Any verb that will make sense with the words _a thing_ or _a person_,
after it, is _transitive_. Try these verbs by the sign, _love, help,
conquer, reach, subdue, overcome_. Thus, you can say, I love _a person_
or _thing_--I can help _a person_ or _thing_--and so on. Hence you know
that these verbs are transitive. But an intransitive verb will not make
sense with this sign, which fact will be shown by the following
examples: _smile, go, come, play, bark, walk, fly_. We cannot say, if we
mean to speak English, I smile a _person_ or _thing_--I go _a person_ or
_thing_:--hence you perceive that these verbs are not transitive, but
intransitive.
If you reflect upon these examples for a few moments, you will have a
clear conception of the nature of transitive and intransitive verbs.
Before I close this subject, however, it is necessary farther to remark,
that some transitive and intransitive verbs express what is called a
_mental_ or _moral_ action; and others, a _corporeal_ or _physical_
action. Verbs expressing the different affections or operations of the
mind, denote moral actions; as, Brutus _loved_ his country; James
_hates_ vice; We _believe_ the tale:--to _repent_, to _relent_, to
_think_, to _reflect_, to _mourn_, to _muse_.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122