies that the act expressed by the active voice has ceased. Thus, 'The house is built.' * * * Strictly speaking, then," says the Doctor, "the PAST PARTICIPLE with the verb TO BE is not the present tense in the passive voice of verbs thus used; that is, this form does not express passively the doing of the act."—Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Grammar, Ed. of 1849, p. 235. Thus far these two authors agree; except that Wright seems to have avoided the incongruity of calling that "the present-passive" which he denies to be such. But the Doctor, approving none of this practitioner's "remedies," and being less solicitous to provide other treatment than expulsion for the thousands of present passives which both deem spurious, adds, as from the chair, this verdict: "These verbs either have no present-passive, or it is made by annexing the participle in ing, in its passive sense, to the verb to be; as, 'The house is building.'"—Ib., p. 236.

OBS. 17.—It would seem, that Dr. Bullions thinks, and in reality Wright also, that nothing can be a present passive, but what "expresses passively the DOING of the act." This is about as wise, as to try to imagine every active verb to express actively the receiving of an act! It borders exceedingly hard upon absurdity; it very much resembles the nonsense of "expressing receptively the giving of something!" Besides, the word "DOING," being used substantively, does not determine well what is here meant; which is, I suppose, continuance, or an unfinished state of the act received—an idea which seems adapted to the participle in ing, but which it is certainly no fault of a participle ending in d, t, or n, not to suggest. To "express passively the doing of the act," if the language means any thing rational, may be, simply to say, that the act is or was done. For "doings" are, as often as any-wise, "things done," as buildings are fabrics built; and "is built," and "am smitten," the gentlemen's choice examples of false passives, and of "actions finished,"—though neither of them necessarily intimates either continuance or cessation of the act suffered, or, if it did, would be the less or the more passive or present,—may, in such a sense, "express the doing of the act," if any passives can:—nay, the "finished act" has such completion as may be stated with degrees of progress or of frequency; as, "The house is partly built."—"I am oftener smitten." There is, undoubtedly, some difference between the assertions, "The house is building,"—and, "The house is partly built;" though, for practical purposes, perhaps, we need not always be very nice in choosing between them. For the sake of variety, however, if for nothing else, it is to be hoped, the doctrine above-cited, which limits half our passive verbs of the present tense, to the progressive form only, will not soon be generally approved. It impairs the language more than unco-passives are likely ever to corrupt it.

OBS. 18.—"No startling novelties have been introduced," says the preface to the "Analytical and Practical Grammar of the English Language." To have shunned all shocking innovations, is only to have exercised common prudence. It is not pretended, that any of the Doctor's errors here remarked upon, or elsewhere in this treatise, will startle any body; but, if errors exist, even in plausible guise, it may not be amiss, if I tell of them. To suppose every verb or participle to be either "transitive" or "intransitive," setting all passives with the former sort, all neuters with the latter; (p. 59;)—to define the transitive verb or participle as expressing always "an act DONE by one person or thing to another;" (p. 60;)—to say, after making passive verbs transitive, "The object of a transitive verb is in the objective case," and, "A verb that does not make sense with an objective after it, is intransitive;" (p. 60;)—to insist upon a precise and almost universal identity of "meaning" in terms so obviously contrasted as are the two voices, "active" and "passive;" (pp. 95 and 235;)—to allege, as a general principle, "that whether we use the active, or the passive voice, the meaning is the same, except in some cases in the present tense;" (p. 67;)—to attribute to the forms naturally opposite in voice and sense, that sameness of meaning which is observable only in certain whole sentences formed from them; (pp. 67, 95, and 235;)—to assume that each "VOICE is a particular form of the verb," yet make it include two cases, and often a preposition before one of them; (pp. 66, 67, and 95;)—to pretend from the words, "The PASSIVE VOICE represents the subject of the verb as acted upon," (p. 67,) that, "According to the DEFINITION, the passive voice expresses, passively, the same thing that the active does actively;" (p. 235;)—to affirm that, "'Cæsar conquered Gaul,' and 'Gaul was conquered by Cæsar,' express precisely the same idea,"—and then say, "It will be felt at once that the expressions, 'Cæsar conquers Gaul,' and 'Gaul is conquered by Cæsar,' do not express the same thing;" (p. 235;)—to deny that passive verbs or neuter are worthy to constitute a distinct class, yet profess to find, in one single tense of the former, such a difference of meaning as warrants a general division of verbs in respect to it; (ib.;)—to announce, in bad English, that, "In regard to this matter [,] there are evidently Two CLASSES of verbs; namely, those whose present-passive expresses precisely the same thing, passively, as the active voice does actively, and those in which it does not:" (ib.;)—to do these several things, as they have been done, is, to set forth, not "novelties" only, but errors and inconsistencies.

