+93.+ You remember when we studied sentences we found that we could not
have a sentence without a verb or a word that asserts. The life of a
sentence is the verb, for without the verb we cannot assert, question or
command. It was on account of this importance that the Romans called the
verb, _verbum_, which meant the word. Verbs, like nouns, are divided
into classes.
+94.+ In some of our sentences the verb alone is enough to make a
complete assertion, but in other sentences we use verbs that need to be
followed by one or more words to complete the assertion. Notice the
following sentences:
The boy ran.
The boy found the ball.
The earth revolves.
The earth is round.
Do you notice any difference in the verbs used in these sentences?
Notice that the verbs _ran_ and _revolves_ make the complete assertion
about their subjects. Notice the verbs _found_ and _is_. These are not
complete without the addition of the words _ball_ and _round_. If we say
_The boy found_, _The earth is_, you at once ask, _The boy found WHAT?_
_The earth is WHAT?_ The sense is incomplete without the addition of
these words _ball_ and _round_. A part of the thought is unexpressed;
but when we say _The boy found the ball_, _The earth is round_, the
sense is complete.
So we have two classes of verbs, _COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE VERBS_.
+95.+ +An incomplete verb is one that requires the addition of one or
more words to complete its meaning.+
+The word or words added to an incomplete verb to complete its meaning
are called the complement.+
+A complete verb is one that requires no complement to complete its
meaning.+
+96.+ You can readily tell when a verb is complete and when it is
incomplete by asking the question _What?_ If you put the question _what_
after the verb, and it makes a sensible question the verb is
_incomplete_. For example:
Farmers raise--_what?_
The employer discharged--_what?_
We were--_what?_
The earth is--_what?_
If the question _what?_ does not make sense after the verb, then the
verb is _complete_. For example:
The sun shines.
Water flows.
Men work.
The question _what_ after these verbs would not make sense, as:
The sun shines--_what?_
Men work--_what?_
Water flows--_what?_
So these verbs are _complete_ verbs.
+97.+ The same verb, however, may be complete or incomplete, according
to the way in which it is used. For example:
The corn grows.
The farmer grows corn.
In the sentence, _Corn grows_, _grows_ is a complete verb. You could not
say _The corn grows--what?_ for it does not grow anything. It merely
grows, and the verb _grows_ in this sense is a complete verb. But in the
sentence, _The farmer grows corn_, you are using the verb _grows_ in a
slightly different sense. It is an _incomplete verb_, for you do not
mean, _The farmer grows_, but you mean that _the farmer grows CORN_.