the words is being lost form the true present tense of the passive voice; in which voice, all verbs, thus expressed, are unsuspectedly situated:  thus, agreeing with the noun shame, as the nominative of the first member of the sentence.”—­Wright’s Philosophical Gram., p. 192.  With all his deliberation, this gentleman has committed one oversight here, which, as it goes to contradict his scheme of the passive verb, some of his sixty venerable commenders ought to have pointed out to him.  My old friend, the “Professor of Elocution in Columbia College,” who finds by this work of “superior excellence,” that “the nature of the verb, the most difficult part of grammar, has been, at length, satisfactorily explained,” ought by no means, after his “very attentive examination” of the book, to have left this service to me.  In the clause, “all virtue is lost,” the passive verb “is lost” has the form which Murray gave it—­the form which, till within a year or two, all men supposed to be the only right one; but, according to this new philosophy of the language, all men have been as much in error in this matter, as in their notion of the nominative absolute.  If Wright’s theory of the verb is correct, the only just form of the foregoing expression is, “all virtue is being lost.”  If this central position is untenable, his management of the nominative absolute falls of course.  To me, the inserting of the word being into all our passive verbs, seems the most monstrous absurdity ever broached in the name of grammar.  The threescore certifiers to the accuracy of that theory, have, I trow, only recorded themselves as so many ignoramuses; for there are more than threescore myriads of better judgements against them.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VIII.

NOUNS OR PRONOUNS PUT ABSOLUTE.

“Him having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed.”—­Brown’s Inst., p. 190.

[FORMULE.—­Not proper, because the pronoun him, whose case depends on no other word, is in the objective case.  But, according to Rule 8th, “A noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word.”  Therefore, him should be he; thus, “He having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed.”]

“Me being young, they deceived me.”—­Inst.  E. Gram., p. 190.  “Them refusing to comply, I withdrew.”—­Ib. “Thee being present, he would not tell what he knew.”—­Ib. “The child is lost; and me, whither shall I go?”—­Ib. “Oh! happy us, surrounded with so many blessings.”—­Murray’s Key, p. 187; Merchant’s, 197; Smith’s New Gram., 96; Farnum’s, 63. “’Thee, too!  Brutus, my son!’ cried Caesar, overcome.”—­Brown’s Inst., p. 190.  “Thee!  Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?”—­New-York Mirror, Vol. x, p. 353.  “How swiftly our time passes away! and ah! us, how little concerned to improve it!”—­Comly’s Gram., Key, p. 192.