OBS. 19.—Dr. Bullions still adheres to his old argument, that being after its own verb must be devoid of meaning; or, in his own words, "that is being built, if it mean anything, can mean nothing more than is built, which is not the idea intended to be expressed."—Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 237. He had said, (as cited in OBS. 5th above,) "The expression, 'is being,' is equivalent to is, and expresses no more; just as, 'is loving,' is equivalent to 'loves.' Hence, 'is being built,' is precisely equivalent to 'is built.'"—Principles of E. Gram., p. 58. He has now discovered "that there is no progressive form of the verb to be, and no need of it:" and that, "hence, there is no such expression in English as is being."—Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 236. He should have noticed also, that "is loving" is not an authorized "equivalent to loves;" and, further, that the error of saying "is being built," is only in the relation of the first two words to each other. If "is being," and "is loving," are left unused for the same reason, the truth may be, that is itself, like loves, commonly denotes "continuance;" and that being after it, in stead of being necessary or proper, can only be awkwardly tautologous. This is, in fact, THE GRAND OBJECTION to the new phraseology—"is being practised"—"am being smitten"—and the like. Were there no danger that petty writers would one day seize upon it with like avidity, an other innovation, exactly similar to this in every thing but tense—similar in awkwardness, in tautology, in unmistakeableness—might here be uttered for the sake of illustration. Some men conceive, that "The perfect participle is always compound; as, having seen, having written;"—and that the simple word, seen or written, had originally, and still ought to have, only a passive construction. For such views, they find authorities. Hence, in lieu of the common phrases, "had we seen," "we have written," they adopt such English as this; "Had we having seen you, we should have stopped."—"We have having written but just now, to our correspondent." Now, "We are being smitten," is no better grammar than this;—and no worse: "The idea intended" is in no great jeopardy in either case.

OBS. 20.—J. R. Chandler, of Philadelphia, in his Common School Grammar of 1847, has earnestly undertaken the defence of this new and much-mooted passive expression: which he calls "the Definite Passive Voice," or "the Passive Voice of the Definite Form." He admits it, however, to be a form that "does not sound well,"—a "novelty that strikes the ear unpleasantly;" but he will have the defect to be, not in the tautologous conceit of "is being," "was being," "has been being," and the like, but in everybody's organ of hearing,—supposing all ears corrupted, "from infancy," to a distaste for correct speech, by "the habit of hearing and using words ungrammatically!"—See p. 89. Claiming this new form as "the true passive," in just contrast with the progressive active, he not only rebukes all attempts "to evade" the use of it, "by some real or supposed equivalent," but also declares, that, "The attempt to deprive the transitive definite verb of [this] its passive voice, is to strike at the foundation of the language, and to strip it of one of its most important qualities; that of making both actor and sufferer, each in turn and at pleasure, the subject of conversation."—Ibid. Concerning equivalents, he evidently argues fallaciously; for he urges, that the using of them "does not dispense with the necessity of the definite passive voice."—P. 88. But it is plain, that, of the many fair substitutes which may in most cases be found, if any one is preferred, this form, and all the rest, are of course rejected for the time.

