CHAPTER XXV
THE DIRECT OBJECT
The direct object of a transitive verb is so familiar a sentence-element that it makes itself understood without much special investigation. It presents few peculiarities, and these are not difficult.
The transitive verb is usually defined as one that denotes action terminating on an object. This definition does not cover all verbs called transitive, for instance, the verb _have_, meaning _own_, which does not denote any action whatever. But it would be difficult indeed to make a better definition. The definition, a transitive verb is one that takes an object, is open to the objection that it applies only to transitive verbs in the active voice, whereas passive verbs are also transitive in meaning. We may say this much, however,--(_a_) no verb is considered transitive unless it has two substantives, a subject and a complement, the two meaning different things, an agent and a non-agent. (_b_) A sentence containing a transitive verb can always be changed to the passive form, the complement becoming the subject, and the subject of the active verb becoming the object of the preposition _by_. This second point is a better test of the transitive verb than the definition is.
For example, take the verb _earn_ in the sentence,--“Indeed, a man may earn twenty thousand dollars a year by writing ‘sensation-stories,’ and have nothing to do with literature in any high sense.”--_Higginson._ It is true that when a man earns he acts, but his action is not performed upon the twenty thousand dollars. In so far this verb does not come under the definition of a transitive verb; but it answers the test, that is, it may be changed to the passive; thus, “Twenty thousand dollars was earned by him.” This does not mean that the twenty thousand dollars received an action; it means that twenty thousand became his possession as a result of his work.
Of transitive verbs denoting action performed directly upon some object, examples are in the following sentences.
(_a_) “Let us _build_ altars to the Beautiful Necessity, which secures that all is made of one piece.”--_Emerson._
(_b_) “When Gabriel _blows_ his trumpet I hope he will select the moment before sunrise for his summons.”--_Bolles._
(_c_) “Many men _eat_ finer cookery, _drink_ dearer liquors, with what advantage they can report and their doctors can.”--_Carlyle._
Examples of transitive verbs like _earn_ that take an object and denote action, but not action really performed upon the object, are found in the following sentences.
(_a_) These deluded people _visit_ fortune tellers in the hope of _finding out_ what is to happen in the future.
(_b_) “He _entered_ the street at the end opposite to the Holborn entrance.”--_George Eliot._
(_c_) “As he approached the village, he _met_ a number of people.”--_Irving._
Action always suggests to us at first thought physical action, that accompanied by movement; but there are other kinds of action which may be told by transitive verbs.
1. Action of the mind, denoted by such verbs as _believe_, _learn_, _think_, _remember_; as, “_To know_ anything that turns up is, in the infinity of knowledge, _to know_ nothing.”--_F. Harrison._
2. Action of the emotions, denoted by such verbs as _hate_, _love_, _revere_; as, “When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he _loved_ as he _loved_ his life.”
3. Action of the senses, denoted by the verbs _see_, _hear_, _feel_, _smell_, _taste_; as, “_To see_ a good man and _hear_ his voice once a week would be reason enough for building churches and pulpits.”--_Holmes._
Verbs of saying, like _tell_, _remark_, _declare_, _exclaim_, are followed by a direct object, usually a quotation or a noun clause telling just what was said; thus, “He _cried_ in the bitterness of his soul that God had hid his face from him.”--_Macaulay._
The verbs _ask_ and _teach_ are often followed by two direct objects, one of the person and the other of the thing; as, “Whoever will teach the people of New England the advantages of good food, fresh air, and sunshine, will renew the physical constitution of the race.”--_J. F. Clarke._ “Ask a great money-maker what he means to do with his money--he never knows.”--_Ruskin._
These verbs are really used in a double sense. For instance, in the first sentence, in so far as _will teach_ takes the object _the people of New England_, it means _instruct_; in so far as it takes the object _the advantages of good food, fresh air and sunshine_, it means _impart_. When such a sentence is changed to the passive form, either object may become the subject, and the other may remain as the object of the passive verb; or, if the personal object remains, it may be called an indirect object.
Some verbs usually intransitive may become transitive by being followed by a cognate object, that is, one whose meaning is akin to that of the verb, as in the familiar expressions _run a race_, _dream a dream_, _smile a smile_; as, “There he fell into evil paths, and on a fatal day _sinned a great sin_.”--_Hillis._
Some transitive verbs may be followed by an object meaning the same person or thing as the subject. This is called a reflexive object; as, “On the wall opposite, about a mile across the gulf, _a brook was pouring itself_ to the valley.”--_King._ In this sentence the brook is conceived in two aspects, that of a doer and that of a receiver--it pours and is poured.
Some verbs are made transitive by the addition of an adverb; as,
“Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring out the false, ring in the true.”--_Tennyson._
Here _the old_ is the object not of the verb _ring_, but of the verb _ring out_.
Frequently a preposition is to be taken with a verb, the two words denoting one idea and that transitive; as, “You cannot stir abroad but Jews and Christians _pounce upon_ you with unsettled bonds.”--_Carlyle._ A test for this sort of compound verb is that when it is changed to the passive form, the two words--verb and preposition--remain together; thus, “You are pounced upon by Jews and Christians.”
In the sentence, “Make up your mind to forego driving sledge,” we have four different direct objects. (1) The compound verb _make up_ takes the object _your mind_. (2) The whole group of words _make up your mind_ is equivalent to the one verb _decide_, and as such takes the infinitive phrase for object, _to forego driving sledge_. (3) The object of the infinitive _to forego_ is the gerund-phrase _driving sledge_. (4) The object of the gerund _driving_ is the noun _sledge_.
A combination of two verbs with the meaning of one transitive verb is found in the every-day expression _make believe_, meaning _pretend_. This cannot be separated. It is usually followed by an infinitive or a noun clause used as its object. For example, “Whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick and made believe to worry it.”--_Lewis Carroll._
Exercise 31
Explain how all verbs and verbals in the following sentences are completed.
1. Storms shall sob themselves to sleep.--_Beecher._
2. The time will come, let us hope, when all boys will be taught the use of tools, and all girls the principles of cooking.--_J. F. Clarke._
3. He doubted, as he has himself owned, whether he had not been born “an age too late.”--_Macaulay._
4. You will hear more wit and better wit in an Irish street row than would keep Westminster Hall in humor for five weeks.--_Bagehot._
5. He was her special pet and she disapproved of the nurse.--_Kipling._
6. Conclave after conclave asked him to be Pope.--_Hale._
7. When the clock strikes the hour, his mind begins to work.--_Hillis._
8. He said he was a surgeon, and that in case any accident occurred on board he must always be in readiness.--_Crawford._
9. It must not be supposed that the Italians hate the Austrians as individuals.--_Howells._
10. Then I shall hang you for yourself, as a rogue and a rascal.--_Froude._
11. The Saxon is wanting in taste, which is as much as to say that he has no true sense of proportion.--_Lowell._
12. However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.--_Lewis Carroll._
13. All ruin, desolateness, imperfectness of hut or habitation you must do away with.--_Ruskin._
14. To study a nest is to make an acquaintance.--_Olive T. Miller._
15. Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin-- ’Tis sweet to let the pardoned in.--_Moore._
16. Even in books I like a confined locality.--_Miss Mitford._