The _order of parsing_ a PARTICIPLE, is--a participle, and why?--from
what verb is it derived?--speak the three--present, perfect, or
compound, and why?--to what does it refer or belong?--RULE.
"I saw a vessel _sailing"_
_Sailing_ is a participle, a word derived from a verb, and partakes of
the nature of a verb, and also of an adjective--it comes from the verb
to sail--pres. sailing, perf. sailed, comp. having sailed--it is a
present or imperfect participle, because it denotes the continuance of
an unfinished action--and refers to the noun "vessel" for its subject,
according to
RULE 27. _The present participle refers to some noun or pronoun denoting
the subject or actor_.
"Not a breath disturbs the _sleeping_ billow."
_Sleeping_ is a participial adjective, a word added to a noun to express
its quality--it cannot, with propriety, be compared--- it belongs to the
noun "billow," agreeably to
RULE 18. _Adjectives belong to, and qualify, nouns expressed or
understood_.
You will please to parse these two words several times over, and, by a
little reflection, you will perfectly understand the 27th RULE.
Recollect, the participle never varies its termination to _agree_ with a
noun or pronoun, for, as it has no _nominative_, it has no agreement;
but it simply _refers to_ an actor. Examples: I see a _vessel_ sailing;
or, I see three _vessels_ sailing. You perceive that the participle
_sailing_ refers to a singular noun in the first example, and to a
plural noun in the second; and yet the participle is in the same form in
both examples. The noun _vessel_ is in the objective case, and governed
by the transitive verb _see_. But when a verb follows a noun, the ending
of the verb generally varies in order to agree with the noun which is
its nominative; as, the vessel _sails;_ the vessels _sail_.
In this place it may not be improper to notice another Rule that relates
to the participle. In the sentence, "The man is _beating_ his horse,"
the noun _horse_ is in the objective case, because it is the object of
the action expressed by the active-transitive participle "beating," and
it is governed by the participle beating, according to
RULE 26. _Participles have the same government as the verbs have from
which they are derived_.
The principle upon which this rule is founded, is quite apparent. As a
participle derived from a transitive verb, expresses the same kind of
action as its verb, it necessarily follows, that the participle must
govern the same case as the verb from which it is derived.
When you shall have studied this lecture attentively, you may proceed
and parse the following exercises, containing five parts of speech. If,
in analyzing these examples, you find any words which you cannot parse
correctly and _systematically_ by referring to your Compend for
definitions and rules, you will please to turn back and read over again
the whole _five_ lectures. You must exercise a little patience; and, for
your encouragement, permit me to remind you, that when you shall have
acquired a thorough knowledge of these five parts of speech, only _five_
more will remain for you to learn. Be ambitious to excel. Be thorough in
your investigations. Give your reasoning powers free scope. By studying
these lectures with attention, you will acquire more grammatical
knowledge in _three_ months, than is commonly obtained in _two_ years.
In the following examples, the words _purling, crusted, slumbering_, and
_twinkling_, are participial adjectives. _There_ and _its_ you may omit.