The form of the verb that is part adjective and part verb is called a participle. The participle does not assert, but assumes or implies action or being. It qualifies a noun or pronoun, like an adjective, and takes modifiers like a verb. A participle from a transitive verb takes an object.

A participle that denotes unfinished action is called a present or imperfect participle; as, hearing, writing.

A participle that denotes finished action is called a past or perfect participle; as, heard, written.

The present participle and the participial infinitive have the same form, but the participle is partly verb and partly adjective, while the infinitive is partly verb and partly noun. The verbal noun derived from the verb, and the participial adjective, also end in ing; as,

1. He hears his daughter's voice, singing [Participle] in the village choir. - LONGFELLOW.

2. They spent the evening in singing [Infinitive] carols.

3. The time of the singing [Noun] of birds has come.

- BIBLE.

4. A singing [Adjective] bird on every bough. - HowITT.

The verbal noun may be distinguished from the participial infinitive by taking an article before it, and by not being followed by an object. The participial adjective may be distinguished from the participle, by expressing not action but quality, and by not taking an object.

EXERCISE I.

Select the participles in the following sentences, mention the kind, and tell what each modifies:·

I. I heard my own mountain goats bleating aloft.

CAMPBELL.

Onward through life he goes. LONGFELLOW.

3. The passengers, warned by the helmsman, retreated into the cabin. - LOSSING.

4. While I lay musing on my pillow, I heard the sound of little feet pattering outside of the door. — IRVING.

5.

All precious things, discovered late,

To those that seek them issue forth.-TENNYSON.

6. Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the withered leaves lie dead.

- BRYANT.

7. Looking out of the window, I saw a crow perched upon the edge of the nest.

BURROUGHS.

8. Yonder sat a tailor cross-legged, making a waistcoat; near him, stretched on his face at full length, sprawled a basket-maker with his half-woven basket and bundles of rushes beside him; and here, close against the main entrance, lay a blind man and his dog; the master asleep, the dog keeping watch.

9.

- AMELIA B. EDWARDS.

Watching their leader's beck and will,

All silent there they stood, and still.-SCOTT.

10. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. — BRYANT,

EXERCISE II.

1. Copy from any standard writer six sentences containing present participles. Underline the participles.

2. Copy from any standard writer six sentences containing past participles.

EXERCISE III.

Distinguish between the different forms of the verb in ing in the following sentences, and tell how each is used:

1. The darting swallows soar and sing.

2. After standing a long time at the end of the wharf, gazing seaward, the strangers began to stray into the town. 3. Coming back we met two or three more regiments.

road.

I had now given up all expectation of finding the

5. One could wander for miles through this forest without meeting a person, or hearing a sound, other than the occasional chatter of a squirrel, the song of a bird, or the sighing of the wind through the branches overhead.

6.

Hark! from the murmuring clods I hear

Glad voices of the coming year. — BRYANT.

7. There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.

LUCY LARCOM.

8. But sorrow returned with the dawning of morn, And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.

- CAMPBELL.

EXERCISE IV.

Write sentences containing a form of the verb in ing

used

I. As an infinitive.

2. As a participle.

3. As a noun.

4. As an adjective.

LESSON XLVI.

TENSE.

Tell what time each verb expresses in the following sentences, and mention the different forms of the verb:

1. I see the light.

2. I saw the light.

3. I shall see the light.

The form of the verb that expresses the time of the action is I called tense.

Since there are three divisions of time-present, past, and future, there are three leading tenses-present, past, and future.

A verb that denotes present time is in the present tense; as, I hear.

A verb that denotes past time is in the past tense; as, I heard.

A verb that denotes future time is in the future tense; as, I shall hear.

Besides these three leading tenses, there are three perfect tenses, which denote action as finished or completed.

A verb that denotes an action as completed at the present time is in the present perfect tense; as,—

I have heard the speaker.

He has finished the work.

A verb that denotes an action as having been completed before some past time is in the past perfect or pluperfect tense; as,

He had heard the report.

A verb that denotes an action to be completed before some future time is in the future perfect tense; as,

I shall have heard the lecture.

He will have heard the lecture.

FORMATION OF TENSES.

Tell which tenses are indicated by the form of the verb itself, and which are made by the aid of other verbs:

TENSES OF THE INDICATIVE MODE.

PRESENT. I write.

PAST. I wrote.
FUTURE. I shall write.

Only two tenses, the form of the verb itself.

PRESENT PERFECT. I have written.
PAST PERFECT. I had written.
FUTURE PERFECT. I shall have written.

present and the past, are indicated by the The other tenses are expressed by the aid of other verbs, called auxiliary verbs.

The future tense is made up of the verb shall or will and the simple infinitive of the verb expressing the action.

Shall is used in the first person, and will in the second and third persons, to announce future action. (See Lesson XL.)

The present-perfect tense is made up of the present of the auxiliary verb have and the perfect participle of the principal verb. The past-perfect tense is made up of the past of the auxiliary verb have and the perfect participle of the principal verb.

The future-perfect tense is made up of the auxiliary shall or will and the perfect infinitive of the verb expressing the action.