Plur. We have been, you have been, they have been.

The reft of the Mood the fame as in the Indicative.

Infinitive Mood.

Prefent, to be. Preterite, to have been. Future, to be about to be.

Participles.

Prefent, being. Paft, having been. Future, being about to be.

It is proper to obferve here, that the prefixed Signs of every Tense in each Mood of the Verb to be are exactly the fame with those of every Active Verb: And that (except in the two firft Tenfes of the Indicative Mood, and in the Subjunctive) there is no other Difference between the Verbs to have and to be but this, viz. That in all the Compound Tenfes of the former, where have depends upon the Signs, be in the latter depends upon the fame Signs: And where had depends on the Signs of the former, been depends on the fame Signs of the latter: And where having is used in the former, being is used in the latter: So that in the Verb to be one whole Tenfe does not become the Signs of another Tense; as happened in the Verb to have: But fo much only of each Tense of to have as is confidered as a Sign (and is therefore printed in Italicks) remains with the fame Tenfe of to be.

The Whole of the Verb to be, when thus conjugated, becomes the Signs of the feveral Tenfes of the paffive and middle Voice of the English Verb; and this by a Proceeding which will quickly appear by Examples.

Of the Roots of the English Verb.

Before the other Verbs can be conjugated, their capital Forms or Roots must be known. Thefe contain all the Varieties of Termination which the English Verb admits of; except thofe of the Perfons in fome of the Tenfes. And these Roots are confidered as Four in each Verb;

although

although in many Verbs two of them are alike, and in fome few three are alike. Three of these Roots are found in the first Persons Singular of the three first Tenfes of the Indicative Mood in the Active Voice, if these Perfons are confidered without the Pronoun I, and the laft of them also without the Sign have. Thus, in the Verb to call, the first Persons of the three first Tenses are, I call, I called, I have called; therefore three of the Roots of this Verb are, CALL, CALLED, CALLED; and if to these we add CALLING, we have all the Varieties of Termination which the capital Forms of this Verb admit of. It is manifest that the second and third Roots of this Verb are formed by fubjoining ed to the first; and that the fourth Root is formed by fubjoining ing to the firft. This Manner of forming the Roots of a Verb may be confidered as regular in English, because so many Verbs observe it.

If the firft Root ends in filent e, and the fecond and third in ed, it is fufficient to fubjoin a d to the first Root; as, place, placed, placed: But in forming the fourth Root, thee is removed, and ing subjoined to the rest of the Word; as, placing, not placeing.

If the firft Root ends in y, not Part of a Diphthong, and the fecond and third in ed, they is changed into ¿ in these Roots; as, fignify, fignified, not fignifyed: But the fourth Root retains the y; as fignifying,

The two Manners laft mentioned, of forming the Roots of a Verb, may likewise be confidered as regular; for the fmall Variation of Spelling which appears in them, is according to the general Analogy of the Language.

The final Syllable ed is often fupplied by a d with the Mark of Elifion; as, call'd for called: And in fome Verbs by a t, without the Mark of Elifion; as Spelt for Spelled. The Verbs which admit of the Contraction by t, end in ch, ck, p, x, m, ll, fs; as, fetcht, checkt, tipt, fixt, dreamt, dwelt, paft. In thofe that end in I, fs, one of the Confonants is omitted before ; as, dwelt, not dwellt; paft, not passt.

If a Verb end with a fingle Vowel before a fingle Confonant, and is either a Monofyllable, or has the Accent on the laft Syllable, the last Confonant must be doubled when an additional Syllable is fubjoined; as, to bar, barred, barring; to fit, fitted, fitting; to drop, dropped, dropping; to bejét, besetting; to regrét, regretting, regretted; to avér, averring, averred.

There are four Thoufand and about five Hundred Verbs in the English: And the Roots of all them, except about a Hundred and Fifty fimple Verbs with their Compounds, are formed in one of the Manners abovementioned. Therefore all the Verbs, except the Hundred and Fifty last mentioned, with their Compounds, may be confidered as of one and the fame regular Conjugation of the following Form.

The regular Conjugation of the English Verb through all its Voices.

The Active Voice.

To call.

The Roots of the Verb; call, called, called, calling.

Indicative