The verb active denotes that the subject of discourse is doing something, as, I write; the passive verb, that the subject suffers, or is acted upon, as, the book is burned; and the neuter denotes neither the one nor the other, but expresses merely the state, posture, or condition of the subject, as unaffected by anything else, as, I sit, I sleep, I stand.
Action, energy, or motion may either be confined to the agent, or pass from him to something extrinsic. Hence active verbs have been divided into transitive and intransitive. An active transitive verb denotes that kind of action by which the agent affects something foreign to himself, or which passes from the agent to something without him, as, to beat a drum, to whip a horse, to kill a dog. Beat, whip, kill, are active transitive verbs; and it is the characteristic of these verbs that they admit a noun after them, denoting the subject of the action.
An active intransitive verb denotes that species of action or energy, which passes not from the agent to anything else; that is, it expresses what has been termed immanent energy. Hence an intransitive verb does not admit a noun after it, there being no extrinsic subject or object affected by the action. Thus, I run, I walk, the horse gallops, are examples of active intransitive verbs[41].
Webster, in his Dissertations on the English Language, delivers it as his opinion, that the division of verbs into active, passive, and neuter is incorrect; and that the only accurate distribution is into transitive and intransitive. “Is not a man,” says he, “passive in hearing? yet hearing is called an active verb.”
It is doubtless true, that to hear, and many other verbs, commonly called active, denote chiefly, perhaps, the effect of an extrinsic or foreign act. But whether we view the matter as a question either in metaphysics or in grammar, we shall perceive but little impropriety in adopting the common distinction. For, though the verb to hear denotes, perhaps, chiefly, that a certain impression is made on the mind through the auditory organ, yet even here the mind is not entirely passive, as, were this the place for such a discussion, it would be easy to prove. I see, I hear, I feel, I perceive, denote not only the sensation in which we are passive, but also a perception, to which the consent or activity of the mind is unquestionably essential. Hence these verbs have, in all languages, been denominated active. But if the term transitive be the only correct name, it may be asked, why does Mr. Webster call this verb by that appellation? He would answer, I doubt not, “because something passes from the agent to something else.” What, then, is that something which passes? I am afraid Mr. Webster would have difficulty in answering this question, so as to justify the term transitive, without admitting the verb to be active. For, if it be not an act, an energy, or some operation of the mind, what is it, or how can it pass from one to another? The truth is, this objection of Mr. Webster to the term active in such cases, is founded neither on metaphysical nor grammatical principles; for by an active transitive verb is meant, that which admits a noun as its regimen; and, for the purposes of grammar, this name is sufficiently correct. If the point in question be metaphysically considered, it would be easy to demonstrate that, though in sensation the mind be passive, in perception it is active.
I would here observe, in passing, that there are many verbs neuter and intransitive, which, followed by a preposition, may be truly considered as active transitive verbs. These have been denominated, by the learned Dr. Campbell, compound active verbs. To laugh, for example, is a neuter verb; it cannot therefore admit a passive voice, as, “I am laughed.” To laugh at may be considered as an active transitive verb; for it not only admits an objective case after it in the active voice, but is likewise construed as a passive verb, as, “I am laughed at.” Here an obvious analogy obtains between these two and the verbs rideo, derideo, in Latin; the former of which is a neuter, and the latter an active verb. Nor, as the same ingenious writer observes, does it matter whether the preposition be prefixed to the simple verb, as in Latin, in order to form the active verb, or be put after, and detached, as is the case in English. The only grammatical criterion in our language between an active and a neuter verb is this: if the verb admits an objective case after it, either with or without a preposition, to express the subject or object of the energy, the verb may be grammatically considered as a compound active verb; for thus construed it has a passive voice. If the verb does not thus admit an objective case, it must be considered grammatically as neuter or intransitive, and has no passive voice. To smile is a neuter verb; it cannot, therefore, be followed by an objective case, nor be construed as a passive verb. We cannot say, she smiled him, or he was smiled. To smile on, according to the principle now proposed, is a compound active verb; we therefore say, she smiled on him. He was smiled on by Fortune in every undertaking[42].
As all things exist in time, and whatever is predicable of any subject must be predicated as either past, present, or future, every action, energy, or state of being, coming under one or other of these predicaments, hence arises the utility of tenses, to express the times, or relative order of their existence. In regard to the number of these tenses[43], necessary to render a language complete, grammarians have been somewhat divided in opinion.
In our language we have two simple tenses, the present and the preterperfect[44]. The latter is generally formed by adding d or ed to the present, as love, loved; fear, feared. That the suffix here is a contraction for did, as Mr. Tooke supposes, I can easily imagine; thus, fear, fear-did, feared, or did fear; but the question returns, whence comes the termination ed in doed, from which did itself is contracted? This query seems to have escaped the attention of the learned author[45].
Actions and states of being may be predicated as either certain or contingent, free or necessary, possible or impossible, obligatory or optional; in short, as they may take place in a variety of ways, they may be spoken of, as diversified in their modes of production. Hence arises another accident of verbs, called a mood, expressing the mode or manner of existence. These modes are, in some languages, partly expressed by inflexions, partly by auxiliary verbs, or words significant of the model diversity. In English there is only one mood, namely, the indicative. The Greeks and Romans expressed by inflections the most common modes of action or existence, as conditionality, power, contingency, certainty, liberty, and duty. In our language they are denoted by auxiliary verbs.