All English verbs which vary from this mode of inflection being erroneous and irregular, ought not to be established by grammatical rules, but restored to the primitive state in the present tense, and marked in the past tense with the proper accent; or if it should appear to be necessary, to add proper conjugations. But as verbs lose their qualities or active state in the past tense, the English verbs ending in d and t in the past tense, have been very properly diminished and substantived, and accordingly contracted in their sounds, of ed to that of d and t, as taught from teached, when the ch was accented hard, and a like the German a or o, felt for feeled, checkt for checked, slept for sleeped, left for leaved, gilt for gilded, bled for bleeded, fed for feeded, had for haed, fed for feeded, fled for flyed, sold for selled, and such others as are so contracted without any other variation, that are capable of a past tense, except, let, put, do, think, and other imperatives, which can form no perfect past tense, without the aid of the auxiliary verb have, to express some degree of human energy or return to the creative fiat. And as all other tenses seem to be arbitrary and indefinite, the best way of expressing the minuter divisions of actions must be by adverbs or numerals.
And as there is no sort of foundation or necessity for the participle perfect, the best way of correcting those verbs which are supposed to be irregular therein, would be to drop it as superfluous, and fully as well expressed by the past tense, as help, helped, without holpen, cleave, cleaved, or cleft, instead of cleave, clave, clove and cloven, hang hanged, for hang hung. And as to the forming a regular past tense, by reducing irregular verbs to their primitive state in the present tense, the following may perhaps be no improper observation, viz. all in fall, before the corrupt sound of the northern a, as that of o, was, as it ought to be, accented, like ale in pale, and marked with a long accent, as signifying from high; its past tense accented short, as all in shall; and wrote fall and not fell; the e not having then taken the place of a, nor a, that of o; shake, signifying a passionate action of a subject, is properly accented and wrote in the present tense, but its past tense having partaken of the northern accent, it then came to be wrote and accented shook, instead of shaked, which, notwithstanding its long establishment by vulgar custom ought to be rectified accordingly; and so as to swear, heave, freeze, abide, strike, dig, and various other instances, where the e has assumed the place of a, a of o, o of a, e, i, or u, of i, or any other change of vowels from the present, to form the past tense; except such as do and did, which are different words, and of themselves incapable of any inflection. And the English terminations an and en, borrowed from the northern dialects, add nothing to the meaning of our names, but the English, or Engli-Saxon names, are of a southern or Celtic origin, and as fully expressive of the meaning to which they are applied without them; except where they are added to form the singular number, or to active names as substantiving articles, as in all other Celtic dialects.
ADVERBS.
Adverbs are certain energic or active particles or additional verbs added to, or joined with other names in propositions, to denote the degrees and manner of things, as to quantity, situation, quality, motion, and rest. Of quantity, as less, lesser, least, much, more, most, great, greater, greatest, long, longer, longest, short, shorter, shortest, broad, broader, broadest. Of situation or place, as where, whither? up, down, above, below, high, higher, highest, here, there, yonder, far, farther, farthest, within, without, upwards, downwards, forwards, backwards, and such as are expressive of the situation of bodies in motion, or at rest. Of qualities, as wisely, knowingly, sensibly, decently, likely, fairly, warmly, foolishly, beastly, coldly, hardly, and such as express intentional qualities. Of motion and rest; as comprehending affirmatives, interrogatives, interjectories, and those improperly called adverbs of time, as, when? now, anon, then, yesterday, to-day, to-morrow, henceforwards, ever, never, how often? often, oftener, oftenest, once, twice, thrice, seldom, however, away, begone, adieu, speedily, slowly, verily, yes, yea, no, why, however, perhap, alternately, as, alack, ha, alas, ho, oh.
There are no other sorts of adverbs, expressive of the order, time, or manner of things, as appears by the definition of those of the four languages in the vocabulary; nor does it thence appear that there is in fact above three sorts of adverbs, namely, quantity or extension or bulk of bodies; quality or an illation of light, heat and motion thereon, and penetrating the same, expressed by ly, as ty does extension in substantiving qualities; and motions energic, animate, and local, with the contraries, as privation, rest, and matter. And the degrees, like adjectives, are compared by adding er and est, as comparative and superlative, to the positive or the state or degree of beings and things in act, or putting more or most in apposition thereto.
The degrees of distance and situation, are reckoned like prepositions, upon lines, upright, across, or slantways, extended from the centre of action or existence in our system where man is supposed to stand; or upon man as a mikrocosm standing up with arms extended; his head representing the unseen celestial system, being the superlative degree upwards, the extent of his sight or the sky, the comparative, his body or the world, the positive, upwards, downwards, and crosswise, his limbs below the parts of generation, as representing the parts below the earth’s surface or growth part, the comparative downwards, and beyond it the superlative, the extent of view, the comparative sideways, and beyond it the superlative, as appears by the definition of Adverbs in the vocabulary. And tho’ interjections are supposed to add nothing to the sentence, they certainly express the sorts and degrees of energy with which the whole is affirmed.
SYNTAX.
Having thus explained the several parts of a rational grammar, it now remains only to lay down some general rules for their construction, into simple and compound sentences, according to their natural concord, government, and arrangement.