a wide difference in the meaning--_inferred_ by custom;
which difference depends on the _manner_ in which the term is
applied. The former construction denotes, that I _possess_ a plate
which was _broken_, (whether with or without my agency, is not
intimated,) perhaps, one hundred or one 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.

* * * * *

QUESTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

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

* * * * *

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