The English verb has only one voice, namely, the active. Dr. Lowth, and most other grammarians, have assigned it two voices, active and passive. Lowth has, in this instance, not only violated the simplicity of our language, but has also advanced an opinion inconsistent with his own principles. For, if he has justly excluded from the number of cases in nouns, and moods in verbs, those which are not formed by inflexion, but by the addition of prepositions and auxiliary verbs, there is equal reason for rejecting a passive voice, if it be not formed by variety of termination. Were I to ask him why he denies from a king to be an ablative case, or I may love to be the potential mood, he would answer, and very truly, that those only can be justly regarded as cases or moods which, by a different form of the noun or verb, express a different relation or a different mode of existence. If this answer be satisfactory, there can be no good reason for assigning to our language a passive voice, when that voice is formed, not by inflexion, but by an auxiliary verb. Doceor is truly a passive voice; but I am taught cannot, without impropriety, be considered as such. Besides, as it is justly observed by Dr. Ash, our author, when he parses the clause, “I am well pleased,” tells us that am is the indicative mood, present tense of the verb to be; and pleased, the passive participle of the verb to please. Now, in parsing, every word should be considered as a distinct part of speech: whether, therefore, we admit pleased to be a passive participle or not, (for this point I shall afterwards examine,) it is obvious that on the principle now laid down, and acknowledged by Dr. Lowth, am pleased is not a present passive, nor has the author himself parsed it in this manner. Into such inconsistencies do our grammarians run, from a propensity to force the grammar of our language into a conformity with the structure of Greek and Latin.

The same reasoning will also account for my assigning to English verbs no more than two tenses and one mood. For, if we consider the matter, not metaphysically, but grammatically, and regard those only as moods which are diversified by inflexion, (and, as Lowth himself observes, as far as grammar is concerned, there can be no others,) we find that our language has only one mood and two tenses.

This doctrine, in respect to the cases, is very generally admitted. For though the Greeks and Romans expressed the different relations by variety of inflexion, which they termed cases, it does not follow that we are to acknowledge the same number of cases as they had, when these relations are expressed in English, not by inflexions, but by prepositions or words significant of these relations. The Latins would not have acknowledged absque fructu, without fruit, as forming a seventh case, though they acknowledged fructu, by fruit, as making an ablative or sixth case. And why? because the latter only was formed by inflexion. For this reason, I consider giving the name of dative case to the combination of words to a king, or of ablative case to the expression from a king, to be a palpable impropriety. Our language knows no such cases; nor would an Englishman, unacquainted with Greek or Latin, ever dream of these cases, though perfectly master of his own language.

In the same manner it may be asked, what could lead him to distinguish a diversity of moods, or a plurality of voices, where there is no variety of termination to discriminate them? The distinction of circumstances, respecting the modes of existence, he expresses by words significant of these accidents; but he would no more dream of giving these forms of expression the name of moods, than he would be disposed to call from a king by the name of casus ablativus, or permit me to go the first person singular of the imperative mood. If, indeed, he were somewhat acquainted with Latin, he might, in the true spirit of modern grammarians, contend that let me go, or permit me to go, is truly the first person singular of the imperative mood; assigning as a reason for this assertion, that such is the designation of eam in Latin. With the most correct knowledge, however, of his own language only, he could never be seduced into this absurdity. A little reflection indeed might teach him, that even eam in Latin is an elliptical expression for sine ut eam, the word eam itself denoting neither entreaty nor command.

In truth, we may as reasonably contend that our language has all the tenses which are to be found in Greek and Latin, because, by the aid of auxiliaries and definitives, we contrive to express what they denoted by one word, as to contend that we have a potential, an optative or imperative mood, or a passive voice; because by auxiliaries or variety of arrangement we can express the circumstances of power, liberty, duty, passion, &c. No grammarian has yet gone so far as to affirm that we have in English a paulo post future, because our language, by definitives or auxiliaries, is capable of expressing that time. Or, what should we think of that person’s discernment, who should contend that the Latins had an optative mood, because utinam legeres signifies “I wish you would read”? It is equally absurd to say that we have an imperfect, preterpluperfect, or future tenses; or that we have all the Greek varieties of mood, and two voices, because by the aid of auxiliary words and definite terms we contrive to express these accidents, times, or states of being. I consider, therefore, that we have no more cases, moods, tenses, or voices in our language, as far as its grammar, not its capacity of expression, is concerned, than we have variety of termination to denote these different accessary ideas.

As the terminations of most verbs in languages are varied by tense and mood, so are they also varied according as the subject is of the first, second, or third person. Thus, in the only two tenses that we have in English, namely, the present and the preterperfect tenses, the second person singular of each is formed from the first, by adding st or est, as, I love, thou lovest; I loved, thou lovedst; and the third person singular of the present is formed by adding s, or the syllable eth or th, to the first as, love, loves, or loveth; read, reads, or readeth. These are the only variations which our verbs admit, in concordance with the person of the nominative singular. The three persons plural are always the same with the first person singular.

Before I proceed to the conjugation of verbs in general, I shall first explain the manner in which the auxiliaries are conjugated. Of these the most extensively useful is the verb to be, denoting simple affirmation, or expressing existence. The next is that which signifies action, namely, the verb to do. The third is the verb to have, implying possession. The others are, shall, will, may, can, &c. I begin with the verb to be.

Indicative Mood.
Present Tense.
Sing.[46]I amThou artHe, she, or it is
Plur.We areYe or you areThey are.
Preterite.
Sing.I wasThou wast[47]He was
Plur.We wereYe or you wereThey were.
Imperfect Conditional.
Sing.I wereThou wertHe were
Plur.We wereYe or you wereThey were.
Infinitive.
To be.

It may seem inconsistent with the opinion which I have delivered concerning moods, to assign an infinitive to this verb; and the existence of this infinitive may appear, perhaps, a sufficient refutation of that opinion. I shall, therefore, briefly repeat what I have said, and offer a few additional observations.

I have remarked that the first care of men, in a rude and infant state, would be to assign names to surrounding objects; and that the noun, in the natural order of things, must have been the first part of speech. Their inventive powers would next be employed to express the most common energies or states of being, such as are denoted by the verbs to do, to be, to suffer. Hence, by the help of these combined with a noun, they might express the energy or state of that thing, of which the noun was the name. Thus, I shall suppose that they assigned the word plant, as the name of a vegetable set in the ground. To express the act of setting it, they would say, do plant, that is, act plant. The letters d and t being nearly allied, it is easy to conceive how the word do, by a variation very natural and common to all languages, might be changed into to; and thus the word to prefixed to a noun would express the correspondent energy or action.