express the action which more usually terminates on the actor, than on
any other object. This circumstance being generally known, it would be
superfluous to mention the object, except in cases where such is not the
fact. But whenever we desire to be definite, or when there is the least
liability to mistake the object, it is invariably expressed. Instances
of this kind are numerous. "They _ran_ the _boat_ ashore." "The captain
_ran_ his _men_ to rescue them from the enemy." "They _ran_ the
_gauntlet_." "They _run_ a _stage_ to Boston." "He _ran himself_ into
discredit." "One bank _runs_ another." "The man had a hard _run_ of it."
"_Run_ the _account_ over, and see if it is right." "They _run forty
looms_ and two thousand spindles." "He _runs_ his _mill_ evenings." Such
expressions are common and correct, because they convey ideas, and are
understood.
Two men were engaged in argument. The believer in intransitive verbs set
out to _run his opponent_ into an evident absurdity, and, contrary to
his expectation, he _ran himself_ into one. Leave out the objects of
this verb, run, and the sense is totally changed. He set out to _run_
into an _evident absurdity_, and he ran into one; that is, he did the
very absurd thing which he intended to do.[14]
"_I walk._"
The action expressed by this verb is very similar in character to the
former, but rather _slower_ in performance. Writers on health tell us
that _to walk_ is a very healthy exercise, and that it would be well for
men of sedentary habits _to walk_ several miles every day. But if there
is no action in walk, or if it has no _object_ necessarily _walked_, it
would be difficult to understand what good could result from it.
"Did you have a pleasant _walk_ this morning?" says a teacher to his
grammar class.
"We did have a very pleasant one. The flowers were _blooming_ on each
side of the _walk_, and _sent_ forth their sweetest aroma, _perfuming_
the soft breezes of the morning. Birds were _flitting from_ spray to
spray, _carolling_ their hymns of praise to Deity. The tranquil waters
of the lake lay _slumbering_ in silence, and _reflected_ the bright
_rays_ of the sun, _giving_ a sweet but solemn _aspect_ to the whole
scene. _To go_ thro the grove, down by the lake, and up thro the meadow,
is the most delightful _walk_ a person can take."
"How did you get your _walk_?"
"We walked it, to be sure; how did you think we got it?"
"Oh, I did not know. _Walk_, your books tell you, is an intransitive
verb, terminating on no object; so I supposed, if you followed them, you
obtained it some other way; by _riding_, _running_, _sailing_, or, may
be, _bought_ it, as you could not have _walked it_! Were you tired on
your return?"
"We were exceedingly fatigued, for you know it is a very long _walk_,
and we _walked it_ in an hour."
"But _what_ tired you? If there are no effects produced by walking, I
can not conceive why _you_ should be fatigued by such exercise."
Who does not perceive what flagrant violations of grammar rules are
committed every day, and every hour, and in almost every sentence that
is framed to express our knowledge of facts.
_To step._
This verb is the same in character with the two just noticed. It
expresses the act of _raising_ each foot alternately, and usually
implies that the body is, by that means, conveyed from one place to
another. But as people _step_ their _feet_ and not their hands, or any
thing else, it is entirely useless to mention the object; for generally,
that can not be mistaken any more than in the case of the gloves, boots,
and hat. But it would be bad philosophy to teach children that there is
no objective word after it, because it is not written out and placed
before their eyes. They will find such teaching contradicted at every
_step_ they take. Let a believer in intransitive verbs _step_ on a red
hot iron; he will soon find to his sorrow, that he was mistaken when he
thought that he could _step_ without stepping any thing. It would be
well for grammar, as well as many other things, to have more practice
and less theory. The thief was detected by his steps. Step softly; put
your feet down carefully.
_Birds fly._
We learned from our primers, that
"The eagle's _flight_
Is out of sight,"
How did the eagle succeed in producing a _flight_? I suppose he _flew_
it. And if birds ever fly, they must produce a flight. Such being the
fact, it is needless to supply the object. But the action does not
terminate solely on the flight produced, for that is only the name given
to the action itself. The expression conveys to the mind the obvious
fact, that, by strong muscular energy, by the aid of feathers, and the
atmosphere, the bird carries itself thro the air, and changes its being
from one place to another. As birds rarely fly a race, or any thing but
_themselves_ and a _flight_, it is not necessary to suffix the object.
