The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

The latter says, "The participle in ing is sometimes used passively; as, forty and six years was this temple in building; not in being built."—Weld's English Gram., 2d Ed., p. 170. Here, if he means to suggest, that "in being built" would "not" be good English, he teaches very erroneously; if his thought is, that this phrase would "not" express the sense of the former one, "in building," he palpably contradicts his own position! But he proceeds, in a note, thus: "The form of expression, is being built, is being committed, &c., is almost universally condemned by grammarians; but it is sometimes met with in respectable writers. It occurs most frequently in newspaper paragraphs, and in hasty compositions."—Ibid. Wells comments thus: "Different opinions have long existed among critics respecting this passive use of the imperfect participle. Many respectable writers substitute the compound passive participle; as, 'The house is being built;' 'The book is being printed.' But the prevailing practice of the best authors is in favor of the simple form; as, 'The house is building.'"—Wells's School Gram., 1st Ed., p. 148; 113th Ed., p. 161.[273]

OBS. 28.—S. W. Clark, in the second edition of his Practical Grammar, stereotyped and published in New York in 1848, appears to favour the insertion of "being" into passive verbs; but his instructions are so obscure, so often inaccurate, and so incompatible one with an other, that it is hard to say, with certainty, what he approves. In one place, he has this position: "The Passive Voice of a verb is formed by adding the Passive Participle of that verb, to the verb be. EXAMPLES—To be loved. I am feared. They are worshipped."—Page 69. In an other, he has this: "When the Subject is to be represented as receiving the action, the Passive Participle should be used. EXAMPLE—Henry's lesson is BEING RECITED."—P. 132. Now these two positions utterly confound each other; for they are equally general, and "the Passive Participle" is first one thing, and then an other. Again, he has the following assertions, both false: "The Present (or First) Participle always ends in ing, and is limited to the Active Voice. The Past (or Second) Participle of Regular Verbs ends in d or ed, and is limited to the Passive Voice."—P. 131. Afterwards, in spite of the fancied limitation, he acknowledges the passive use of the participle in ing, and that there is "authority" for it; but, at the same time, most absurdly supposes the word to predicate "action," and also to be wrong: saying, "Action is sometimes predicated of a passive subject. EXAMPLE—'The house is building,.. for.. 'The house is being built,'.. which means.. The house is becoming built." On this, he remarks thus: "This is one of the instances in which Authority is against Philosophy. For an act cannot properly be predicated of a passive agent. Many good writers properly reject this idiom. 'Mansfield's prophecy is being realized.'—MICHELET'S LUTHER."—Clark's Practical Gram., p. 133. It may require some study to learn from this which idiom it is. that these "many good writers reject:" but the grammarian who can talk of "a passive agent," without perceiving that the phrase is self-contradictory and absurd, may well be expected to entertain a "Philosophy" which is against "Authority," and likewise to prefer a ridiculous innovation to good and established usage.

OBS. 29.—As most verbs are susceptible of both forms, the simple active and the compound or progressive, and likewise of a transitive and an intransitive sense in each; and as many, when taken intransitively, may have a meaning which is scarcely distinguishable from that of the passive form; it often happens that this substitution of the imperfect participle passive for the simple imperfect in ing, is quite needless, even when the latter is not considered passive. For example: "See by the following paragraph, how widely the bane is being circulated!"—Liberator, No. 999, p. 34. Here is circulating would be better; and so would is circulated. Nor would either of these much vary the sense, if at all; for "circulate" may mean, according to Webster, "to be diffused," or, as Johnson and Worcester have it, "to be dispersed." See the second marginal note on p. 378.

OBS. 30.—R. G. Parker appears to have formed a just opinion of the "modern innovation," the arguments for which are so largely examined in the foregoing observations; but the "principle" which he adduces as "conclusive" against it, if principle it can be called, has scarcely any bearing on the question; certainly no more than has the simple assertion of one reputable critic, that our participle in ing may occasionally be used passively. "Such expressions as the following," says he, "have recently become very common, not only in the periodical publications of the day, but are likewise finding favor with popular writers; as, 'The house is being built.' 'The street is being paved.' 'The actions that are now being performed,' &c. 'The patents are being prepared.' The usage of the best writers does not sanction these expressions; and Mr. Pickbourn lays down the following principle, which is conclusive upon the subject. 'Whenever the participle in ing is joined by an auxiliary verb to a nominative capable of the action, it is taken actively; but, when joined to one incapable of the action, it becomes passive. If we say, The man are building a house, the participle building is evidently used in an active sense; because the men are capable of the action. But when we say, The house is building, or, Patents are preparing, the participles building and preparing must necessarily be understood in a passive sense; because neither the house nor the patents are capable of action.'—See Pickbourn on the English Verb, pp. 78-80."—Parker's Aids to English Composition, p. 105. Pickbourn wrote his Dissertation before the question arose which he is here supposed to decide. Nor is he right in assuming that the common Progressive Form, of which he speaks, must be either active-transitive or passive: I have shown above that it may be active-intransitive, and perhaps, in a few instances, neuter. The class of the verb is determined by something else than the mere capableness of the "nominative."

III. FORM OF PASSIVE VERBS.

Passive verbs, in English, are always of a compound form; being made from active-transitive verbs, by adding the Perfect Participle to the auxiliary verb BE, through all its changes: thus from the active-transitive verb love, is formed the passive verb be loved.

FIFTH EXAMPLE.

The regular passive verb BE LOVED, conjugated affirmatively.

PRINCIPAL PARTS or THE ACTIVE VERB.

Present. Preterit. Imp. Participle. Perf. Participle.

Love. Loved. Loving. Loved.

INFINITIVE MOOD.
PRESENT TENSE.
To be loved.

PERFECT TENSE.
To have been loved.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I am loved, 1. We are loved, 2. Thou art loved, 2. You are loved, 3. He is loved; 3. They are loved.

IMPERFECT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I was loved, 1. We were loved, 2. Thou wast loved, 2. You were loved, 3. He was loved; 3. They were loved.

PERFECT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I have been loved, 1. We have been loved, 2. Thou hast been loved, 2. You have been loved, 3. He has been loved; 3. They have been loved.

PLUPERFECT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I had been loved, 1. We had been loved, 2. Thou hadst been loved, 2. You had been loved, 3. He had been loved; 3. They had been loved.

FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I shall be loved, 1. We shall be loved, 2. Thou wilt be loved, 2. You will be loved, 3. He will be loved; 3. They will be loved.

SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I shall have been loved, 1. We shall have been loved, 2. Thou wilt have been loved, 2. You will have been loved, 3. He will have been loved; 3. They will have been loved.

POTENTIAL MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I may be loved, 1. We may be loved, 2. Thou mayst be loved, 2. You may be loved, 3. He may be loved; 3. They may be loved.

IMPERFECT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I might be loved, 1. We might be loved, 2. Thou mightst be loved, 2. You might be loved, 3. He might be loved; 3. They might be loved.

PERFECT TENSE. Singular. Plural. 1. I may have been loved, 1. We may have been loved, 2. Thou mayst have been loved, 2. You may have been loved, 3. He may have been loved; 3. They may have been loved.

PLUPERFECT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. I might have been loved, 1. We might have been loved, 2. Thou mightst have been loved, 2. You might have been loved, 3. He might have been loved; 3. They might have been loved.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1. If I be loved, 1. If we be loved, 2. If thou be loved, 2.