CHAPTER VIII.

VERBS.

222. We found above (28 etc.), when examining the parts of speech, that a VERB is a word that tells, or declares, or asserts something; it implies an assertion or predication.

Hence, as a sentence is an assertion or declaration of something, every sentence must have a verb in it; the verb forms, alone or with other words, the predicate (27) of a sentence. Thus, in

Troy was,
they went,

he sleeps,
the boy was beaten,

there is an assertion, in each separate case, of a being, or a condition, or an action, or the enduring of an action, on the part of that which is expressed by the subject of the verb.

223. Verbs are as many, and of as various meaning, in a language, as nouns and adjectives, and it is quite impossible to classify them by their meanings. But there is a certain difference of use which separates them into two principal classes.

Some verbs are usually, and almost necessarily, followed by an object—that is, by a noun or pronoun in the objective case, signifying that at which the action of the verb is directed (71).

Thus,

I await, I persuade,

I cross,

seem by themselves incomplete, and we look for some word expressing the thing or person that is awaited or persuaded or crossed: thus,

I await the arrival of the mail;

I persuade my friend to go with me;

I cross the road to meet him.

Other verbs, again, do not take, or are hardly able to take, any such object; the action which they express they express completely, without an added object: for example,

I walk, stand, rejoice, weep, and so on.

A verb of the former class is said to be a TRANSITIVE verb, or to be used TRANSITIVELY (transitive means 'going over': that is, the action of the verb is fancifully said to pass over" from the subject to an object); one of the latter class is called INTRANSITIVE.

But this distinction is by no means an absolute one; many verbs are freely used in both these ways, and there is hardly a transitive verb in our language that may not also be used intransitively.

224. According to their form, verbs (like nouns and adjectives) are either simple or derivative or compound.

225. The most important classes of derivative verbs are as follows:

a. Verbs derived by suffixes, from adjectives and (much more rarely) from nouns. The only common suffix is en: thus,

broaden,

harden, fasten, sicken, lengthen, frighten.

A few words have the suffix ize: as,

b. Verbs derived by prefixes. These come especially from

other verbs: as,

awake, arise;

forget, forgive, forswear;

unbind, undo, unfasten;

befall, belie, bespeak;

mistake, misbehave;

disqualify, disown, dislike;

remind, recapture, repay.

But also from nouns and adjectives: as,

benight, behead, belittle;

enthrone, endanger, embody;

renew.

A few take the suffix en along with a prefix: as,

embolden, enlighten.

c. Verbs derived by internal change, by alteration of the vowel-sound, sometimes along with other changes, from other verbs: thus,

fell from fall; set from sit;

lay from lie;

drench from drink.

There

These are called CAUSATIVES, because they generally signify a causing to act : thus, fell means 'cause to fall'; lay means cause to lie,' and so on. are but few of them in English.

d. A very large number of nouns and adjectives are turned directly into verbs, without addition of suffix or prefix, or any except sometimes the change of a final conExamples are:

other alteration

sonant (99).

Verbs derived from nouns and adjectives, in any of the ways here pointed out, are sometimes called DENOMINATIVES (' derived from nouns ').

226. Compound verbs are made almost solely with prefixes, having the value of adverbs, but adverbs which are also prepositions, and are more usually called such. Examples are:

A very few compound verbs have as their first element a noun or adjective:

for example,

partake (that is, take part),

browbeat, backslide, fulfil.

227. Verbs, like nouns and pronouns, have (as we have already seen, 59 etc.) their inflection, or changes of form in order to express certain changes of meaning or of application; and this inflection is called their CONJUGATION.

228. Thus, verbs are varied, to a certain extent, not because of any change in their own individual meaning, but in consequence of certain differences in the character of their subject differences, namely, in the number or in the person of the noun or pronoun about which they assert something.

This is called the inflection of the verb for PERSON and NUMBER.

229. For example, along with the personal pronouns of the three persons (153 etc.), in the singular, we use three different forms of the verb, saying

But no English verb has different forms to put with the plurals of these pronouns: thus,

And often the verb of the third person singular is the same with that of the first: thus,

I loved, he loved;

I can, he can.

230. As regards number, the forms of the verb which go with thou and with you are generally different: thus,

and the forms which go with singular and plural subjects of the third person are often different

he loves (or loveth),

man loves,

thus,

they love;

men love.

But the form with I and with we is always the same:

thus,

I love,

we love.

Except in one irregular verb (be, 273), which has a special form for its three plural persons, different from any of those of the singular thus,

231. Again, verbs are varied in two respects to signify real differences of meaning belonging to themselves. This is called the inflection of the verb for TENSE and MODE.

232. Tense-inflection is for the purpose of showing a difference in the time of the action or condition.

Thus, I love is used especially of what is going on now, at the present time, and is therefore said to be of the PRESENT TENSE; while I loved is used of something gone by or in the past, and is therefore called the PRETERIT TENSE. And we have in like manner, as corresponding present and preterit,

These two are the only tenses distinguished by real inflection in our verb.

233. Mode-inflection is for the purpose of showing a difference in the mode or manner of the assertion: whether it be a simple out-and-out declaration, or a doubtful or contingent assertion, or a command.

The modes are three :

1. The INDICATIVE, or the mode of simple declaration: thus,

2. The SUBJUNCTIVE, the mode of doubtful or conditional assertion thus,

if I be; though he go; except God be with him;

supposing he were here; lest she forget her duty.