_It rains._
This verb is insisted on as the strongest proof of intransitive action;
with what propriety, we will now inquire. It will serve as a clear
elucidation of the whole theory of intransitive verbs.
What does the expression signify? It simply declares the fact, that
_water is shed_ down from the clouds. But is there no object after
_rains_? There is none expressed. Is there nothing rained? no effect
produced? If not, there can be no water fallen, and our cisterns would
be as empty, our streams as low, and fields as parched, after a rain as
before it! But who that has common sense, and has never been blinded by
the false rules of grammar, does not know that when _it rains_, it never
fails to _rain rain_, _water_, or _rain-water_, unless you have one of
the paddy's dry rains? When it hails, it hails _hail_, _hail-stones_, or
frozen _rain_. When it snows, it _snows snow_, sometimes two feet of it,
sometimes less. I should think teachers in our northern countries would
find it exceeding difficult to convince their readers that snow is an
intransitive verb--that it snows _nothing_. And yet so it is; people
will remain wedded to their old systems, and refuse to open their eyes
and behold the evidences every where around them. Teachers themselves,
the guides of the young--and I blush to say it, for I was long among the
number--have, with their scholars, labored all the morning, breaking
roads, _shovelling snow_, and clearing paths, to get to the
school-house, and then set down and taught them that _to snow_ is an
_in_transitive verb. What nonsense; nay, worse, what falsehoods have
been instilled into the youthful mind in the name of grammar! Can we be
surprised that people have not understood grammar? that it is a dry,
cold, and lifeless business?
I once lectured in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In a conversation with Miss B., a
distinguished scholar, who had taught a popular female school for twenty
years; was remarking upon the subject of intransitive verbs, and the
apparent inconsistency of the new system, that all verbs must have an
object after them, expressed or understood; she said, "there was the
verb _rain_, (it happened to be a rainy day,) the whole action is
confined to the agent; it does not pass on to another object; it is
purely intransitive." Her aged mother, who had never looked into a
grammar book, heard the conversation, and very bluntly remarked, "Why,
you fool you, I want to know if you have studied grammar these thirty
years, and taught it more than twenty, and have never _larned_ that when
it rains it _always_ rains _rain_? If it didn't, do you s'pose you'd
need an umbrella to go out now into the storm? I should think you'd know
better. I always told you these plaguy grammars were good for nothing, I
didn't b'lieve." "Amen," said I, to the good sense of the old lady, "you
are right, and have reason to be thankful that you have never been
initiated into the intricate windings, nor been perplexed with the false
and contradictory rules, which have blasted many bright geniuses in
their earliest attempts to gain a true knowledge of the sublime
principles of language, on which depends so much of the happiness of
human life." The good matron's remark was a poser to the daughter, but
it served as a means of her entire deliverance from the thraldom of
neuter verbs, and the adoption of the new principles of the exposition
of language.
The anecdote shows us how the unsophisticated mind will observe facts,
and employ words as correctly, if not more so, than those schooled in
the high pretensions of science, falsely taught. Who does not know from
the commonest experience, that the direct object of _raining_ must
follow as the necessary sequence? that it can never fail? And yet our
philologists tell us that such is not always the case; and that the
exception is to be marked on the singular ground, whether the word is
written out or omitted! What a narrow view of the sublime laws of
motion! What a limited knowledge of things! or else, what a _mistake_!
"Then the Lord said unto Moses, behold, I will _rain_ bread for you from
heaven."
"Then the _Lord rained_ down, upon Sodom and Gomorrah, _brimstone_ and
_fire_, from the Lord out of heaven."--_Bible._
_The fire burns._
The fire _burns_ the wood, the coal, or the peat. The great fire in
New-York _burned_ the buildings which covered fifty-two acres of ground.
Mr. Experiment _burns_ coal in preference to wood. His new grate _burns
it_ very finely. Red ash coal _burns_ the best; it _makes_ the fewest
_ashes_, and hence _is_ the most convenient. The cook _burns_ too much
fuel. The house took fire and _burned_ up. _Burned what_ up? Burn is an
intransitive verb. It would not trouble the unfortunate tenant to know
that there must be an _object burned_, or what _it_ was. He would find
it far more difficult to rebuild his _house_. Do you suppose fires never
burn any thing belonging to neuter verb folks? Then they never need pay
away insurance money. With the solitary exception I have mentioned--the
burning bush--this verb can not be intransitive.
