Part 5
=74.= Many words that are usually adjectives may also be used as nouns. Such words fall into different classes:—
(1) Adjectives denoting color; as, _black_, _white_, _red_. We may say, “The blacks were once slaves of the whites.” We may also say, “Red and green are complementary colors.”
(2) Certain adjectives denoting qualities of persons, which may also be used to name classes of persons having those qualities; as, _rich_, _poor_, _old_, _young_, _bad_, _good_. We say, “The rich should not scorn the poor,” “The good die young.”
(3) Certain adjectives denoting qualities, which may also be used to name classes of things having those qualities; as, _good_, _evil_, _true_, _false_. We say, “Love the good, cherish the true, admire the beautiful.”
(4) Certain other adjectives, such as _native_, _secret_, _fat_, _lean_, _thick_. We say, “The natives had no secrets,” “Jack Sprat would eat no fat,” “He was always in the thick of the fight.”
=Exercise.=—Make sentences containing the following words used as adjectives and as nouns: _purple_, _blue_, _brave_, _righteous_, _evil_, _wet_, _cold_, _sweet_, _right_, _wrong_, _solid_, _strong_.
=75.= Some words may be used both as adjectives and as adverbs. When _well_ means the opposite of _sick_, as in the sentence, “Grace never was a well child,” it is an adjective. When _well_ means in a good manner, as in the sentence, “Esther sings well,” it is an adverb.
=Exercise.=—Tell what part of speech the italicized words are in the following sentences. Give your reason in each case.
1. The paper is large _enough_, but I have not _enough_ string.
2. As she came _near_ I recognized one of my _near_ neighbors.
3. _All_ flesh is grass.
4. The girls playing basket ball are _all_ tired out.
5. The doctor liked a _fast_ horse.
6. We must walk _fast_ this cold morning.
7. Nobody could play golf _worse_ than I.
8. May I never do a _worse_ deed!
9. Have you _any_ ribbon to match this sample?
10. Will this color do _any_ better?
11. Somebody _else_ will marry her then.
12. How _else_ could I get there in time?
Make sentences containing the following words used as adjectives and as adverbs: _high_, _last_, _long_, _low_, _much_, _round_, _slow_, _straight_.
=76.= Some words may be used both as adverbs and as prepositions. In the sentence, “I looked in as I went by,” both _in_ and _by_ are adverbs. How do we know this? In the sentence, “As I went by the house, I looked in the window,” both _in_ and _by_ are prepositions. What are their objects? What do the phrases modify?
=Exercise.=—What part of speech are the italicized words in the following sentences? Give your reason in each case.
1. _Beyond_ lay the city of their dreams.
2. Our house stands _beyond_ the church.
3. _Over_ the Alps lies Italy.
4. Come _over_ this evening if you can.
5. She fainted and did not come _to_ for an hour.
6. The granary is _behind_ the barn.
7. Ichabod looked _behind_ for an instant.
8. A storm of sleet was raging _without_.
9. Civilized man cannot do _without_ cooks.
Make sentences in which the following words are used both as adverbs and as prepositions: _about_, _above_, _along_, _down_, _off_, _on_, _through_, _under_, _up_, _within_.
XXIII. TRANSITIVE VERBS. OBJECT OF VERB
=77.= We have seen that a noun may be related to a verb as its subject. When the verb asserts action, as in the sentence, “Many birds eat flies,” then the subject _many birds_ names the doer, or performer, of the action.
There is another very common relation that a noun may bear to a verb. In the sentence above, the verb _eat_ asserts an action that is not only performed _by_ something, but is also performed _upon_ something. That is, there is a doer of the action, many birds, and a receiver of the
## action, flies. If we had merely the subject and the verb, our sentence
would be incomplete, and we should ask at once, _eat what?_
Since the word _flies_ completes the meaning of the verb _eat_, we call it the =complement= of the verb. Since it names the receiver of the
## action that is asserted by the verb _eat_, we call it the =object= or
=direct object= of the verb.
=78.= Not all verbs require an object—only those which assert action which the subject performs _upon_ some person or thing. Such verbs are called =transitive= verbs.
