finition, rule, or principle
of grammar, unless, in my humble judgment, some _practical advantage_ to
the learner is thereby gained. The following, some consider a good
definition.

A VERB is a word which _expresses affirmation_.

An _active verb_ expresses action; and

The _nominative case_ is the actor, or subject of the verb; as, _John
writes_.

In this example, which is the _verb?_ You know it is the word _writes_,
because this word signifies to _do;_ that is, it expresses _action_,
therefore, according to the definition, it is an _active verb_. And you
know, too, that the noun _John_ is the _actor_, therefore John is in the
_nominative case_ to the verb writes. In the expressions, The man
walks--The boy plays--Thunders roll--- Warriors fight--you perceive that
the words _walks, plays, roll_, and _fight_, are _active verbs;_ and you
cannot be at a loss to know, that the nouns _man, boy, thunders_, and
_warriors_, are in the _nominative case._

As no _action_ can be produced without some agent or moving cause, it
follows, that every active verb must have some _actor_ or _agent_. This
_actor, doer_, or _producer of the action_, is the nominative.
_Nominative_, from the Latin _nomino_, literally signifies to _name;_
but in the technical sense in which it is used in grammar, it means the
noun or pronoun which is the _subject_ of affirmation. This subject or
nominative may be _active, passive_, or _neuter_, as hereafter
exemplified.

A _neuter verb_ expresses neither action nor passion, but _being_, or _a
state of being_; as, _John sits_.

Now, in this example, _John_ is not represented as _an actor_, but, as
the _subject_ of the verb _sits_, therefore John is in the _nominative
case_ to the verb. And you know that the word _sits_ does not express
_apparent action_, but a _condition of being;_ that is, it represents
John in a particular _state of existence;_ therefore _sits_ is a _neuter
verb_. In speaking of the neuter gender of nouns, I informed you, that
_neuter_ means _neither;_ from which it follows, that neuter gender
implies neither gender; that is, neither masculine nor feminine. Hence,
by an easy transition of thought, you learn, that _neuter_, when applied
to verbs, means neither of the other two classes; that is, a _neuter_
verb is one which is neither active nor passive. In these examples, The
man stands--The lady lives--The child sleeps--The world exists--the
words _stands, lives, sleeps_, and _exis