has usually an active signification; as, ‘James is building the house.’ Often, however, it takes a passive meaning; as, ‘The house is building.’”—­Id. “Previously to parsing this sentence, the young pupil may be taught to analyze it, by such questions as the following:  viz.”—­Id. “Since that period, however, attention has been paid to this important subject.”—­Id. and Hiley cor. “A definition of a word is a brief explanation of what it means.”—­G.  BROWN:  Hiley cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIV.—­OF IGNORANCE.

“What is a verb?  It is a word which signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon.”  Or thus:  “What is an assertor?  Ans.  ’One who affirms positively; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator.’—­WEBSTER’S DICT.”—­Peirce cor. “Virgil wrote the AEneid.”—­Kirkham cor. “Which, to a supercilious or inconsiderate native of Japan, would seem very idle and impertinent.”—­Locke cor. “Will not a look of disdain cast upon you throw you into a ferment?”—­Say cor. “Though only the conjunction if is here set before the verb, there are several others, (as that, though, lest, unless, except,) which may be used with the subjunctive mood.”—­L.  Murray cor. “When proper names have an article before them, they are used as common names.”—­Id. et al. cor. “When a proper noun has an article before it, it is used as a common noun.”—­Merchant cor. “Seeming to rob the death-field of its terrors.”—­Id. “For the same reason, we might, without any detriment to the language, dispense with the terminations of our verbs in the singular.”—­Kirkham cor. “It removes all possibility of being misunderstood.”—­Abbott cor. “Approximation to perfection is all that we can expect.”—­Id. “I have often joined in singing with musicians at Norwich.”—­Gardiner cor. “When not standing in regular prosaic order.”  Or:—­“in the regular order of prose.”—­O.  B. Peirce cor. “Regardless of the dogmas and edicts of the philosophical umpire.”—­Kirkham cor. “Others begin to talk before their mouths are open, prefixing the mouth-closing M to most of their words; as, ‘M-yes,’ for ‘Yes.’”—­Gardiner cor. “That noted close of his ‘esse videatur,’ exposed him to censure among his contemporaries.”—­Dr. Blair cor. “A man’s own is what he has, or possesses by right; the word own being a past participle of the verb to owe, which formerly signified to have or possess.”—­Kirkham cor. “As requires so; expressing a comparison of manner; as, ’As the one dieth, so dieth the other.’”—­L.