=79.= The object of a verb is not always a single word. The object may be compound, as in the sentence, “Many birds eat flies and gnats and mosquitoes.” Again, the object may be a group of words, of which a noun is the base word. In the following sentence there are three transitive verbs. What is the object of each verb? What is the base word of each object?—“Miss Dorothea dusted the banisters round the porch, straightened the rows of shoes in mother’s closet, and folded the daily papers in the rack.”
=80.= Just as we can find the subject of a verb by asking the question made by placing _who_ or _what_ before the verb, so we can find the object of a verb that asserts action by asking the question made by placing _whom_ or _what_ after the verb.
These questions are often a great help, especially if a sentence is long or transposed. In the sentence, “A more miserable little beast I had never seen,” what is the verb? Ask a question to find the subject. Ask a question to find the object.
=Summary.=—A =transitive verb= is one that asserts action performed upon some person or thing.
A =complement= is a word or a group of words used to complete the meaning of a verb.
The =direct object= of a verb is a word or a group of words that completes the meaning of a transitive verb and names the receiver of the
## action.
NOTE.—Not all transitive verbs denote action that is accompanied by motion. Some denote action of the senses; as, “I _see_ the star,” “I _taste_ the pepper.” Others denote
## action of the feelings; as, “I _love_ the truth,” “I _hate_ a
lie.” Still others do not denote action at all; as, “I _mean_ you,” “Our forefathers _owned_ slaves,” “I _kept_ her letter.” We must enlarge our notion of transitive verbs so as to make it include all verbs that take a complement which denotes a different person or thing from the subject.
=Exercise 1.=—Select all the transitive verbs in these sentences. Find both their subjects and their objects by asking the proper questions.
NOTE.—A transitive verb may be modified before it is completed. This is true of _lifts_ in sentence 2. Oftener the idea expressed by the verb and its object together is modified; as in sentence 1, where the phrase _in despair_ modifies not _shook_ but _shook her head_.
1. Dotty Dimple shook her head in despair.
2. At the word of command, the two horsemen stop, each man lifts up his right leg, throws it over the back of his horse, and drops it to the ground so that the two boots tap the pavement at the same instant.
3. Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the basket in a rack, and opened a window.
4. When the young surveyor left Detroit, he carried a huge green bandbox, and his wife in her far frontier home received in due time a beautiful blue bonnet.
5. I threw off an overcoat, took an armchair by the crackling logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of my hosts.
6. All the world likes molasses candy.
7. The children brought home great bunches of the brilliant leaves, and some they pressed and varnished, while others Katherine dipped in melted wax.
8. John trod down the exquisite ferns and the wonderful mosses without compunction. But he gathered from the crevices of the rocks the columbine and the eglantine and the blue harebell; he picked the high-flavored alpine strawberry, the blueberry, the boxberry, wild currants and gooseberries and fox grapes; he brought home armfuls of the pink and white laurel and the wild honeysuckle; he dug the roots of the fragrant sassafras and of the sweet flag; he ate the tender leaves of the wintergreen and its red berries; he gathered the peppermint and the spearmint; he gnawed the twigs of the black birch; he dug the amber gum from the spruce-tree; he brought home such medicinal herbs for the garret as the goldthread, the tansy, and the loathsome “boneset,” and he laid in for the winter, like a squirrel, stores of beechnuts, hazelnuts, hickorynuts, chestnuts, and butternuts.
=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—
NOTE.—If any part of a sentence is compound, state that fact before analyzing it. If the subject or object is compound, give the base words first, and then the modifiers of each. If the predicate is compound, analyze the first predicate completely, then the second, and so on. If any adverb or prepositional phrase modifies the idea denoted by the verb and the object, be sure to say so in your analysis. For instance, in the sentence, “We have seen his star in the east,” the predicate verb is _have seen_. It is completed by the direct object _his star_, and then modified by the prepositional phrase _in the east_.
1. Sometimes a perfume like absinthe sweetened all the air.
2. The little brown field mouse ran along in the grass, poked his nose into everything, and finally spied a smooth, shiny acorn.
