rogressive used passively,--that is, of
not always denoting _continuance in the state of receiving continued
action_,--and which is, for that remarkable reason, judged worthy of
_rejection_, is nevertheless admitted to have, in very many instances, a
conformity to this idea, and therefore to "belong [thus far] to the present
tense."--P. 103. This contradicts to an indefinite extent, the proposition
for its rejection. It is observable also, that the same examples, '_I am
loved_' and 'I _am smitten_,'--the same "_tolerated, but erroneous forms_,"
(so called on page 103,) that are given as specimens of what he would
reject,--though at first pronounced "_equivalent_ in grammatical
construction," censured for the same pretended error, and proposed to be
changed alike to "_the true form_" by the insertion of "_being_,"--are
subsequently declared to "belong to" different classes and different
tenses. "_I am loved_," is referred to that "numerous" class of verbs,
which "_detail_ ACTION _of prior, but retained, endured, and continued
existence_; and therefore, in this sense, _belong to the present tense_."
But "_I am smitten_," is idly reckoned of an opposite class, (said by Dr.
Bullions to be "perhaps the greater number,") whose "ACTIONS described are
neither _continuous_ in their nature, nor _progressive_ in their duration;
but, on the contrary, _completed_ and _perfected_; and [which] are
consequently descriptive of _passed_ time and ACTION."--_Wright's Gram._,
p. 103. Again: "In what instance soever this latter form and signification
_can_ be introduced, _their import should be, and, indeed, ought to be,
supplied by the perfect tense construction_:--for example, '_I am
smitten_,' [should] be, '_I have been smitten_.'"--_Ib._ Here is
self-contradiction indefinitely extended _in an other way_. Many a good
phrase, if not every one, that the author's first suggestion would turn to
the unco-passive form, his present "_remedy_" would about as absurdly
convert into "the perfect tense."

OBS. 14.--But Wright's inconsistency, about this matter, ends not here: it
runs through all he says of it; for, in this instance, error and
inconsistency constitute his whole story. In one place, he anticipates and
answers a question thus: "To what tense do the constructions, 'I am
pleased;' 'He is expected;' '_I am smitten_;' 'He is bound;' belong?" "We
answer:--_So far as_ these and like constructions are applicable to the
delineation of _continuou