ghts under which auxiliary verbs may be
viewed, has been written for the sake of illustrating, rather than
exhausting, the subject.

s. 492. The combination of the auxiliary, _have_, with the past participle
requires notice. It is, here, advisable to make the following
classifications.

1. The combination with the participle of a _transitive verb._--_I have
ridden the horse_; _thou hast broken the sword_; _he has smitten the
enemy_.

2. The combination with the participle of an _intransitive_ verb,--_I have
waited_; _thou hast hungered_; _he has slept_.

3. The combination with the participle of the verb substantive, _I have
been_; _thou hast been_; _he has been_.

It is by examples of the first of these three divisions that the true
construction is to be shown.

For an object of any sort to be in the possession of a person, it must
previously have existed. If I possess a horse, that horse must have had a
previous existence.

Hence, in all expressions like _I have ridden a horse_, there are two
ideas, a past idea in the participle, and a present idea in the word
denoting possession.

For an object of any sort, affected in a particular manner, to be in the
possession of a person, it must previously have been affected in the manner
required. If I possess a horse that has been ridden, the riding must have
taken place before I mention the fact of the ridden horse being in my
possession; inasmuch as I speak of it as a thing already done,--the
participle, _ridden_, being in the past tense.

_I have ridden a horse_ = _I have a horse ridden_ = _I have a horse as a
ridden horse_, or (changing the gender and dealing with the word _horse_ as
a thing) _I have a horse as a ridden thing_.

In this case the syntax is of the usual sort. (1) _Have_ = _own_ = _habeo_
= _teneo_; (2) _horse_ is the accusative case _equum_; (3) _ridden_ is a
past participle agreeing either with _horse_, or _with a word in apposition
with it understood_.

Mark the words in italics. The word _ridden_ does not agree with _horse_,
since it is of the neuter gender. Neither if we said _I have ridden the
horses_, would it agree with _horses_; since it is of the singular number.

The true construction is arrived at by supplying the word _thing_. _I have
a horse as a ridden thing_ = _habeo equum equitatum_ (neuter). Here the
construction is the same as _triste lupus stabulis_.

_I have horses as a ridden thing_ = _habeo equos equitatum_ (singular,
n