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The term 'neuter,' as applied to verbs, should be altogether discarded; and the terms 'active' and 'passive' should be strictly confined to the forms, or, as they are commonly called,

the voices.

Hence we would not speak of 'active verbs' or 'passive verbs,' but we say that Transitives are used in two voices, the Active and the Passive; whereas Intransitives are used in one form alone, which (in point of form) corresponds with the Active voice of verbs Transitive,

9. As a general rule, though one liable to many exceptions, Intransitives are capable of furnishing a complete sense (or of making a complete predication); while Transitives almost always require some word or words to complete the predicate.

For example, in these sentences, He sleeps, She sits, They run, the verbs are Intransitive, and the meaning in each sentence is complete. But when we say John beats, the question naturally arises' Whom does he beat?' and if we answer' John beats Thomas,' the inquiry is satisfied. It is not that 'John beats' tells us less than John sleeps;' but it raises a new question, and until this is answered there is a sense of incompleteness.

There are, indeed, exceptions both ways. Some Intransitives, as become, seem, and many others, are not by themselves capable of forming a complete predication; and on the other hand, a Transitive verb is sometimes used absolutely, as the phrase is: for example, William conquers, that is, William is victorious; but in such sentences the meaning is, 'William conquers all his enemies,' or 'every obstacle,' or words to the same effect.

INTRANSITIVES.

10. As a general rule Intransitive verbs are capable of giving a complete sense, or, in other words, of making a complete predication: as He comes, She goes, Time flies. Here the subject-nominative and the predicate-verb are quite sufficient to constitute a perfect sentence; and we analyse,

subject-nominative
Time

predicate-verb
flies.

It will be remembered that by the term predicate-verb we mean the leading verb of the predicate. The Intransitive (used as a predicate-verb) may be qualified in various ways

by adverbs and adverbial phrases: as, 'Time flies swiftly,' 'Time flies with great rapidity;' but it will be better to postpone these considerations until we come to discuss, generally, the qualifications of predicate-verbs.

But some intransitives do not form a complete predication. To say 'Thomas becomes,' or 'Harry seems,' would have no meaning; but 'Thomas becomes rich,' 'Harry seems wise,' are intelligible sentences.

Here the adjectives rich and wise complete the predication : they tell us what it is that Thomas and Harry 'become' and 'seem,' and they agree in case with the subject-nominatives. They are, in fact, predicate-nominatives. As for example : 'Thomas becomes rich.'

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11. As before remarked, we treat all parts of the verb be as parts of an ordinary Intransitive verb; and therefore we analyse 'Harry was first,' 'Edward will be successful,' thus:

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The use of the predicate-nominative accompanying a predicate-verb is not confined to verbs of incomplete predication. We may say 'The grass grows,' and this gives a complete 'Thomas grows tall,' where we

sense; but we may

have,

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also say

Subject-nominative.
Predicate-verb.

Predicate-nominative.

But very great care is necessary to determine this use of the adjective, from the fact that many of our old Saxon adjectives appear to be used adverbially. For example, in these sentences,

The rose smells sweet,
The wine tastes sour,

the adjectives'sweet' and 'sour' are not predicate-nominatives, or nominatives at all, but what are called in Latin grammar neuter accusatives. See § 23.

TRANSITIVES.

12. The Predicate-verb Transitive does not, as a general rule, furnish a complete meaning, inasmuch as it raises a new question, demanding an answer; and the word or words which, after a Transitive verb, help to complete the predicate, are usually termed the object.

But as we distinguished between the logical subject' and the grammatical subject-nominative,' so we must make a difference between the object and the objective, by which we mean 'a substantive in the objective case.'

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For example, in the sentence Thomas reads books,' the word books completing the predicate is the 'object' of the verb reads, and is also the objective' governed by the verb. But when we say 'Thomas reads many good books,' the object is the phrase 'many good books; but the objective is 'books;' while 'many' and 'good' are qualifications of the objective.

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Obs. The term 'objective' is equivalent to 'object-accusative,' 'object-dative,' or 'object-genitive.' We shall hereafter distinguish between the object-accusative' and the subject-accusative,' commonly called the 'accusative before the infinitive.'

13. Whenever we have occasion to discriminate between the objective immediately dependent upon a Transitive verb, and other objectives in a sentence, we shall call the former the Primary Objective.

The Primary Objective.

We have said that the objective must be a substantive: and it may be,

1. A noun: Scipio loved honour.

2. A pronoun: The people saw him.
3. An adjective used substantively:

The Lord loveth the righteous.

Obs. As far as the mere form is concerned, 'the righteous'
may be either singular or plural.

4. A verb in the infinitive mood, used substantively:
He desires to study.

He practises writing.

Qualifications of the Objective.

14. These are very much the same as the qualifications of the subject-nominative. We may have,

1. An adjective: as,

The baker makes good bread.

2. A demonstrative pronoun:

We know these things.

3. The definite article:

Wellington pursued the enemy.

4. A noun in apposition with the objective:
They applauded Cicero the consul.

5. A noun or pronoun in the possessive case:
Falkland beheld the king's army.
Cromwell knew his weakness.

6. A prepositional phrase:

Cromwell defeated the army of the king.

The Complement-Objective.

15. It is clear that there is a difference between the sentences 'They applauded Cicero the consul' and 'They made Cicero consul:' for in the first instance, the term 'consul' is merely added by way of explanation, to qualify the objective Cicero;' but in the latter case it is essential to the meaning; it tells us what they made him. Here, as the objective stands in close connection with the predicate-verb and helps to complete the predication, we shall term it the complementobjective. We analyse the sentence thus:

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This 'complement-objective' is sometimes termed the 'factitive accusative,' from the Latin verb facere, ' to make,' which is taken as a type of the whole class of verbs admitting this construction. But we must guard against supposing that the construction is in any way peculiar to verbs of making;' on the contrary, a general principle is involved.

The complement-objective may be,

1. A noun: as

The citizens made Whittington mayor.

2. An adjective: as

Alfred made his people happy.

Analysing these sentences, we have

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Article, qualifying the subject-nominative.
Subject-nominative.

Predicate-verb.
Objective (primary).
Complement-objective.
Subject-nominative.
Predicate-verb.

Pronoun, in the possessive case, qualifying
the primary objective.

Objective (primary).
Complement-objective.

And observe, that when these verbs are employed in the passive voice, just as the primary objective is turned into the subject-nominative, so the complement-objective is turned into a complement-nominative: thus,

'Whittington was made mayor by the citizens;' and the analysis will be

Whittington

was

made

mayor

by the citizens

Subject-nominative.
Predicate-verb.
Predicate-nominative.
Complement-nominative.

Adverbial (or prepositional) phrase, quali-
fying the predicate-nominative.

16. As we have said, this construction is by no means con

fined to verbs of 'making.'

It is found:

1. With verbs of 'choosing, electing, appointing,' as,
The Romans elected Cicero consul.

The people chose Arteveldt burgomaster.

2. With verbs of calling' and 'naming:' as,
They called him John.

The English named Edward Longshanks.

Some difficulty arises with to think, deem, consider, regard, &c.,' in such sentences as:

They think him happy.

He deemed them foolish.

They considered him a philosopher,

It might be argued: if, in these sentences,

They make him happy,

They call him happy,

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