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William S. Balch - Lectures on Language

W >> William S. Balch >> Lectures on Language







LECTURE VIII.

ON VERBS.

Unpleasant to expose error.--Verbs defined.--Every thing acts.--
Actor and object.--Laws.--Man.--Animals.--Vegetables.--Minerals.--
Neutrality degrading.--Nobody can explain a neuter verb.--_One_ kind
of verbs.--_You_ must decide.--Importance of teaching children the
truth.--Active verbs.--Transitive verbs false.--Samples.--Neuter
verbs examined.--Sit.--Sleep.--Stand.--Lie.--Opinion of Mrs.
W.--Anecdote.


We now come to the consideration of that class of words which in the
formation of language are called _Verbs_. You will allow me to bespeak
your favorable attention, and to insist most strenuously on the
propriety of a free and thoro examination into the nature and use of
these words. I shall be under the necessity of performing the thankless
task of exposing the errors of honest, wise, and good men, in order to
remove difficulties which have long existed in works on language, and
clear the way for a more easy and consistent explanation of this
interesting and essential department of literature. I regret the
necessity for such labors; but no person who wishes the improvement of
mankind, or is willing to aid the growth of the human intellect, in its
high aspirations after truth, knowledge, and goodness, should shrink
from a frank exposition of what he deems to be error, nor refuse his
assistance, feeble tho it may be, in the establishment of correct
principles.

In former lectures we have confined our remarks to things and a
description of their characters and relations, so that every entity of
which we can conceive a thought, or concerning which we can form an
expression, has been defined and described in the use of nouns and
adjectives. Every thing in creation, of which we think, material or
immaterial, real or imaginary, and to which we give a name, to represent
the idea of it, comes under the class of words called nouns. The words
which specify or distinguish one thing from another, or describe its
properties, character, or relations, are designated as adjectives. There
is only one other employment left for words, and that is the expression
of the actions, changes, or inherent tendencies of things. This
important department of knowledge is, in grammar, classed under the head
of =Verbs=.

* * * * *

_Verb_ is derived from the Latin _verbum_, which signifies a _word_. By
specific application it is applied to those _words_ only which express
action, correctly understood; the same as Bible, derived from the Greek
"_biblos_" means literally _the book_, but, by way of eminence, is
applied to the sacred scriptures only.

This interesting class of words does not deviate from the correct
principles which we have hitherto observed in these lectures. It depends
on established laws, exerted in the regulation of matter and thought;
and whoever would learn its sublime use must be a close observer of
things, and the mode of their existence. The important character it
sustains in the production of ideas of the changes and tendencies of
things and in the transmission of thought, will be found simple, and
obvious to all.

Things exist; Nouns name them.

Things differ; Adjectives define or describe them.

Things act; Verbs express their actions.

_All Verbs denote action._

By action, we mean not only perceivable motion, but an inherent tendency
to change, or resist action. It matters not whether we speak of animals
possessed of the power of locomotion; of vegetables, which _send_ forth
their branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruits; or of minerals, which
_retain_ their forms, positions, and properties. The same principles are
concerned, the same laws exist, and should be observed in all our
attempts to understand their operations, or employ them in the promotion
of human good. Every thing acts according to the ability it possesses;
from the small particle of sand, which _occupies_ its place upon the sea
shore, up thro the various gradation of being, to the tall archangel,
who _bows_ and _worships_ before the throne of the uncreated Cause of
all things and actions which exist thro out his vast dominions.

As all actions presuppose an _actor_, so every action must result on
some _object_. No effect can exist without an efficient cause to produce
it; and no cause can exist without a corresponding effect resulting from
it. These mutual relations, helps, and dependencies, are manifest in all
creation. Philosophy, religion, the arts, and all science, serve only to
develope these primary laws of nature, which unite and strengthen,
combine and regulate, preserve and guide the whole. From the Eternal I
AM, the uncreated, self-existent, self-sustaining =Cause= of all things,
down to the minutest particle of dust, evidences may be traced of the
existence and influence of these laws, in themselves irresistible,
exceptionless, and immutable. Every thing has a place and a duty
assigned it; and harmony, peace, and perfection are the results of a
careful and judicious observance of the laws given for its regulation.
Any infringement of these laws will produce disorder, confusion, and
distraction.

Man is made a little lower than the angels, possessed of a mind capable
of reason, improvement, and happiness; an intellectual soul inhabiting a
mortal body, the connecting link between earth and heaven--the material
and spiritual world. As a physical being, he is subject, in common with
other things, to the laws which regulate matter: as an intellectual
being, he is governed by the laws which regulate mind: as possessed of
both a body and mind, a code of moral laws demand his observance in all
the social relations and duties of life. Obedience to these laws is the
certain source of health of body, and peace of mind. An infringement of
them will as certainly be attended with disease and suffering to the
one, and sorrow and anguish to the other.

