ng_, Perf. _learned_, Comp. _having
learned_. Pres. _walking_, Perf. _walked_, Compound, _having walked_,
and so on.

You may now commit the _order_ of parsing a participle, and then proceed
with me.

SYSTEMATIC ORDER OF PARSING.

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