CHAPTER XV. VERBS. 136. A Verb is a word with which we can make an assertion. We make assertions about things. The word which stands for the thing about which we make the assertion is called the subject of the verb, or the subject of the sentence. As the names of things are nouns, the subject must be a noun or its equivalent, such as a pronoun, a verb in the infinitive mood, or a noun-clause. Thus we may say Error (Noun) It (Pronoun) To err (Infinitive) That one should err (Noun-clause) is human. When we make an assertion about a thing, we are said in grammatical language to predicate something about the thing. As no assertion can be made without the use of a verb, the verb is called the Predicate of the subject, or of the sentence in which it occurs. What is asserted is either action or state. Action is asserted when we say 'The prisoner stole the watch,' 'The watch was stolen by the prisoner,' 'The prisoner ran away.' State is asserted when we say 'The prisoner was glad,' "The prisoner continued unrepentant,' 'The prisoner slept soundly.' W. E. G. 9 137. The action denoted by some verbs is conceived as being directed towards, or passing over to, a certain object. When we say 'The boy kicked the dog, and the dog scratched him,' we assert actions the effects of which were not confined to the agents performing them: the boy's action passed beyond the boy, and the dog's action passed beyond the dog. But when we say 'The boy sat down and cried, and the dog barked and ran away,' we assert actions which terminated with the agents performing them. This distinction is expressed by the words Transitive and Intransitive: it is of the greatest importance. A Transitive Verb is one which indicates an action directed towards some object. An Intransitive Verb is one which indicates (1) an action not directed towards some object, or (2) a state. The student may occasionally be puzzled to determine whether a verb is used transitively or intransitively, for many verbs are used in both ways, though not of course in both ways at the same time. He must ask himself whether the action expressed by the verb produced an effect upon something outside the doer (or, in the case of a reflexive verb, upon the doer itself). He will usually find a word representing the object to which this action passed, but occasionally the object is not mentioned. The verb kicked is clearly transitive when the dog comes after it to indicate its object, and so is scratched when it is followed by him. But how are we to describe these verbs when we say 'The boy lay on the floor and kicked and scratched'? If we mean that he kicked and scratched people at large, the verbs are both transitive, though the recipients of the actions are not specified. But do we necessarily mean this? If the verbs signify that he merely threw his legs and arms about in the fruitless endeavour to reach an object, kicked and scratched are not transitive verbs here any more than walked or ran would be, though they become so, if we suppose that an object is implied. 138. As we shall have occasion to make frequent mention of the word Object in connexion with Transitive Verbs, the reader must notice that this term has unfortunately to do a double duty, standing sometimes for the thing affected by an action and sometimes for the word which represents this thing. The following definition may help the student to keep his mind clear of confusion arising from this ambiguity: The Object of a verb is the word which stands for the thing which is the object of the action denoted by the verb. It would be a concise description of a Transitive Verb to say that it is a Verb that can take an Object. 139. Intransitive Verbs are used as Transitives in these ways: I. 1. A verb, usually intransitive, is occasionally employed with a transitive force: Ordinarily Intransitive. The ship floats. The mother rejoiced. 2. Used Transitively. I walked my horse. I will run the boat aground. The boys are flying their kites. The mother rejoiced her son's heart. Prepositions following Intransitive Verbs may be regarded as forming with them compound verbs which are Transitive. Thus 'I laughed (intrans.) at him,' where the preposition at takes an objective case him, becomes 'I laughed-at (transitive) him,' where the him is the object of the verb. The passive construction can then be employed, and we can say 'He was laughed-at.' So, 'We arrived at this conclusion' becomes in the passive 'This conclusion was arrived-at': 'They came to this decision' becomes 'This decision was come-to.' 3. Prepositions prefixed to some Intransitive Verbs make them Transitive. Thus the intransitive lie becomes the transitive overlie; stand, understand; run, outrun; weep, beweep; moan, bemoan. 4. From a few Intransitive Verbs, Transitive derivatives are formed called Causatives, signifying to cause or produce the action indicated by the original verb: thus from sit we obtain set, meaning to 'make to sit'; from lie, lay; from fall, fell; from rise, raise; from drink, drench. The student must be on his guard against supposing that an Intransitive is Transitive whenever a noun follows it. A noun of kindred meaning to that of the verb accompanies many Intransitives, not as an object but as an adverbial modification. In Latin Grammar this construction is called the Cognate Accusative: ludum ludere, 'to play a game,' vitam vivere, 'to live one's life,' are examples in both languages. 'To run a race,' 'to walk a mile,' 'to dream a dream,' 'to fight a good fight,' 'to sleep the sleep of death' are illustrations of this construction. We describe these nouns as Cognate Objectives. 140. Conversely, some Transitive Verbs are used Intransitively. Compare the following: Transitive. He broke the glass. The sun melted the snow. Intransitive. The glass broke. The snow melted. The criminal reformed. Some writers regard these intransitive uses as apparent rather than real, and consider the verbs to be Reflexives with an object itself understood. 141. Verbs of Incomplete Predication. Many intransitive verbs make no sense as predicates, unless they are followed by some noun, adjective, or verb in the infinitive mood. To say 'He is,' 'They can,' 'We became,' 'You will,' 'She seems,' is meaningless until we add some word to complete the sense. Thus we give significance to these incomplete assertions, if we say 'He is good,' 'He is captain,' 'He is killed,' 'He is come,' 'They can speak French,' became rich,' 'We became partners,' 'You will win,' 'She seems vexed.' Such verbs are called Verbs of Incomplete Predication, and the word or words which are added to make sense are called the Complement of the Predicate. The verbs grow, look, feel, in some of their uses are intransitives of this kind. Certain transitive verbs require, always or in some of their uses, a similar complement. If we say 'The king made a treaty,' the sense is complete: but if we say 'The king made Walpole,' the sense is incomplete until we add the complement a peer,' or 'angry,' or 'continue minister.' The verb 'called' is a complete predicate in the sentence 'The master called his valet,' meaning 'summoned him to his presence': it is an incomplete predicate if it signifies 'applied a name to him,' until the name is added; 'The master called his valet a thief,' or 'lazy'. 'I think you' requires 'a genius,' 'a fool,' ' clever,' 'mad,' to complete the sense. The name Neuter is applied in some books to Intransitive verbs generally, in others to Intransitive verbs of incomplete predication. As there is this ambiguity in its meaning, the best course is to dispense with its use altogether. 142. Auxiliary and Notional Verbs. When we come to the conjugation of the verb, we shall see that most of the different forms are made by means of other verbs, which are therefore called Auxiliaries (from Lat. auxilium, 'help,' because they help to conjugate the verb). The different parts of the verbs be, have, will, shall, may, are employed as Auxiliaries, and when so employed are the substitutes for inflexions of which in our English conjugation very few survive. Thus I shall have written' is in Latin expressed in one inflected form, scripsero, 'you were being loved,' amabamini. |