Lower grades of animals partake of many qualities in common with man. In
some they are deficient; in others they are superior. Some animals are
possessed of all but reason, and even in that, the highest of them come
very little short of the lowest of the human species. If they have not
reason, they possess an instinct which nearly approaches it. These
qualities dwindle down gradually thro the various orders and varieties
of animated nature, to the lowest grade of animalculae, a multitude of
which may inhabit a single drop of water; or to the zoophytes and
lythophytes, which form the connecting link between the animal and
vegetable kingdom; as the star-fish, the polypus, and spunges. Then
strike off into another kingdom, and observe the laws vegetable life.
Mark the tall pine which has grown from a small seed which _sent_ forth
its root downwards and its trunk upwards, drawing nourishment from
earth, air, and water, till it now waves its top to the passing breeze,
a hundred feet above this dirty earth: or the oak or olive, which have
_maintained_ their respective positions a dozen centuries despite the
operations of wind and weather, and have shed their foliage and their
seeds to propagate their species and extend their kinds to different
places. While a hundred generations have lived and died, and the country
often changed masters, they resist oppression, scorn misrule, and retain
rights and privileges which are slowly encroached upon by the inroads of
time, which will one day triumph over them, and they fall helpless to
the earth, to submit to the chemical operations which shall dissolve
their very being and cause them to mingle with the common dust, yielding
their strength to give life and power to other vegetables which shall
occupy their places.[10] Or mark the living principle in the "sensitive
plant," which withers at every touch, and suffers long ere it regains
its former vigor.

Descend from thence, down thro the various gradations of vegetable life,
till you pass the narrow border and enter the mineral world. Here you
will see displayed the same sublime principle, tho in a modified degree.
Minerals _assume_ different shapes, hues and relations; they increase
and diminish, attach and divide under various circumstances, all the
while _retaining_ their identity and properties, and exerting their
abilities according to the means they possess, till compelled to yield
to a superior power, and learn to submit to the laws which operate in
every department of this mutable world.

_Every_ thing _acts_ according to the ability God has bestowed upon it;
and man can do no more. He has authority over all things on earth, and
yet he is made to depend upon all. His authority extends no farther than
a privilege, under wholesome restrictions, of making the whole
subservient to his real good. When he goes beyond this, he usurps a
power which belongs not to him, and the destruction of his happiness
pays the forfeit of his imprudence. The injured power rises triumphant
over the aggressor, and the glory of God's government, in the righteous
and immediate execution of his laws, is clearly revealed. So long as man
obeys the laws which regulate health, observes temperance in all things,
uses the things of this world as not abusing them, he is at rest, he is
blessed, he is happy: but no sooner has he violated heaven's law than he
becomes the slave, and the servant assumes the master. But I am
digressing. I would gladly follow this subject further, but I shall go
beyond my limits, and, it may be, your patience.

I would insist, however, on the facts to which your attention has been
given, for it is impossible, as I have before contended, to use language
correctly without a knowledge of the things and ideas it is employed to
represent.

Grovelling, indeed, must be the mind which will not trace the sublime
exhibitions of Divine power and skill in all the operations of nature;
and false must be that theory which teaches the young mind to think and
speak of neutrality as attached to things which do exist. As low and
debasing as the speculations of the schoolmen were, they gave to things
which they conceived to be incapable of action, a principle which they
called "_vis inertiae_," or, _power to lie still_. Shall our systems of
instruction descend below them, throw an insurmountable barrier in the
way of human improvement, and teach the false principles that actions
can exist without an effect, or that there is a class of words which
"express neither action or passion." Such a theory is at war with the
first principles of philosophy, and denies that "like causes produce
like effects."

The ablest minds have never been able to explain the foundation of a
"neuter verb," or to find a single word, with a solitary exception,
which does not, in certain conditions, express a positive action, and
terminate on a definite object; and that exception we shall see refers
to a verb which expresses the highest degree of conceivable action.
Still they have insisted on _three_ and some on _four_ kinds of verbs,
one expressing action, another passion or suffering, and the third
neutrality. We propose to offer a brief review of these distinctions,
which have so long perplexed, not only learners, but teachers
themselves, and been the fruitful source of much dissention among
grammarians.

It is to be hoped you will come up to this work with as great candor as
you have heretofore manifested, and as fully resolved to take nothing
for granted, because it has been said by good or great men, and to
reject nothing because it appears new or singular. Let truth be our
object and reason our guide to direct us to it. We can not fail of
arriving at safe and correct conclusions.