3. My son, descend those steps and enter that door.
4. Many and many a pair of mittens had those busy fingers knit.
5. Always within a few moments the rabbits would resume their leaping progress through the white glitter and the hard, black shadows.
6. The visit of the tax collector seldom gives unmixed joy.
7. Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern.
8. The first glimpse of a new country always quickens the sense of the traveler.
9. Rebecca took off her hat and cape and hung them in the hall, put her rubber shoes and umbrella carefully in the corner, and then opened the door of paradise.
10. The scent of herbs and the fragrance of fruit filled the great unfinished chamber.
11. A polished brazen rod on a broad wooden pedestal beside the armchair held half a dozen lamps of silver on sliding arms.
12. Messala hugged the stony wall with perilous clasp.
13. Amrah rubbed her eyes, bent closer down, clasped her hands, gazed wildly around, looked at the sleeper, then stooped and raised his hand, and kissed it fondly.
14. The proprietor of the fruit stand has a bald head, a long face, and a nose like the beak of a hawk.
15. Without more ado Mr. Cary grasped his arm firmly, and fairly lifted him into the room.
XXIV. INTRANSITIVE VERBS ASSERTING ACTION
=81.= Transitive verbs, as we have seen, assert action performed upon some person or thing. There are many other verbs in our language that assert action, but the action is not performed _upon_ anything. On the contrary, the action ends in itself; as in the sentence, “The wind in the chimney sighed and moaned and shivered.” Here the wind is said to perform three actions, but these actions were not received by anything. Verbs like _sighed_, _moaned_, and _shivered_ are said to be =intransitive verbs=.
=82.= Not all intransitive verbs assert action. The verb _be_ and a few others (see Lesson XXV) which assert merely _being_, are also intransitive verbs; as, “I _am_ hungry,” “You _are_ kind,” “He _is_ extravagant,” “They _were_ careless.”
=83.= It frequently happens that the same verb may be used in one sentence as a transitive verb, and in another as an intransitive verb. If we say, “The horse kicked his master,” the verb _kicked_ is transitive. Why? If we say, “The poor boy kicked and squirmed and groaned,” the verb _kicked_ is intransitive. Why?
We should always classify a verb as it is used in the particular sentence under consideration.
=Summary.=—An =intransitive verb= is one that asserts (1) being, or (2)
## action that is not received by any person or thing.
=Exercise 1.=—Select all the verbs in the following sentences, and classify them as transitive or intransitive. Tell the subject of each verb. If the verb is transitive, tell its object.
1. The princess sat at table next to the king and queen.
2. At these words a grave smile of approval lighted the gaunt face of the Hindu.
3. The spring murmured drowsily beside him. The branches waved dreamily across the blue sky overhead. A deep sleep fell upon David Swan.
4.
While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground, An angel of the Lord came down, And glory shone around.
5. Mr. Jeremy stuck his pole into the mud, and fastened the boat to it.
6. The cat got up and stretched herself, and came and sniffed at the basket.
7. I would have spared the woman who gave thee the milk.
8. His hair had fallen about his shoulders.
9. They sang patriotic songs, they told stories, they fired torpedoes, they frightened the cats.
10. I could have killed a buck while thou wast striking.
11. Away rolled the bogghun, away and away, over the meadows and into the forest; away and away bounded the Princess in pursuit. The golden nose ring flashed and glittered in the sunlight, the golden bangles on her wrists and ankles tinkled and rang their tiny bells as she went. The monkeys swinging by their tails from the branches, chattered with astonishment at us; the wild parrot screamed at us; all the birds sang and chirped and twittered.
12. The chipmunk appeared at the mouth of his den, looked quickly about, took a few leaps to a tussock of grass, paused a breath with one foot raised, slipped quickly a few yards over some dry leaves, paused again by a stump beside a path, rushed across the path to the pile of loose stones, went under the first and over the second, gained the pile of posts, made his way through that, surveyed his course a half moment from the other side of it, and then darted on to some other cover, and presently beyond my range, where he must have gathered acorns, for no other nut-bearing trees than oaks grew near.
