Exercise 2. Tell whether the italicized verbs in the following sentences are transitive or intransitive. Give your

reason in each case. If a verb is transitive, tell how it is completed. If it is intransitive, tell how it is modified.

1. All the brooks have burst their icy chains.
2. The boiler burst with a tremendous noise.
3. Do your duty; that is best.

4. Such language will never do for a teacher.

5. Miss Clarissa draws and paints very well.

6. Giotto drew a perfect circle with one sweep of his arm.

7. The swallow flies with a graceful dipping motion.

8. The boys are flying their kites on the common.

9. Give us this day our daily bread.

10. The rope was stretched so tightly that it did not give with his weight.

11. All day he sits in his arm chair and reads.

12. Have you read “The Man without a Country"?

13. The woodworkers have struck for shorter hours.

14. David struck Uriah Heep on the cheek.

15. Aunt Betsy swept down upon the trespassers. 16. I must sweep the spiders off the porch.

XXV.

INTRANSITIVE

VERBS ASSERTING BEING.

NOUNS AS SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS

84. There is no other verb used oftener than the verb be, with its various forms, is, are, am, was, will be, has been, etc. In the sentence, "The lake is the mother of the great rivers," there would be no assertion without the verb is, and yet it does not assert action of any sort. The sentence plainly means that the lake and the mother of the great rivers are identical; that is, they are one and the same thing. The verb is enables us to assert identity. A verb of this kind is intransitive. It is often called a verb of being, to distinguish it from verbs that assert action.

85. Some other verbs of this kind are seem, appear, become, grow, feel, look, smell, taste, and sound. They are classed as

verbs of being because they mean

to be in appearance, in looks, in smell, in taste, etc., as, "You appear ill," "She "The milk tastes sour."

looks young,'

Verbs that assert being are intransitive verbs.

86. Intransitive verbs of being usually need a complement. In the sentence, "I am a spinner of long yarns," if we had merely the subject and the verb, I am, we should ask, am what? The group of words a spinner of long yarns answers this question, and so completes the predicate. It is not an object complement, however, for it cannot name the receiver of an action since the verb does not assert action at all. This complement denotes identity with the subject; hence it is called a subjective complement.

Often the subjective complement denotes the class to which the person or thing named by the subject belongs; as, “Corn is a grain," "My friend is a farmer."

87. The subject and the object 'complement denote two different persons or things, but the subject and the subjective complement always refer to the same person or thing.

88. The subjective complement is sometimes a single noun, as in the sentence, "Stars are suns." When the subjective complement is a group of words, a noun is usually the base word; as, "Procrastination is the thief of time."

In sentences containing a subjective complement, the subject comes before the verb, and the subjective complement after the verb, unless the sentence is transposed; as, "Lords of the sea are we."

89. Sometimes, instead of having a complement, a verb of being is modified by a prepositional phrase, or even by an adverb, denoting place; as, "My bark is on the sea," "Yonder is my home."

Summary. Verbs that assert being or identity are intransitive verbs.

A subjective complement is a word or a group of words that completes a verb and refers to the same person or thing as the subject.

Exercise. Select all the intransitive verbs of being in the following sentences. Find their subjects and their complements, and the base words of each. Analyze sentences 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14.

1. This palace was the residence of the queen consort of England. 2. The king was in his counting house, counting out his money, The queen was in the parlor, eating bread and honey.

3. My name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size.

4. Her worship of God was unselfish service, and her prayers were worthy deeds.

5. The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.

6. This guinea pig's name was Jeff, and he and I became good friends.

7. Patient waiters are no losers.

8. In this fine open square are magnificent fountains, handsome statuary on tall pedestals, and crowds of vehicles and foot passengers crossing it in every direction.

9. A jackknife in his expert hand was a whole chest of tools. 10. One of the best things in the world to be is a boy.

11. Backbiting is the meanest kind of biting, not excepting the bite of fleas.

12. The rattle of a bucket in a neighbor's yard, no longer mixed with other weekday noises, seemed a new sound.

13.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

14. I became an enthusiastic little cook.

15. King Arthur's son was a handsome, polite, and brave knight. 16. The bees are abroad under the calling sky, and the red of apple buds becomes a sign in the orchards.

17. Always darker turns the growing hemp as it rushes upward.

Account for the punctuation of sentences 3, 4, 6, 8, and 15.

XXVI. ADJECTIVES AS SUBJECTIVE COMPLE

MENTS

90. In the sentences, (1) "The tomato is a fruit," (2) "That tall boy is the winner of the race," the base word of the subjective complement is a noun, because we wish to assert (1) class, (2) identity.

In the sentence, "The old gentleman's face was serene and rosy," the base words of the subjective complement are the two adjectives serene and rosy, because we wish to assert the characteristics, or qualities, of the old gentleman's face.

This is a very common use of the adjective, as seen in the familiar sentences, "Grass is green," Grass is green," "Honey is sweet," "Ice is cold."

91. The verbs of being that were given in Lesson XXV,— be, become, look, seem, appear, feel, smell, taste, sound, and grow, often take adjectives for subjective complements; as, "My head feels dizzy," "This sentence sounds queer," "Mary grew plump and strong."

In some cases where the language affords no adjectives that exactly express the meaning, we use a prepositional phrase as subjective complement; as in the common expressions, "The house is on fire," "The girl is in love," "The man is in debt." None of these phrases denote place, but each of them denotes a condition.

NOTE. - An adjective used as a subjective complement is often modified by a prepositional phrase. If we say "The bin is full," somebody will ask "full of what?" If we say "full of apples," it is evident that the phrase of apples modifies full. We also say glad of it, tired of play, wild with joy, green with envy, etc. These expres

sions are different, however, from what we find in the sentence, "I was tired in the evening," where the phrase in the evening, denoting time, modifies not the adjective tired, but the two words was tired.

Summary. An adjective, or a group of words of which an adjective is the base word, may be the subjective complement of an intransitive verb.

Exercise. - Select all the intransitive verbs of being in the following sentences. Find their subjects and their complements, and the base words of each. Analyze sentences 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15.

1. The sting of a bee is sometimes deadly.

2. The woodchuck looked sulky, and scratched his nose expressively.

3. The traveler's limbs were numb, for the ride had been long and wearisome.

4. She might be poor in purse and weak in body, this brave young mother, but she was rich in hope and strong in spirit.

5. By the third day I felt too weak and sick to stir.

6. At these words the king grew purple in the face.

7. Conrad will keep quiet over his books.

8. Mary was beautiful, feminine in spirit, and lovely. Elizabeth was talented, masculine, and plain. Mary was artless, unaffected, and gentle. Elizabeth was heartless, intriguing, and insincere.

9. Your grandfather. looked very funny in his red nightcap, and without his teeth.

10. Very few poetic people are good at arithmetic.

11. The garden at the back of the house was sweet with the scent of newly blossomed lilacs and the freshness of young grass. 12. Snow-white was the foam that flashed upward underneath the curving prow.

13. Is not Little Annie afraid of such a tumult?

14. His mouth felt as dry and stiff and hard as a chip.

15. The people went nearly mad for joy.

92. A common error is the misuse of an adverb for an adjective as the subjective complement of a verb of being. We should say, "I feel bad, or ill, or unhappy" (not badly).

Another common error is the misuse of an adjective for an adverb as a modifier of a verb of action. We should say, "The child learns easily" (not easy).