OBS. 21.—By Chandler, as well as others, this new passive form is justified only on the supposition, that the simple participle in ing can never with propriety be used passively. No plausible argument, indeed, can be framed for it, without the assumption, that the simpler form, when used in the same sense, is ungrammatical. But this is, in fact, a begging of the main question; and that, in opposition to abundant authority for the usage condemned. (See OBS. 3d, above.) This author pretends that, "The RULE of all grammarians declares the verb is, and a present participle (is building, or is writing), to be in the active voice" only.—P. 88. (I add the word "only," but this is what he means, else he merely quibbles.) Now in this idea he is wrong, and so are the several grammarians who support the principle of this imaginary "RULE." The opinion of critics in general would be better represented by the following suggestions of the Rev. W. Allen: "When the English verb does not signify mental affection, the distinction of voice is often disregarded: thus we say, actively, they were selling fruit; and, passively, the books are now selling. The same remark applies to the participle used as a noun: as, actively, drawing is an elegant amusement, building is expensive; and, passively, his drawings are good, this is a fine building."—Allen's Elements of E. Gram., p. 82.

OBS. 22.—Chandler admits, that, "When it is said, 'The house is building,' the meaning is easily obtained; though," he strangely insists, "it is exactly opposite to the assertion."—P. 89. He endeavours to show, moreover, by a fictitious example made for the purpose, that the progressive form, if used in both voices, will be liable to ambiguity. It may, perhaps, be so in some instances; but, were there weight enough in the objection to condemn the passive usage altogether, one would suppose there might be found, somewhere, an actual example or two of the abuse. Not concurring with Dr. Bullions in the notion that the active voice and the passive usually "express precisely the same thing," this critic concludes his argument with the following sentence: "There is an important difference between doing and suffering; and that difference is grammatically shown by the appropriate use of the active and passive voices of a verb."—Chandler's Common School Gram., p. 89.

OBS. 23.—The opinion given at the close of OBS. 2d above, was first published in 1833. An opposite doctrine, with the suggestion that it is "improper to say, 'the house is building,' instead of 'the house is being built,'"—is found on page 64th of the Rev. David Blair's Grammar, of 1815,—"Seventh Edition," with a preface dated, "October 20th, 1814." To any grammarian who wrote at a period much earlier than that, the question about unco-passives never occurred. Many critics have passed judgement upon them since, and so generally with reprobation, that the man must have more hardihood than sense, who will yet disgust his readers or hearers with them.[270] That "This new form has been used by some respectable writers," we need not deny; but let us look at the given "instances of it: 'For those who are being educated in our seminaries.' R. SOUTHEY.—'It was being uttered.' COLERIDGE.—'The foundation was being laid.' BRIT. CRITIC."—English Grammar with Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict., p. xlvi. Here, for the first example, it would be much better to say, "For those who are educated," [271]—or, "who are receiving their education;" for the others, "It was uttering,"—"was uttered,"—or, "was in uttering."—"The foundation was laying,"—"was laid,"—or, "was about being laid." Worcester's opinion of the "new form" is to be inferred from his manner of naming it in the following sentence: "Within a few years, a strange and awkward neologism has been introduced, by which the present passive participle is substituted, in such cases as the above, for the participle in ing."—Ibid. He has two instances more, in each of which the phrase is linked with an expression of disapprobation; "' It [Greek: tetymmenos] signifies properly, though in uncouth English, one who is being beaten.' ABP. WHATELY.—'The bridge is being built, and other phrases of the like kind, have pained the eye.' D. BOOTH."—Ibid.[272]

OBS. 24.—Richard Hiley, in the third edition of his Grammar, published in London, in 1840, after showing the passive use of the participle in ing, proceeds thus: "No ambiguity arises, we presume, from the use of the participle in this manner. To avoid, however, affixing a passive signification to the participle in ing, an attempt has lately been made to substitute the passive participle in its place. Thus instead of 'The house was building,' 'The work imprinting,' we sometimes hear, 'The house was being built,' 'The work is being printed.' But this mode is contrary to the English idiom, and has not yet obtained the sanction of reputable authority."—Hiley's Gram., p. 30.

