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._