=Exercise 2.=—Tell whether the italicized verbs in the following sentences are transitive or intransitive. Give your reason in each case. If a verb is transitive, tell how it is completed. If it is intransitive, tell how it is modified.
1. All the brooks _have burst_ their icy chains.
2. The boiler _burst_ with a tremendous noise.
3. _Do_ your duty; that is best.
4. Such language _will_ never _do_ for a teacher.
5. Miss Clarissa _draws_ and paints very well.
6. Giotto _drew_ a perfect circle with one sweep of his arm.
7. The swallow _flies_ with a graceful dipping motion.
8. The boys _are flying_ their kites on the common.
9. _Give_ us this day our daily bread.
10. The rope was stretched so tightly that it _did_ not _give_ with his weight.
11. All day he sits in his arm chair and _reads_.
12. _Have_ you _read_ “The Man without a Country”?
13. The woodworkers _have struck_ for shorter hours.
14. David _struck_ Uriah Heep on the cheek.
15. Aunt Betsy _swept_ down upon the trespassers.
16. I _must sweep_ the spiders off the porch.
XXV. INTRANSITIVE VERBS ASSERTING BEING. NOUNS AS SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS
=84.= There is no other verb used oftener than the verb _be_, with its various forms,—_is_, _are_, _am_, _was_, _will be_, _has been_, etc. In the sentence, “The lake is the mother of the great rivers,” there would be no assertion without the verb _is_, and yet it does not assert action of any sort. The sentence plainly means that the lake and the mother of the great rivers are identical; that is, they are one and the same thing. The verb _is_ enables us to assert identity. A verb of this kind is intransitive. It is often called a verb of =being=, to distinguish it from verbs that assert action.
=85.= Some other verbs of this kind are _seem_, _appear_, _become_, _grow_, _feel_, _look_, _smell_, _taste_, and _sound_. They are classed as verbs of being because they mean—to be in appearance, in looks, in smell, in taste, etc., as, “You appear ill,” “She looks young,” “The milk tastes sour.”
Verbs that assert being are intransitive verbs.
=86.= Intransitive verbs of being usually need a complement. In the sentence, “I am a spinner of long yarns,” if we had merely the subject and the verb, _I am_, we should ask, _am what?_ The group of words _a spinner of long yarns_ answers this question, and so completes the predicate. It is not an object complement, however, for it cannot name the receiver of an action since the verb does not assert action at all. This complement denotes identity with the subject; hence it is called a =subjective complement=.
Often the subjective complement denotes the class to which the person or thing named by the subject belongs; as, “Corn is a grain,” “My friend is a farmer.”
=87.= The subject and the object complement denote two different persons or things, but the subject and the subjective complement always refer to the same person or thing.
=88.= The subjective complement is sometimes a single noun, as in the sentence, “Stars are suns.” When the subjective complement is a group of words, a noun is usually the base word; as, “Procrastination is the thief of time.”
In sentences containing a subjective complement, the subject comes before the verb, and the subjective complement after the verb, unless the sentence is transposed; as, “Lords of the sea are we.”
=89.= Sometimes, instead of having a complement, a verb of being is modified by a prepositional phrase, or even by an adverb, denoting place; as, “My bark is on the sea,” “Yonder is my home.”
=Summary.=—Verbs that assert =being= or =identity= are intransitive verbs.
A =subjective complement= is a word or a group of words that completes a verb and refers to the same person or thing as the subject.
=Exercise.=—Select all the intransitive verbs of being in the following sentences. Find their subjects and their complements, and the base words of each. Analyze sentences 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14.
1. This palace was the residence of the queen consort of England.
2.
The king was in his counting house, counting out his money, The queen was in the parlor, eating bread and honey.
3. My name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size.
4. Her worship of God was unselfish service, and her prayers were worthy deeds.
5. The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.
6. This guinea pig’s name was Jeff, and he and I became good friends.
7. Patient waiters are no losers.
8. In this fine open square are magnificent fountains, handsome statuary on tall pedestals, and crowds of vehicles and foot passengers crossing it in every direction.
