In other instances, it is found convenient to contrive a mode of expressing by some slight alteration in the form of the verb the circumstance of being the object acted on. An expression of this sort, if found to harmonize with the genius of a language, may be afterwards universally adopt ed ; and the original form of the verb xvill then be limited to the active application. In such languages, the distinc tion betwixt the active and passive voices will be most con stant. This happens in the Latin language, and in the active and passive voices of the Greek. But, where the contrivances adopted for this purpose are in point of con venience less fortunate, they will be more varied and less strictly adhered to. Much will be left to urgent occasion or individual taste. Of this we have instances in the mid dle voice of the Greek verb, and in several phrases in the modern languages of Europe.
The French apply the verb in a passive acceptation, by introducing the same object as the nominative and the ac cusative to it, as .Le -yin de Bourgoigne SE BOIT nart011t, literally " the wine of Burgundy drinks itself every where." A verb thus used has been called a reciprocal verb, and it appears particularly appropriate when the same object is the agent and the object affected, as in the phrase " he prepares himself." Yet it is not necessarily limited to such occasions. .Le vin boit does not mean " the wine performs the act of drinking," but " the wine has some connection with the act of drinking." The nature of that connection is here indicated by the accusative se. The phrase lc yin se boit may be thus analysed, " The wine is concerned in drinking, by being the liquor which some ohe drinks." But we find that in English, when we say " the wine drinks pleasantly," the kind of connection be twixt the wine and the act of drinking is left to be inferred from the nature of the subject. This is of itself sufficient ly prominent to prevent ambiguity, notwithstanding the incomparably greater frequency of the active application of that verb.
In other instances, a slight addition or a mere alteration is used for denoting the passive. In the Icelandic language, ceg elska signifies " I love," teg elskast " I am loved." In Latin, we have amo for " I love," and amor for " I am lov ed," The expedients adopted in different languages will depend on the previous state of each. \Vhen a language already possesses a word expressive of suffering or being acted on, it will be natural to employ this, or some part of it, in union with the verb to denote the passive. It is not improbable that the letter r, which distinguishes the pas sive voice in Latin, is derived from res 44 a thing," or some previously existing word of simil.-se import. The radical letters am signify " love ;" am-o "1 love," i. e. " I have some general connection with loving." 4m•o•r "1am con nected with loving as the thing or object loved." The let ter r runs through all those forms of the passive voice which are produced by inflexion, with the exception of the second person plural.
The preterite tense of the passive verb in Latin is made up of a compound phrase, consisting of the participle with the substantive verb. The participle employed is derived from the past tense. Anzatus is most probably a contrac tion for amavit us, and derived from amavit. The past tense is thus converted into a part of speech resembling the adjective ; and the effect of the past is exhibited as a quality which is to be connected or adjectived to some other idea expressed in the form of a substantive noun. The introduction of the copula forms an indicative or as serting sentence. This shows that assertion was not early appropriated to that particular sort of connection betwixt actions and other objects.
The best passive form of the verb which the English lan guage possesses is in the preterite tense, and yet it is of an equally compound nature with this part of the Latin passive. \Ve adopt the sign of past action in the form of an adjectived quality, and complete our assertion by insert ing the copula. cc Destroyed" is the past tense of the verb " destroy." " The enemy's troops destroyed the city" ex presses the active voice . " The city is destroyed" express es the passive.
We have no good contrivance for a passive voice in the present indicative. Domus olfficatur cannot be literally translated into our language. \Vhen we say" The house is built," we assert the completion of an action. The near est approach which we make to it in respect to tense is by the phrase " the house is building ;" but here we confound the voices, at least we employ a word which in respect of voice is general, as the participle in ing is most commonly used in the active voice. Some of our southern neighbours choose to express their meaning by the phrase " the house is being built," which is no farther appropriate to the pre sent tense than as the same combination never happens to be used for the past. It labours under the disadvantage of an awkward verbosity, which prevents it from being ge nerally adopted, or sanctioned by the authority of persons of taste. Another effort has sometimes been made to sup ply this want by prefixing the letter a to the present par ticiple, and thus converting it into a passive present, "the house is a•building," but this has not succeeded in meeting with a permanent adoption. A striedy appro priate phrase has not been found absolutely necessary, be cause a slight alteration in the form of our sentence ena bles us to dispense entirely with rbz passive form of the verb. \Ve can say " the building of the house goes for ward," or " the work people are engaged in the building of the house." No inconvenience is experienced in ex pressing our meaning ; tt i confined to our attempts to translate Latin sentences literally into English.