S. 9.--Dr. Adam's distribution of verbs, is apparently the same as the
first part of Murray's; and his definitions are also in nearly the same
words. But he adds, "The verb _Active_ is also called _Transitive_, when
the action _passeth over_ to the object, or hath an effect on some other
thing; as, _scribo literas_, I write letters: but when the action is
confined within the agent, and _passeth not over_ to any object, it is
called _Intransitive_; as, _ambulo_, I walk; _curro_, I run: [fist] which
are likewise called _Neuter Verbs_."--_Adam's Latin and English Gram._, p.
79. But he had just before said, "A _Neuter_ verb properly expresses
neither action nor passion, but _simply the being, state, or condition_ of
things; as, _dormio_, I sleep; _sedeo_, I sit."--_Ibid._ Verbs of motion or
action, then, must needs be as improperly called neuter, in Latin, as in
English. Nor is this author's arrangement orderly in other respects; for he
treats of "_Deponent_ and _Common_ Verbs," of "_Irregular_ Verbs," of
"_Defective_ Verbs," and of "_Impersonal_ Verbs," none of which had he
mentioned in his distribution. Nor are the late revisers of his grammar any
more methodical.

OBS. 10.--The division of our verbs into _active-transitive,
active-intransitive, passive_, and _neuter_, must be understood to have
reference not only to their _signification_ as of themselves, but also to
their _construction_ with respect to the government of an objective word
after them. The latter is in fact their most important distinction, though
made _with reference_ to a different part of speech. The classical scholar,
too, being familiar with the forms of Latin and Greek verbs, will doubtless
think it a convenience, to have the arrangement as nearly correspondent to
those ancient forms, as the nature of our language will admit. This is
perhaps the strongest argument for the recognition of the class of _passive
verbs_ in English. Some grammarians, choosing to parse the passive
participle separately, reject this class of verbs altogether; and, forming
their division of the rest with reference to the construction alone, make
but two classes, _transitive_ and _intransitive_. Such is the distribution
adopted by C. Alexander, D. Adams, Bingham, Chandler, E. Cobb, Harrison,
Nutting, and John Peirce; and supported also by some British writers, among
whom are McCulloch and Grant. Such too was the distribution of Webster, in
his Plain and Comprehensive Grammar, as