OBS. 25.—Professor Hart, of Philadelphia, whose English Grammar was first published in 1845, justly prefers the usage which takes the progressive form occasionally in a passive sense; but, in arguing against the new substitute, he evidently remoulds the early reasoning of Dr. Bullions, errors and all; a part of which he introduces thus: "I know the correctness of this mode of expression has lately been very much assailed, and an attempt, to some extent successful, has been made [,] to introduce the form [,] 'is being built.' But, in the first place, the old mode of expression is a well established usage of the language, being found in our best and most correct writers. Secondly, is being built does not convey the idea intended, [;] namely [,] that of progressive action. Is being, taken together, means simply is, just as is writing means writes; therefore, is being built means is built, a perfect and not a progressive ACTION. Or, if being [and] built be taken together, they signify an ACTION COMPLETE, and the phrase means, as before, the house is (EXISTS) being built."—Hart's Gram., p. 76. The last three sentences here are liable to many objections, some of which are suggested above.

OBS. 26.—It is important, that the central phraseology of our language be so understood, as not to be misinterpreted with credit, or falsely expounded by popular critics and teachers. Hence errors of exposition are the more particularly noticed in these observations. In "being built," Prof. Hart, like sundry authors named above, finds nothing but "ACTION COMPLETE." Without doubt, Butler interprets better, when he says, "'The house is built,' denotes an existing state, rather than a completed action." But this author, too, in his next three sentences, utters as many errors; for he adds: "The name of the agent cannot be expressed in phrases of this kind. We cannot say, 'The house is built by John.' When we say, 'The house is built by mechanics,' we do not express an existing state."—Butler's Practical Gram., p. 80. Unquestionably, "is built by mechanics," expresses nothing else than the "existing state" of being "built by mechanics," together with an affirmation:—that is, the "existing state" of receiving the action of mechanics, is affirmed of "the house." And, in my judgement, one may very well say, "The house is built by John;" meaning, "John is building the house." St. Paul says, "Every house is builded by SOME MAN."—Heb., iii, 4. In this text, the common "name of the agent" is "expressed."

OBS. 27.—Wells and Weld, whose grammars date from 1846, being remarkably chary of finding anything wrong in "respectable writers," hazard no opinion of their own, concerning the correctness or incorrectness of either of the usages under discussion. They do not always see absurdity in the approbation of opposites; yet one should here, perhaps, count them with the majorities they allow. The latter says, "The participle in ing is sometimes used passively; as, forty and six years was this temple in building; not in being built."—Weld's English Gram., 2d Ed., p. 170. Here, if he means to suggest, that "in being built" would "not" be good English, he teaches very erroneously; if his thought is, that this phrase would "not" express the sense of the former one, "in building," he palpably contradicts his own position! But he proceeds, in a note, thus: "The form of expression, is being built, is being committed, &c., is almost universally condemned by grammarians; but it is sometimes met with in respectable writers. It occurs most frequently in newspaper paragraphs, and in hasty compositions."—Ibid. Wells comments thus: "Different opinions have long existed among critics respecting this passive use of the imperfect participle. Many respectable writers substitute the compound passive participle; as, 'The house is being built;' 'The book is being printed.' But the prevailing practice of the best authors is in favor of the simple form; as, 'The house is building.'"—Wells's School Gram., 1st Ed., p. 148; 113th Ed., p. 161.[273]

