Page images
PDF
EPUB

'happy' is a complement-objective, the same explanation must surely apply to the sentence:

They think him happy.

But in 'make him' and 'call him,' him is the immediate object of the verbs. They do 'make him' and 'call him;' but they do not think him.' In 'make . . . happy' and 'call happy,' the adjective is so bound up with the verb, that the idea might be expressed in each case by a single word, 'beatify' and 'felicitate.'

[ocr errors]

On the other hand, when we say 'They think him happy,'

we mean

They think that he is happy, or,

They think him (to be) happy.

If this view be correct, the construction must be explained upon another principle, which we shall discuss when we consider the doctrine of the 'subject-accusative.'

In support of this view we may remark the tendency to insert after these verbs a conjunction or some other particle before the second objective: as,

They regarded him as a philosopher.
They took him for a judge.

The Secondary Objective.

17. Quite apart from the Complement-objective, many Transitive verbs can govern two cases. In Latin, where there is great variety of inflection, these are readily distinguished : thus, some verbs are said to govern two accusatives; others an accusative and a dative; others an accusative and a genitive.

Grammarians have classified these instances under the headings of the 'direct' and 'indirect' object; or, as others prefer to say, the 'immediate' and the 'remote' object. But as we wish to keep the terms object and objective quite distinct, we employ the terms Primary and Secondary Objective.

Let us take the sentence, Socrates taught the Athenians philosophy.' In Latin this would be Socrates Athenienses philosophiam docuit; where the Latin grammarians say that philosophiam is the 'immediate' object, and Athenienses the remote' object. On the same principle, in Socrates taught the Athenians philosophy,' we might call philosophy the primary objective, and the Athenians the secondary objective.

[ocr errors]

But we ought to observe that much depends upon the way

in which we look at a sentence of this kind. It may be said, with truth, that what Socrates taught was 'philosophy,' and that the persons affected by his teaching were the 'Athenians;' in fact, that

Socrates taught philosophy to the Athenians; and that therefore philosophy' is the primary objective.

But it is equally true that

Socrates taught (i. e., instructed) the Athenians in philosophy :

and according to this view, the Athenians take the place of the primary objective.

The former aspect of the case appears to have generally occurred to the writers upon Greek and Latin grammar; and we shall adhere to it; but where two interpretations are possible, neither should be passed over in total silence.

18. After verbs of 'giving, granting,' &c., the secondary objective is generally preceded by the preposition to, corresponding to a substantive in the dative case in Latin: as, Augustus gave power to Tiberius. William granted land to Fitzroy.

The pronouns me, thee, him, her, them, represent datives in Anglo-Saxon; accordingly they are used as secondary objectives without the preposition to:

The master gave me a book.

The citizens granted him a triumph.

The prince gave her a crown.

It is evident that the terms 'primary' and 'secondary' have nothing to do with the position of the objective in a sentence. Nor can any general rule be laid down to determine the appliIcation of the terms. It frequently happens that the primary objective is used in speaking of things, and the secondary objective in speaking of persons; but not always, as may be seen from the next example.

19. After verbs of 'accusing, charging,' &c., the secondary objective, denoting the ground of accusation (and corresponding to a substantive in the genitive case in Latin), is preceded by the preposition of or with: as,

Bradshaw accused Cromwell of ambition.

Cromwell charged the members with sedition.

Here the primary objective refers to persons; and yet by a turn of the sentence we may say,

Bradshaw charged ambition upon Cromwell.
Cromwell charged sedition upon the members.

The infinitive mood of a verb used substantively is often employed as a primary or secondary objective: thus,

The general forced him to serve.

I counsel you to wait.

And which objective shall be here considered primary or secondary will depend upon the way of looking at the sentence: whether, for example, we understand 'The general forced him to service,' or, 'The general forced service upon him.'

20. When any Transitive verb (which in the active voice governs two objectives) is employed in the passive voice, one of the objectives is turned into the subject-nominative, and the other remains attached to the verb: thus,

Mr. Thomson taught Henry arithmetic

may be expressed

or,

Henry was taught arithmetic by Mr. Thomson,

Arithmetic was taught to Henry by Mr. Thomson.

Where, in construction with the active voice, the secondary objective is preceded by the preposition to, there is a little awkwardness in converting that objective into a subject-nominative: thus, in place of the active construction,

The Council awarded a prize to Robinson,

it is, no doubt, grammatically correct to say, in the passive, Robinson was awarded a prize by the Council;

where 'Robinson' is made the subject-nominative, and 'prize' is the primary objective remaining attached to the verb, in the passive voice; but it is more usual to say

A prize was awarded to Robinson by the Council.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PREDICATE-VERB.

