is confessedly as much a “present” participle, as being, or loving, or seeing—­neither form being solely confined to what now is.  Again, our participle in ing stands not only for the present participle of the Latin or Greek grammarians, but also for the Latin gerund, and often for the Greek infinitive used substantively; so that by this ending, the English verb is not only adjectived, but also substantived, if one may so speak.  For the participle when governed by a preposition, partakes not of the qualities “of a verb and an adjective,” but rather of those of a verb and a noun.

CLASSES.

English verbs, not defective, have severally three participles;[301] which have been very variously denominated, perhaps the most accurately thus:  the Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Preperfect.  Or, as their order is undisputed, they may he conveniently called the First, the Second, and the Third.

I. The Imperfect participle is that which ends commonly in ing, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion:  as, being, acting, ruling, loving, defending, terminating.

II.  The Perfect participle is that which ends commonly in ed or en, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion:  as, been, acted, ruled, loved, defended, terminated.

III.  The Preperfect participle is that which takes the sign having, and implies a previous completion of the being, action, or passion:  as, having loved, having seen, having written; having been loved, having been writing, having been written.

The First or Imperfect Participle, when simple, is always formed by adding ing to the radical verb; as, look, looking:  when compound, it is formed by prefixing being to some other simple participle; as, being reading, being read, being completed.

The Second or Perfect Participle is always simple, and is regularly formed by adding d or ed to the radical verb:  those verbs from which it is formed otherwise, are either irregular or redundant.

The Third or Preperfect Participle is always compound, and is formed by prefixing having to the perfect, when the compound is double, and having been to the perfect or the imperfect, when the compound is triple:  as, having spoken, having been spoken, having been speaking.

OBSERVATIONS.