OBS. 28.—S. W. Clark, in the second edition of his Practical Grammar, stereotyped and published in New York in 1848, appears to favour the insertion of "being" into passive verbs; but his instructions are so obscure, so often inaccurate, and so incompatible one with an other, that it is hard to say, with certainty, what he approves. In one place, he has this position: "The Passive Voice of a verb is formed by adding the Passive Participle of that verb, to the verb be. EXAMPLES—To be loved. I am feared. They are worshipped."—Page 69. In an other, he has this: "When the Subject is to be represented as receiving the action, the Passive Participle should be used. EXAMPLE—Henry's lesson is BEING RECITED."—P. 132. Now these two positions utterly confound each other; for they are equally general, and "the Passive Participle" is first one thing, and then an other. Again, he has the following assertions, both false: "The Present (or First) Participle always ends in ing, and is limited to the Active Voice. The Past (or Second) Participle of Regular Verbs ends in d or ed, and is limited to the Passive Voice."—P. 131. Afterwards, in spite of the fancied limitation, he acknowledges the passive use of the participle in ing, and that there is "authority" for it; but, at the same time, most absurdly supposes the word to predicate "action," and also to be wrong: saying, "Action is sometimes predicated of a passive subject. EXAMPLE—'The house is building,.. for.. 'The house is being built,'.. which means.. The house is becoming built." On this, he remarks thus: "This is one of the instances in which Authority is against Philosophy. For an act cannot properly be predicated of a passive agent. Many good writers properly reject this idiom. 'Mansfield's prophecy is being realized.'—MICHELET'S LUTHER."—Clark's Practical Gram., p. 133. It may require some study to learn from this which idiom it is. that these "many good writers reject:" but the grammarian who can talk of "a passive agent," without perceiving that the phrase is self-contradictory and absurd, may well be expected to entertain a "Philosophy" which is against "Authority," and likewise to prefer a ridiculous innovation to good and established usage.

OBS. 29.—As most verbs are susceptible of both forms, the simple active and the compound or progressive, and likewise of a transitive and an intransitive sense in each; and as many, when taken intransitively, may have a meaning which is scarcely distinguishable from that of the passive form; it often happens that this substitution of the imperfect participle passive for the simple imperfect in ing, is quite needless, even when the latter is not considered passive. For example: "See by the following paragraph, how widely the bane is being circulated!"—Liberator, No. 999, p. 34. Here is circulating would be better; and so would is circulated. Nor would either of these much vary the sense, if at all; for "circulate" may mean, according to Webster, "to be diffused," or, as Johnson and Worcester have it, "to be dispersed." See the second marginal note on p. 378.

OBS. 30.—R. G. Parker appears to have formed a just opinion of the "modern innovation," the arguments for which are so largely examined in the foregoing observations; but the "principle" which he adduces as "conclusive" against it, if principle it can be called, has scarcely any bearing on the question; certainly no more than has the simple assertion of one reputable critic, that our participle in ing may occasionally be used passively. "Such expressions as the following," says he, "have recently become very common, not only in the periodical publications of the day, but are likewise finding favor with popular writers; as, 'The house is being built.' 'The street is being paved.' 'The actions that are now being performed,' &c. 'The patents are being prepared.' The usage of the best writers does not sanction these expressions; and Mr. Pickbourn lays down the following principle, which is conclusive upon the subject. 'Whenever the participle in ing is joined by an auxiliary verb to a nominative capable of the action, it is taken actively; but, when joined to one incapable of the action, it becomes passive. If we say, The man are building a house, the participle building is evidently used in an active sense; because the men are capable of the action. But when we say, The house is building, or, Patents are preparing, the participles building and preparing must necessarily be understood in a passive sense; because neither the house nor the patents are capable of action.'—See Pickbourn on the English Verb, pp. 78-80."—Parker's Aids to English Composition, p. 105. Pickbourn wrote his Dissertation before the question arose which he is here supposed to decide. Nor is he right in assuming that the common Progressive Form, of which he speaks, must be either active-transitive or passive: I have shown above that it may be active-intransitive, and perhaps, in a few instances, neuter. The class of the verb is determined by something else than the mere capableness of the "nominative."