_The sun shines._
This is an intransitive verb if there ever was one, because the object
is not often expressed after it. But if the sun _emits_ no _rays_ of
light, how shall it be known whether it shines or not? "The _radiance_
of the sun's bright beaming" is produced by the _exhibition_ of
_itself_, when it _brightens_ the objects exposed to its _rays_ or
_radiance_. We talk of _sun shine_ and moon shine, but if these bodies
never produce _effects_ how shall it be known whether such things are
real? _Sun shine_ is the direct effect of the sun's _shining_. But
clouds sometimes intervene and prevent the rays from extending to the
earth; but _then_ we do not say "the sun _shines_." You see at once,
that all we know or can know of the fact we state as truth, is derived
from a knowledge of the very _effects_ which our grammars tell us do not
exist. Strange logic indeed! It is a mark of a wiser man, and a better
scholar, not to know the popular grammars, than it is to profess any
degree of proficiency in them!
_To smile._
The _smiles_ of the morning, the _smiles_ of affection, a _smile_ of
kindness, are only produced by the appearance of something that _smiles_
upon us. _Smiles_ are the direct consequence of _smiling_. If a person
should _smile_ ever so _sweetly_ and yet present no _smiles_, they
might, for aught we could know to the contrary, be _sour_ as vinegar.
But this verb frequently has another object after it; as, "to _smile_
the _wrinkles_ from the brow of age," or "_smile_ dull _cares_ away." "A
sensible wife would soon _reason_ and _smile him_ into good nature."
But I need not multiply examples. When such men as Johnson, Walker,
Webster, Murray, Lowthe, and a host of other wise and renowned men,
gravely tell us that _eat_ and _drink_, which they define, "to _take
food_; _to feed_; _to take a meal_; _to go to meals_; to be maintained
in food; _to swallow liquors_; _to quench thirst_; to take any liquid;"
are _intransitive_ or _neuter_ verbs, having no objects after them, we
must think them insincere, egregiously mistaken, or else possessed of a
means of subsistence different from people generally! Did they _eat_ and
_drink_, "take food and swallow liquors," _in_transitively; that is,
without _eating_ or _drinking_ any thing? Is it possible in the nature
of things? Who does not see the absurdity? And yet they were _great_
men, and nobody has a right to question such _high_ authority. And the
"_simplifiers_" who have come after, making books and teaching grammar
to _earn_ their _bread_, have followed close in their footsteps, and, I
suppose, _eaten_ nothing, and thrown their bread away! Was I a believer
in neuter verbs and desired to get money, my first step would be to set
up a boarding house for all believers in, and _practisers_ of,
intransitive verbs. I would board cheap and give good fare. I could
afford it, for no provisions would be consumed.
Some over cautious minds, who are always second, if not last, in a good
cause, ask us why these principles, if so true and clear, were not found
out before? Why have not the learned who have studied for many
centuries, never seen and adopted them? It is a sufficient answer to
such a question, to ask why the copernican system of astronomy was not
sooner adopted, why the principles of chemistry, the circulation of the
blood, the power and application of steam, nay, why all improvement was
not known before. When grammar and dictionary makers, those wise
expounders of the principles of speech, have so far forgotten facts as
to teach that _eat_ and _drink_, "express neither action nor passion,"
or are "confined to the agents;" that when a man eats, he eats nothing,
or when he drinks, he drinks nothing, we need not stop long to decide
why these things were unknown before. The wisest may sometimes mistake;
and the proud aspirant for success, frequently passes over, unobserved,
the humble means on which all true success depends.
Allow me to quote some miscellaneous examples which will serve to show
more clearly the importance of supplying the elipses, in order to
comprehend the meaning of the writers, or profit by their remarks. You
will supply the objects correctly from the attendant circumstances where
they are not expressed.
"Ask ( ) and ye shall receive ( ); seek ( ) and ye shall find ( ); knock
( ) and _it_ shall be opened unto you."
Ask _what_? Seek _what_? Knock _what_? That _it_ may be opened? Our
"Grammars Made Easy" would teach us to _ask_ and _seek_ nothing! no
objectives after them. What then could we reasonably expect to _receive_
or _find_? The _thing_ we _asked_ for, of course, and that was nothing!
