----Young man for a husband, Miss? For shame, Sir! don’t be rude!
Participles are sometimes used as substantives: as, “The French mouth is adapted to _the making of_ grimaces.” “The cobbler is like the parson; he lives by _the mending of_ soles.” “The tailor reaps a good harvest from _the sewing of_ cloth.” “Did you ever see _a shooting of_ the moon?”
Is this what the witches mean when they sing, in the acting play of Macbeth,
If _they_ “shoot the moon,” they are shooting _stars_.
There is a mode of using the indefinite article _a_ before a participle, for which there is no occasion, as it does not convert the participle into a substantive, and makes no alteration in the sense of what is said; in this case the _article_, therefore, is like a wart, a wen, or a knob at the end of the nose, neither useful nor ornamental: as, “Going out _a_ shooting.” “Are you a coming to-morrow?” “I was _a_ thinking about what Jem said.” “Here you are, _a_ going of it, as usual!”
A liberty not unfrequently taken with the English Language, is the substitution of the perfect participle for the imperfect tense, and of the imperfect tense for the perfect participle: as, “He _run_ like mad, with the great dog after him.” “Maria _come_ and told us all about it.” “When I had _wrote_ the Valentine, I sealed it with my thimble.” “He has _rose_ to (be) a common-councilman.” “I was _chose_ Lord Mayor.” “I’ve _eat_ (or _a eat_) lots of venison in my time.” “I should have _spoke_ if you hadn’t put in your oar.” “You were _mistook_.” “He sent her an affecting copy of verses, which was _wrote_ with a Perryian pen.”
Adverbs are generally placed in a sentence before adjectives, after verbs active or neuter, and frequently between the auxiliary and the verb: as, “He came, Sir, and he _was most exceedingly drunk_; he _could hardly stand_ upon his legs; he made a _very lame_ discourse; he _spoke incoherently_ and _ridiculously_; and _was impatiently heard_ by the whole assembly.” “He _is fashionably_ dressed.” “She _is conspicuously ugly_.” “The eye of jealousy _is proverbially sharp_, and yet it _is indisputably green_.” “Britons _may often be sold_, but they _will never be_ slaves.” “The French Marquis was a _very charming_ man; he _danced exquisitely_ and _nimbly_, and was _greatly admired_ by all the ladies.”