Chapter 141

ON VERBS IN GENERAL.

§ 472. For the purposes of syntax it is necessary to divide verbs into the five following divisions: transitive, intransitive, auxiliary, substantive, and impersonal.

_Transitive verbs._--In transitive verbs the action is never a simple action. It always affects some object or other,--_I move my limbs_; _I strike my enemy_. The presence of a transitive verb implies also the presence of a noun; which noun is the name of the object affected. A transitive verb, unaccompanied by a noun, either expressed or understood, is a contradiction in terms. The absence of the nouns, in and of itself, makes it intransitive. _I move_ means, simply, _I am in a state of moving_. _I strike_ means, simply, _I am in the act of striking_. Verbs like _move_ and _strike_ are naturally transitive.

_Intransitive verbs._--An act may take place, and yet no object be affected by it. _To hunger_, _to thirst_, _to sleep_, _to wake_, are verbs that indicate states of being, rather than actions affecting objects. Verbs like _hunger_ and _sleep_ are naturally intransitive.

Many verbs, naturally transitive, may be used as intransitive,--e.g., _I move_, _I strike_, &c.

Many verbs, naturally intransitive, may be used as transitives,--e.g., _I walked the horse_ = _I made the horse walk_.

This variation in the use of one and the same verb is of much importance in the question of the government of verbs.

A. Transitive verbs are naturally followed by some noun or other; and that noun is _always_ the name of something affected by them _as an object_.

B. Intransitive verbs are not naturally followed by any noun at all; and when they are so followed, the noun is _never_ the name of anything affected by them _as an object_.

Nevertheless, intransitive verbs may be followed by nouns denoting the manner, degree, or instrumentality of their action,--_I walk with my feet_ = _incedo pedibus_.

§ 473. _The auxiliary verbs_ will be noticed fully in Chapter XXIII.

§ 474. The verb _substantive_ has this peculiarity, viz., that for all purposes of syntax it is no verb at all. _I speak_ may, logically, be reduced to _I am speaking_; in which case it is only the _part_ of a verb. Etymologically, indeed, the verb substantive is a verb; inasmuch as it is inflected as such: but for the purposes of construction, it is a copula only, i.e., it merely denotes the agreement or disagreement between the subject and the predicate.

For the _impersonal_ verbs see Chapter XXI.

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