9. A jackknife in his expert hand was a whole chest of tools.
10. One of the best things in the world to be is a boy.
11. Backbiting is the meanest kind of biting, not excepting the bite of fleas.
12. The rattle of a bucket in a neighbor’s yard, no longer mixed with other weekday noises, seemed a new sound.
13.
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn. The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn.
14. I became an enthusiastic little cook.
15. King Arthur’s son was a handsome, polite, and brave knight.
16. The bees are abroad under the calling sky, and the red of apple buds becomes a sign in the orchards.
17. Always darker turns the growing hemp as it rushes upward.
Account for the punctuation of sentences 3, 4, 6, 8, and 15.
XXVI. ADJECTIVES AS SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS
=90.= In the sentences, (1) “The tomato is a fruit,” (2) “That tall boy is the winner of the race,” the base word of the subjective complement is a noun, because we wish to assert (1) class, (2) identity.
In the sentence, “The old gentleman’s face was serene and rosy,” the base words of the subjective complement are the two adjectives _serene_ and _rosy_, because we wish to assert the characteristics, or qualities, of the old gentleman’s face.
This is a very common use of the adjective, as seen in the familiar sentences, “Grass is green,” “Honey is sweet,” “Ice is cold.”
=91.= The verbs of being that were given in Lesson XXV,—_be_, _become_, _look_, _seem_, _appear_, _feel_, _smell_, _taste_, _sound_, and _grow_,—often take adjectives for subjective complements; as, “My head feels dizzy,” “This sentence sounds queer,” “Mary grew plump and strong.”
In some cases where the language affords no adjectives that exactly express the meaning, we use a prepositional phrase as subjective complement; as in the common expressions, “The house is _on fire_,” “The girl is _in love_,” “The man is _in debt_.” None of these phrases denote place, but each of them denotes a condition.
NOTE.—An adjective used as a subjective complement is often modified by a prepositional phrase. If we say “The bin is full,” somebody will ask “full of what?” If we say “full of apples,” it is evident that the phrase _of apples_ modifies _full_. We also say _glad of it_, _tired of play_, _wild with joy_, _green with envy_, etc. These expressions are different, however, from what we find in the sentence, “I was tired in the evening,” where the phrase _in the evening_, denoting time, modifies not the adjective _tired_, but the two words _was tired_.
=Summary.=—An adjective, or a group of words of which an adjective is the base word, may be the subjective complement of an intransitive verb.
=Exercise.=—Select all the intransitive verbs of being in the following sentences. Find their subjects and their complements, and the base words of each. Analyze sentences 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15.
1. The sting of a bee is sometimes deadly.
2. The woodchuck looked sulky, and scratched his nose expressively.
3. The traveler’s limbs were numb, for the ride had been long and wearisome.
4. She might be poor in purse and weak in body, this brave young mother, but she was rich in hope and strong in spirit.
5. By the third day I felt too weak and sick to stir.
6. At these words the king grew purple in the face.
7. Conrad will keep quiet over his books.
8. Mary was beautiful, feminine in spirit, and lovely. Elizabeth was talented, masculine, and plain. Mary was artless, unaffected, and gentle. Elizabeth was heartless, intriguing, and insincere.
9. Your grandfather looked very funny in his red nightcap, and without his teeth.
10. Very few poetic people are good at arithmetic.
11. The garden at the back of the house was sweet with the scent of newly blossomed lilacs and the freshness of young grass.
12. Snow-white was the foam that flashed upward underneath the curving prow.
13. Is not Little Annie afraid of such a tumult?
14. His mouth felt as dry and stiff and hard as a chip.
15. The people went nearly mad for joy.
=92.= A common error is the misuse of an adverb for an adjective as the subjective complement of a verb of being. We should say, “I feel _bad_, or _ill_, or _unhappy_” (not _badly_).
Another common error is the misuse of an adjective for an adverb as a modifier of a verb of action. We should say, “The child learns _easily_” (not _easy_).