Part 3 (1/2)

Present Participle, Lying, Perfect Participle, Lain.

In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used reflectively,--”If I lay myself down on the gra.s.s I shall catch cold,” ”He laid himself down on the green sward,”--the verb ”to lay” is with propriety subst.i.tuted for the verb ”to lie;” for the addition of the emphatic p.r.o.noun _myself_, or _himself_, const.i.tuting an objective case, and coming _immediately after_ the verb, _without the intervention of a preposition_, renders it necessary that the verb employed should be _active_, not _neuter_, because ”active verbs govern the objective case.” But this is the only construction in which ”to lay” instead of ”to lie” can be sanctioned by the rules of grammar.

XI.

The same confusion often arises in the use of the verbs _sit_ and _set_, _rise_ and _raise_. _Sit_ is a neuter verb, _set_ an active one; yet how often do people most improperly say, ”I have _set_ with him for hours,”

”He _set_ on the beach till the sun went down,” ”She _set_ three nights by the patient's bedside.” What did they set,--potatoes, traps, or what?

for as an objective case is evidently implied by the use of an active verb, an object is indispensable to complete the sense. No tense whatever of the verb ”to sit” is rendered ”set,” which has but _one word_ throughout the whole verb, except the active participle ”setting;”

and ”sit” has but two words, ”sit” and ”sat,” except the active participle ”sitting;” therefore it is very easy to correct this error by the help of a little attention.

XII.

_Raise_ is the same kind of verb as _set_,--active-transitive, requiring an objective case after it; and it contains only two words, _raise_ and _raised_, besides the active participle _raising_. _Rise_ is a neuter verb, not admitting an objective case. It contains two words, _rise_ and _rose_; besides the two participles, _rising_ and _risen_. It is improper, therefore, to say, ”He _rose_ the books from the floor,” ”He _rises_ the fruit as it falls,” ”After she had _risen_ the basket on her head,” &c. In all such cases use the other verb _raise_. It occurs to me, that if people would take the trouble to reckon how many different words a verb contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking them.

”Lay” contains two words, ”lay” and ”laid,” besides the active participle ”laying.” ”Lie” has also two words, ”lie” and ”lay,” besides the two participles ”lying” and ”lain;” and from this second word ”lay”

arises all the confusion I have had to lament in the foregoing pages.

XIII.

To the scholar I would remark the prevalent impropriety of adopting the subjunctive instead of the indicative mood, in sentences where doubt or uncertainty is expressed, although the former can only be used in situations in which ”contingency and futurity” are combined. Thus, a gentleman, giving an order to his tailor, may say, ”Make me a coat of a certain description, if it _fit_ me well I will give you another order;”

because the ”fit” alluded to is a thing which the future has to determine. But when the coat is made and brought home, he cannot say, ”If this cloth _be good_ I will give you another order,” for the quality of the cloth is _already_ determined; the future will not alter it. It may be good, it may be bad, but whatever it _may be_ it already _is_; therefore, as contingency only is implied, _without futurity_, it must be rendered in the indicative mood, ”If this cloth _is_ good,” &c. We may with propriety say, ”If the book be sent in time, I shall be able to read it to-night,” because the sending of the book is an event which the _future_ must produce; but we must not say, ”If this book be sent for me, it is a mistake,” because here the act alluded to is already performed,--the book has come. I think it very likely that people have been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the conjunction, forgetting that conjunctions may be used with the indicative as well as with the subjunctive mood.

XIV.

Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb ”to go,” instead of the past participle, and say, ”I should have _went_,” instead of ”I should have gone.” This is _not_ a very common error, but it is a very great one; and I should not have thought it could come within the range of the cla.s.s for which this book is written, but that I have heard the fault committed by people of even tolerable education. One might as well say, ”I should have _was_ at the theatre last night,” instead of ”I should have _been_ at the theatre,” &c., as say, ”I should have _went_” instead of ”I should have _gone_.”

XV.

Others there are who invert this error, and use the past participle of the verb ”to do” instead of a tense of the verb, saying, ”I _done_”

instead of ”I _did_.” This is inadmissible. ”I _did_ it,” or ”I _have done_ it,” is a phrase correct in its formation, its application being, of course, dependent on other circ.u.mstances.

XVI.

There are speakers who are _too refined_ to use the past (or perfect) participle of the verbs ”to drink,” ”to run,” ”to begin,” &c., and subst.i.tute the _imperfect tense_, as in the verb ”to go.” Thus, instead of saying, ”I have drunk,” ”he has run,” ”they have begun,” they say, ”I have _drank_” ”he has _ran_,” ”they have _began_” &c. These are minor errors, I admit; still, nice ears detect them.

XVII.

I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers against adopting the flagrant vulgarity of saying ”_don't_ ought,” and ”_hadn't_ ought,”

instead of ”ought _not_.” It is also incorrect to employ _no_ for _not_ in such phrases as, ”If it is true or _no_ (not),” ”Is it so or _no_ (not)?”

XVIII.

Many people have an odd way of saying, ”I expect,” when they only mean ”I think,” or ”I conclude;” as, ”I expect my brother is gone to Richmond to-day,” ”I expect those books were sent to Paris last year.” This is wrong. _Expect_ can relate only to _future_ time, and must be followed by a future tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood; as, ”I expect my brother _will go_ to Richmond to-day,” ”I expect _to find_ those books were sent to Paris last year.” Here the introduction of a future tense, or of a verb in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without altering the sense; but such a portion of the sentence must not be omitted in expression, as no such ellipsis is allowable.