Well might the language apply to such, "Ye ask ( ) and _receive not_
(naught) because ye ask ( ) amiss." False teaching is as pernicious to
religion and morals as to science.
"Charge them that are rich in this world--that they _do good_, that they
be rich in good works, ready to _distribute_ ( ), willing to
_communicate_ ( )."--_Paul to Timothy._
The hearer is to observe that there is no object after these
words--_nothing_ distributed, or communicated! There is too much such
charity in the world.
"He spoke ( ), and _it_ was done; he commanded ( ), and _it_ stood
fast."
"_Bless_ ( ), and _curse_ ( ) not."--_Bible._
"_Strike_ ( ) while the iron is hot."--_Proverb._
"I _came_ ( ), I _saw_ ( ), I _conquered_ ( )."--_Cæsar's Letter._
He lives ( ) contented and happy.
"The _life_ that I now _live_, in the flesh, I _live_ by the faith of
the son of God."--_Paul._
"Let me _die_ the _death_ of the righteous, and let my last _end be_
like his."--_Numbers._
As bodily exercise particularly strengthens ( ), as it invites ( ) to
sleep ( ), and secures ( ) against great disorders, it is to be
generally encouraged. Gymnastic exercises may be established for all
ages and for all classes. The Jews were ordered to _take a walk_ out of
the city on the Sabbath day; and here rich and poor, young and old,
master and slave, met ( ) and indulged ( ) in innocent mirth or in the
pleasures of friendly intercourse.--_Spurzheim on Education._
"Men will wrangle ( ) for religion; write ( ) for it; fight ( ) for it;
die ( ) for it; any thing but live ( ) for it."--_Lacon._
"I have addressed this volume to those that think ( ), and some may
accuse me of an ostentatious independence, in presuming ( ) to inscribe
a book to so small a minority. But a volume addressed to those that
think ( ) is in fact addressed to all the world; for altho the
proportion of those who _do_ ( ) think ( ) be extremely small, yet every
individual _flatters himself_ that he is one of the number."--_Idem._
What is the difference whether a man _thinks_ or not, if he produces no
_thoughts_?
"He that _thinks himself_ the happiest man, really is so; but he that
_thinks himself_ the wisest, is generally the greatest fool."--_Idem._
"A man _has_ many _workmen employed_; some to plough ( ) and sow ( ),
others to chop ( ) and split ( ); some to mow ( ) and reap ( ); one to
score ( ) and hew ( ); two to frame ( ) and raise ( ). In his factory he
has persons to card ( ), spin ( ), reel ( ), spool ( ), warp ( ), and
weave ( ), and a clerk to deliver ( ) and charge ( ), to receive ( ) and
pay ( ). They eat ( ), and drink ( ), heartily, three times a day; and
as they work ( ) hard, and feel ( ) tired at night, they lay ( ) down,
sleep ( ) soundly, and dream ( ) pleasantly; they rise ( ) up early to
go ( ) to work ( ) again. In the morning the children wash ( ) and dress
( ) and prepare ( ) to go ( ) to school, to learn ( ) to read ( ), write
( ), and cipher ( )." All neuter or intransitive verbs!!
"The celebrated horse, Corydon, will perform ( ) on Tuesday evening in
the circus. He will leap ( ) over four bars, separately, in imitation of
the english hunter. He will lie ( ) down, and rise ( ) up instantly at
the _word of command_. He will move ( ) backwards and sideways, rear ( )
and stand ( ) on his hind feet; he will sit ( ) down, like a Turk, on a
cushion. To conclude ( ), he will leap ( ), in a surprising manner, over
two horses."--_Cardell's Grammar._
The gymnastic is not a mountebank; he palms off no legerdemain upon the
public. He will stretch a line across the room, several feet from the
floor, over which he will leap ( ) with surprising dexterity. He will
stand ( ) on his head, balance, ( ) on one foot, and swing ( ) from side
to side of the room; lay ( ) crosswise, and sideways; spring ( ) upon
his feet; bound ( ) upon the floor; dance ( ) and keel ( ) over with out
touching his hands. He will sing ( ), play ( ), and mimic ( ); look ( )
like a king, and act ( ) like a fool. He will laugh ( ) and cry ( ), as
if real; roar ( ) like a lion, and chirp ( ) like a bird. To conclude
( ): He will do all this to an audience of neuter grammarians, without
either "_action_ or _passion_," all the while having a "_state of
being_," motionless, in the center of the room!!
