Those expressing the
actions produced by matter, denote physical actions; as, The _dog hears_
the bell; Virgil _wrote_ the Aenead; Columbus _discovered_ America;--to
_see_, to _feel_, to _taste_, to _smell_, to _run_, to _talk_, to _fly_,
to _strike_. In the sentence, Charles _resembles_ his father, the verb
_resembles_ does not appear to express any action at all; yet the
construction of the sentence, and the office which the verb performs,
are such, that we are obliged to parse it as an _active-transitive_
verb, governing the noun _father_ in the objective case. This you may
easily reconcile in your mind, by reflecting, that the verb has a
_direct reference_ to its object. The following verbs are of this
character: _Have, own, retain_; as, I _have_ a book.
Active _in_transitive verbs are frequently made _transitive_. When I
say, The birds _fly_, the verb _fly_ is _in_transitive; but when I say,
The boy _flies_ the kite, the verb _fly_ is _transitive_, and governs
the noun _kite_ in the objective case. Almost any active intransitive
verb, and sometimes even neuter verbs, are used as transitive. The horse
_walks_ rapidly; The boy _runs_ swiftly; My friend _lives_ well; The man
_died_ of a fever.
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