21. The general term adverb is employed to denote a word which qualifies a verb; and appears to signify, literally, 'that which is at or bye the verb,' or, 'that which is attached to the verb.'

This term is confined, strictly speaking, to a single word; when two or more words, taken together, are used adverbially,

we call the whole an 'adverbial phrase.' It sometimes happens that a preposition and the noun it governs are thus used; and though such a combination is often termed a 'prepositional phrase,' inasmuch as it involves a preposition, yet it may, when qualifying a verb, be called an adverbial phrase,' because it has the force of an adverb.'

[ocr errors]

As a general rule, then, the predicate-verb may be qualified by an adverb: thus,

Socrates spoke wisely.

Cicero wrote well.

If

On this subject, however, many cautions are necessary. we wish to'qualify' a verb, we employ an adverb; but if we want to complete the predicate,' we use an adjective as a predicate-nominative: thus,

Henry grows tall.
They appear wise.

Hence 'He stood firm,' and 'He stood firmly,' are both correct, but with different significations: the first means 'He stood, and he was firm as he stood;' the second asserts that 'He stood in a firm manner :' that his standing was firm.'

22. But this is not all. Some adjectives appear to be used as adverbs, in such sentences as 'He hits hard,' 'The horse runs fast;' where the words 'hard' and 'fast' evidently qualify the verbs, or tell the character of the 'hitting' and the 'running.'

For an explanation of this we must refer to the older forms of the language. In Anglo-Saxon e is the usual termination by which adverbs are formed from adjectives: as

Adjective.
riht 'right'

wid 'wide'

lang 'long'

Adverb.

rihte 'right,'' rightly.'
(Lat. recte.)

wide 'widely.'

lange long.'

Rask, Anglo-Saxon Grammar, § 335.

Dr. Adams thinks that this e is the suffix (or case-ending) of the dative case, used to express manner: and this termination, he says, is retained in Old English, as, softe, brighte, swifte, softly, brightly, swiftly;' but when, in process of time, the e was lost, these adverbs assumed the appearance of adjectives. Adams, Elements, § 396.

[ocr errors]

Some persons are offended at the apparent irregularity of the phrase 'He hits hard,' and prefer to say 'He hits hardly,'

which would imply, if it means anything, that 'he scarcely hits at all.'

The termination -ly is derived from the Anglo-Saxon -lice, which is formed by adding the termination e to adjectives ending in -lic (-like).

In later English the case-ending -e was lost, so that the adverb and the adjective assume the same form. Thus, for example, early may be either an adjective or an adverb. So, too, in the phrase a godly man,' godly is an adjective; but in the phrase 'to live soberly, righteously, and godly,' it is an adverb meaning 'in a godly manner.'

[ocr errors]

In course of time the termination -ly came to be regarded as the mark of an adverb; but where the adjective has already the termination -ly, the same should not be added to form an adverb. We cannot say godlily or manlily, though we might say holily, because the I of 'hol-y' belongs to the root of the word, and does not form part of an adjective termination. 23. Now let us take these examples:

The rose smells sweet.

The wine tastes sour.

Some critics condemn these sentences altogether; they say that the use of the adjective is incorrect; and they would alter thus:

The rose smells sweetly.

The wine tastes sourly.

Other grammarians defend the sentence 'The rose smells sweet,' on the ground that sweet forms part of the predicate, and agrees with the subject, meaning that 'the rose is sweet of smell,' or 'with respect to smell.'

In English, adjectives do not vary their terminations to mark the changes of gender, number, and case; hence we might argue for ever upon the word 'sweet' without being able to arrive at a definite conclusion. But in Latin the adjectives do vary; and if we turned this sentence into Latin prose, it would be 'Rosa suave olet,' where suave is a neuter accusative attached to the verb olet.*

Hence, arguing from the analogy of the Latin language, we say that in the 'Rose smells sweet,' sweet is a neuter accusative, used as equivalent to an adverb. Accordingly, the use of an

[ocr errors]

And so

*Compare anser plebeium sapit.'-Petronius (poet.), § 93.
'Goose tastes vulgar,' i e. ' has a vulgar taste.'
'Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
Dulce loquentem.'-Horace, Odes, I. xxii. 23.

« PreviousContinue »