thousand years ago; whereas, the meaning of the latter is, that I performed the act of reducing the plate from a whole to a broken state; and it is not intimated whether I possess it, or some one else.  It appears reasonable, that, in a practical grammar, at least, any word which occurs in constructions differing so widely, may properly be classed with different parts of speech.  This illustration likewise establishes the propriety of retaining what we call the perfect tense of the verb.

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QUESTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

How are participles formed?—­What does the imperfect part express?—­
What do perfect participles denote?

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LECTURE VI.

OF ADVERBS.

An ADVERB is a word used to modify the sense of a verb, a_participle_, an adjective, or another adverb.

Recollect, an adverb never qualifies a noun.  It qualifies any of the four parts of speech abovenamed, and none others.

To modify or qualify, you know, means to produce some change.  The adverb modifies.  If I say, Wirt’s style excels Irving’s, the proposition is affirmative, and the verb excels expresses the affirmation.  But when I say, Wirt’s style excels not Irving’s, the assertion is changed to a negative.  What is it that thus modifies or changes the meaning of the verb excels?  You perceive that it is the little word not.  This word has power to reverse the meaning of the sentence. Not, then, is a modifier, qualifier, or negative adverb.

When an adverb is used to modify the sense of a verb or participle, it generally expresses the manner, time, or place, in which the action is performed, or some accidental circumstance respecting it.  In the phrases, The man rides gracefully, awkwardly, badly, swiftly, slowly, &c.; or, I saw the man riding swiftly, slowly, leisurely, very fast, &c., you perceive that the words gracefully, awkwardly, very fast, &c., are adverbs, qualifying the verb rides, or the participle riding, because they express the manner in which the action denoted by the verb and participle, is done.

In the phrases, The man rides daily, weekly, seldom, frequently, often, sometimes, never; or, The man rode yesterday, heretofore, long since, long ago, recently, lately, just now or, The man will ride soon, presently, directly, immediately, by and by, to-day, hereafter, you perceive that all these words in italics, are adverbs, qualifying the meaning of the verb, rides, because they express the time of the action denoted by the verb.

Again, if I say, The man lives here, near by, yonder, remote, far off, somewhere, nowhere, everywhere, &c., the words in italics are adverbs of place, because they tell where he lives.