What a lie! say you. _A lie?_ I hope you do not accuse _me_ of lying. If
there is any thing false in this matter it all _lies_ in the quotation,
at the conclusion, from the standard grammar. If that is false, whose
fault is it? Not mine, certainly. But what if I should _lie_ ( ),
intransitively? I should tell no falsehoods.
But enough of this. If there is any thing irrational or inconsistent,
any thing false or ridiculous, in this view of the subject, it should be
remembered that it has been long taught, not only in common schools, but
in our academies and colleges, as serious, practical truth; as the only
means of acquiring a correct knowledge of language, or fitting ourselves
for usefulness or respectability in society. You smile at such trash,
and well you may; but you must bear in mind that grammar is not the only
thing in which we may turn round and _laugh_ ( ) at past follies.
But I am disposed to consider this matter of more serious consequence
than to deserve our _laughter_. When I see the rising generation spend
months and years of the best and most important part of their lives,
which should be devoted to the acquisition of that which is true and
useful, studying the dark and false theory of language as usually
taught, I am far from feeling any desire to laugh at the folly which
imposes such a task upon them. I remember too distinctly the years that
have just gone by. I have seen too many blighted hopes, too many
wearisome hours, too many sad countenances, too many broken resolutions;
to say nothing of corporeal chastisements; to think it a small matter
that children are erroneously taught the rudiments of language, because
sanctioned by age, or great names. A change, an important change, a
radical change, in this department of education, is imperiously
demanded, and teachers must obey the call, and effect the change. There
is a spirit abroad in the land which will not bow tamely and without
complaint, to the unwarranted dictation of arbitrary, false, and
contradictory rules, merely from respect to age. It demands reason,
consistency and plainness; and yields assent only where they are found.
And teachers, if they will not lead in the reformation, must be
satisfied to follow after; for a reformation is loudly called for, and
will be had. None are satisfied with existing grammars, which, in
principle, are nearly alike. The seventy-three attempts to improve and
simplify Murray, have only acted _intransitively_, and accomplished very
little, if any good, save the employment given to printers, paper
makers, and booksellers.
But I will not enlarge. We have little occasion to wonder at the errors
and mistakes of grammar makers, when our lexicographers tell us for
sober truth, that =to act=, _to be in action_, _not to rest_, to be in
_motion_, to _move_, is _v. n._ a verb neuter, signifying _no action_!!
or _v. i._ verb intransitive, producing _no effects_; and that a
"_neuter verb_ =expresses= (active transitive verb) _a state of being_!!
There are few minds capable of adopting such premises, and drawing
therefrom conclusions which are rational or consistent. Truth is rarely
elicted from error, beauty from deformity, or order from confusion.
While, therefore, we allow the neuter systems to sink into
forgetfulness, as they usually do as soon as we leave school and shut
our books, let us throw the mantle of charity over those who have
thoughtlessly (without _thinking thoughts_) and innocently lead us many
months in dark and doleful wanderings, in paths of error and
contradiction, mistaken for the road to knowledge and usefulness. But
let us resolve to save ourselves and future generations from following
the same unpleasant and unprofitable course, and endeavor to _reflect_
the _light_ which may _shine_ upon our minds, to dispel the surrounding
darkness, and secure the light and knowledge of truth to those who shall
come after us.
Many philologists have undertaken to explain our language by the aid of
foreign tongues. Because there are genitive cases, different kinds of
verbs, six tenses, etc. in the Latin or Greek, the same distinctions
should exist in our grammars. But this argument will not apply,
admitting that other languages will not allow of the plan of exposition
we have adopted, which we very seriously question, tho we have not time
to go into that investigation. We believe that the principles we have
adopted are capable of universal application; that what is action in
England would be action in Greece, Rome, Turkey, and every where else;
that "_like causes will produce like effects_" all the world over. It
matters not by whom the action is seen, it is the same, and all who
gather ideas therefrom will describe it as it appears to them, let them
speak what language they may. But if they have no ideas to express, they
need no language to speak. Monkeys, for aught I know to the contrary,
can speak as well as we; but the reason they do not, is because they
have nothing to say.