Mrs. Harley. A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer. Verbs are divided into neuter, active, and passive. Neuter verbs merely signify being, or that kind of action which has no effect upon any thing beyond the performer, as, I am, I sit, I walk. (You may distinguish those neuter verbs that seem to imply action from active verbs by their making a complete sense by themselves, whereas active verbs always require a noun or pronoun after them to finish the sense.)
Active verbs, denote action as, I eat, I love, I work. Passive verbs, denote suffering, they are only the participle passive of an active verb with a tense of the neuter verb to be before it; as, I am loved, you are dressed.
Any word is a verb before which you can place a noun, a pronoun, or the word to, as Mary talks, he works, to be. The different times when actions are performed are called tenses, there are properly only three, the present, as I am, the past as I was, and the future as I shall be; but these are subdivided into others; and there are a great many other things relating to verbs, which you shall learn when you are a little older.
Anne. Thank you, mamma, I believe I understand all that you have told me about verbs, except the meaning of participle passive.
Mrs. Harley. A participle passive, my dear, is that part of a verb which follows a tense of either of the verbs to have, or to be. Some people consider it a distinct part of speech.
Adverbs denote time, place, manner, and quantity; therefore you may always know them by recollecting their meaning: to-day, there, prettily, much, are adverbs.
Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and to shew the relation between them. They require some word after them to complete the sense; as, come to me, up, down, to, from, for, are prepositions.
Conjunctions join words and sentences together, as you and I are going, but she stays at home.
Interjections express some emotion of the mind as, Alas! Oh! Ah!