other past action;"--or, "Because the action took
place _previously_ to the other past action."

NOTE IV.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs should either become
adjectives, or be taken as parts of such nouns, written as compound words:
or, if neither of these methods be agreeable, a greater change should be
made. Examples of error: 1. "_Rightly_ understanding a sentence, depends
very much on a knowledge of its grammatical construction."--_Comly's
Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 8. Say, "_The right_ understanding _of_ a sentence,"
&c. 2. "Elopement is a running _away_, or private departure."--_Webster's
El. Spelling-Book_. p. 102. Write "_running-away_" as one word. 3. "If they
[Milton's descriptions] have any _faults_, it is their _alluding too
frequently_ to matters of learning, and to fables of antiquity."--_Blair's
Rhet._, p. 451. Say, "If they have any _fault_, it is _that they allude_
too frequently," &c.

NOTE V.--When the participle is followed by an adjective, its conversion
into a noun appears to be improper; because the construction of the
adjective becomes anomalous, and its relation doubtful: as, "When we speak
of _'ambition's being restless_' or, _'a disease's being
deceitful_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 346; _Kirkham's_, p. 224. This
ought to be, "When we speak of _ambition as_ being restless, or a _disease
as_ being deceitful;" but Dr. Blair, from whom the text originally came,
appears to have written it thus: "When we speak of _ambition's_ being
restless, or a _disease_ being deceitful."--LECT. xvi, p. 155. This is
_inconsistent with itself_; for one noun is possessive, and the other,
objective. NOTE VI.--When a compound participle is converted into a noun,
the hyphen seems to be necessary, to prevent ambiguity; but such compound
nouns are never elegant, and it is in general better to avoid them, by some
change in the expression. Example: "Even as _the being healed_ of a wound,
presupposeth the plaster or salve: but not, on the contrary; for the
application of the plaster presupposeth not _the being healed_."--_Barclays
Works_, Vol. i, p. 143. The phrase, "_the being healed_" ought to mean
only, _the creature healed_; and not, _the being-healed_, or _the healing
received_, which is what the writer intended. But the simple word _healing_
might have been used in the latter sense; for, in participial nouns, the
distinction of _voice_ and of _tense_ are commonly disregarded.

NOTE VII.--A participle s