Chapter XXIII: Transitive Verbs. Object of Verb

=77.= We have seen that a noun may be related to a verb as its subject. When the verb asserts action, as in the sentence, “Many birds eat flies,” then the subject _many birds_ names the doer, or performer, of the action.

There is another very common relation that a noun may bear to a verb. In the sentence above, the verb _eat_ asserts an action that is not only performed _by_ something, but is also performed _upon_ something. That is, there is a doer of the action, many birds, and a receiver of the action, flies. If we had merely the subject and the verb, our sentence would be incomplete, and we should ask at once, _eat what?_

Since the word _flies_ completes the meaning of the verb _eat_, we call it the =complement= of the verb. Since it names the receiver of the action that is asserted by the verb _eat_, we call it the =object= or =direct object= of the verb.

=78.= Not all verbs require an object—only those which assert action which the subject performs _upon_ some person or thing. Such verbs are called =transitive= verbs.

=79.= The object of a verb is not always a single word. The object may be compound, as in the sentence, “Many birds eat flies and gnats and mosquitoes.” Again, the object may be a group of words, of which a noun is the base word. In the following sentence there are three transitive verbs. What is the object of each verb? What is the base word of each object?—“Miss Dorothea dusted the banisters round the porch, straightened the rows of shoes in mother’s closet, and folded the daily papers in the rack.”

=80.= Just as we can find the subject of a verb by asking the question made by placing _who_ or _what_ before the verb, so we can find the object of a verb that asserts action by asking the question made by placing _whom_ or _what_ after the verb.

These questions are often a great help, especially if a sentence is long or transposed. In the sentence, “A more miserable little beast I had never seen,” what is the verb? Ask a question to find the subject. Ask a question to find the object.

=Summary.=—A =transitive verb= is one that asserts action performed upon some person or thing.

A =complement= is a word or a group of words used to complete the meaning of a verb.

The =direct object= of a verb is a word or a group of words that completes the meaning of a transitive verb and names the receiver of the action.

NOTE.—Not all transitive verbs denote action that is
accompanied by motion. Some denote action of the senses; as,
“I _see_ the star,” “I _taste_ the pepper.” Others denote
action of the feelings; as, “I _love_ the truth,” “I _hate_ a
lie.” Still others do not denote action at all; as, “I _mean_
you,” “Our forefathers _owned_ slaves,” “I _kept_ her letter.”
We must enlarge our notion of transitive verbs so as to make
it include all verbs that take a complement which denotes a
different person or thing from the subject.

=Exercise 1.=—Select all the transitive verbs in these sentences. Find both their subjects and their objects by asking the proper questions.

NOTE.—A transitive verb may be modified before it is completed.
This is true of _lifts_ in sentence 2. Oftener the idea
expressed by the verb and its object together is modified;
as in sentence 1, where the phrase _in despair_ modifies not
_shook_ but _shook her head_.

1. Dotty Dimple shook her head in despair.

2. At the word of command, the two horsemen stop, each man
lifts up his right leg, throws it over the back of his horse,
and drops it to the ground so that the two boots tap the
pavement at the same instant.

3. Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the
basket in a rack, and opened a window.

4. When the young surveyor left Detroit, he carried a huge
green bandbox, and his wife in her far frontier home received
in due time a beautiful blue bonnet.

5. I threw off an overcoat, took an armchair by the crackling
logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of my hosts.

6. All the world likes molasses candy.

7. The children brought home great bunches of the brilliant
leaves, and some they pressed and varnished, while others
Katherine dipped in melted wax.

8. John trod down the exquisite ferns and the wonderful mosses
without compunction. But he gathered from the crevices of the
rocks the columbine and the eglantine and the blue harebell;
he picked the high-flavored alpine strawberry, the blueberry,
the boxberry, wild currants and gooseberries and fox grapes; he
brought home armfuls of the pink and white laurel and the wild
honeysuckle; he dug the roots of the fragrant sassafras and of
the sweet flag; he ate the tender leaves of the wintergreen and
its red berries; he gathered the peppermint and the spearmint;
he gnawed the twigs of the black birch; he dug the amber gum
from the spruce-tree; he brought home such medicinal herbs for
the garret as the goldthread, the tansy, and the loathsome
“boneset,” and he laid in for the winter, like a squirrel,
stores of beechnuts, hazelnuts, hickorynuts, chestnuts, and
butternuts.

=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—

NOTE.—If any part of a sentence is compound, state that fact
before analyzing it. If the subject or object is compound, give
the base words first, and then the modifiers of each. If the
predicate is compound, analyze the first predicate completely,
then the second, and so on. If any adverb or prepositional
phrase modifies the idea denoted by the verb and the object, be
sure to say so in your analysis. For instance, in the sentence,
“We have seen his star in the east,” the predicate verb is
_have seen_. It is completed by the direct object _his star_,
and then modified by the prepositional phrase _in the east_.

1. Sometimes a perfume like absinthe sweetened all the air.

2. The little brown field mouse ran along in the grass, poked
his nose into everything, and finally spied a smooth, shiny
acorn.

3. My son, descend those steps and enter that door.

4. Many and many a pair of mittens had those busy fingers knit.

5. Always within a few moments the rabbits would resume their
leaping progress through the white glitter and the hard, black
shadows.

6. The visit of the tax collector seldom gives unmixed joy.

7. Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy
tavern.

8. The first glimpse of a new country always quickens the sense
of the traveler.

9. Rebecca took off her hat and cape and hung them in the hall,
put her rubber shoes and umbrella carefully in the corner, and
then opened the door of paradise.

10. The scent of herbs and the fragrance of fruit filled the
great unfinished chamber.

11. A polished brazen rod on a broad wooden pedestal beside the
armchair held half a dozen lamps of silver on sliding arms.

12. Messala hugged the stony wall with perilous clasp.

13. Amrah rubbed her eyes, bent closer down, clasped her hands,
gazed wildly around, looked at the sleeper, then stooped and
raised his hand, and kissed it fondly.

14. The proprietor of the fruit stand has a bald head, a long
face, and a nose like the beak of a hawk.

15. Without more ado Mr. Cary grasped his arm firmly, and
fairly lifted him into the room.