Mr. Murray tells us that "verbs are of three kinds, _active_, _passive_,
and _neuter_. In a note he admits of "active _transitive_ and
intransitive verbs," as a subdivision of his first kind. Most of his
"improvers" have adopted this distinction, and regard it as of essential
importance.

We shall contend, as before expressed, that _all_ verbs are of _one
kind_, that they _express action_, for the simple yet sublime reason,
that every thing acts, at all times, and under every possible condition;
according to the true definition of _action_ as understood and employed
by all writers on grammar, and natural and moral science. Here we are at
issue. Both, contending for principles so opposite, can not be correct.
One or the other, however pure the motives, must be attached to a system
wrong in theory, and of course pernicious in practice. You are to be the
umpires in the case, and, if you are faithful to your trust, you will
not be bribed or influenced in the least by the opinions of others. If
divested of all former attachments, if free from all prejudice, there
can be no doubt of the safety and correctness of your conclusions. But I
am apprehensive I expect too much, if I place the _new_ system of
grammar on a footing equally favorable in your minds with those you have
been taught to respect, as the only true expositions of language, from
your childhood up, and which are recommended to you on the authority of
the learned and good of many generations. I have to combat early
prejudices, and systems long considered as almost sacred. But I have in
my favor the common sense of the world, and a feeling of opposition to
existing systems, which has been produced, not so much by a detection of
their errors, as by a lack of capacity, as the learner verily thought,
to understand their profound mysteries. I am, therefore, willing to risk
the final decision with you, if _you_ will decide. But I am not willing
to have you made the tools of the opposite party, determined, whether
convinced or not, to hold to your old _neuter_ verb systems, right or
wrong, merely because others are doing so. All I ask is _your_ adoption
of what is proved to be undeniably true, and rejection of whatever is
found to be false.

Here is where the matter must rest, for it will not be pretended that it
is better to teach falsehood because it is ancient and popular, than
truth because it is novel. Teachers, in this respect, stand in a most
responsible relation to their pupils. They should always insist with an
unyielding pertinacity, on the importance of truth, and the evils of
error. Every trifling incident, in the course of education, which will
serve to show the contrast, should be particularly observed. If an error
can be detected in their books, they should be so taught as to be able
to correct it; and they should be so inclined as to be willing to do it.
They should not be skeptics, however, but close observers, original
thinkers, and correct reasoners. It is degrading to the true dignity and
independence of man, to submit blindly to any proposition. Freedom of
thought is the province of all. Children should be made to breathe the
free air of honest inquiry, and to inhale the sweet spirit of truth and
charity. They should not study their books as the end of learning, but
as a means of knowing. Books should be regarded as lamps, which are set
by the way side, not as the objects to be looked at, but the aids by
which we may find the object of our search. Knowledge and usefulness
constitute the leading motives in all study, and no occasion should be
lost, no means neglected, which will lead the young mind to their
possession.

Your attention is now invited to some critical remarks on the
distinctions usually observed in the use of verbs. Let us carefully
examine the meaning of these _three kinds_ and see if there is any
occasion for such a division; if they have any foundation in truth, or
application in the correct use of language. We will follow the
arrangements adopted by the most popular grammars.

"A _verb active_ expresses an action, and necessarily implies an agent,
and an object acted upon; as, to love, I love Penelope." A very
excellent definition, indeed! Had grammarians stopped here, their works
would have been understood, and proved of some service in the study of
language. But when they diverge from this bright spot in the
consideration of verbs--this oasis in the midst of a desert--they soon
become lost in the surrounding darkness of conjecture, and follow each
their own dim light, to hit on a random track, which to follow in the
pursuit of their object.

We give our most hearty assent to the above definition of a verb. It
expresses action, which necessarily implies an _actor_, and an _object_
influenced by the action. In our estimation it matters not whether the
object on which the action terminates is expressed or _understood_. If I
_love_, I must love some object; either my neighbor, my enemy, my
family, _myself_, or something else. In either case the _action_ is the
same, tho the objects may be different; and it is regarded, on all
hands, as an active verb. Hence when the object on which the action
terminates is not expressed, it is necessarily understood. All language
is, in this respect, more or less eliptical, which adds much to its
richness and brevity.

Active verbs, we are told, are divided into _transitive_ and
_intransitive_. Mr. Murray does not exactly approve of this distinction,
but prefers to class the intransitive and neuter together. Others, aware
of the fallacy of attempting to make children conceive any thing like
neutrality in the verbs, _run_, _fly_, _walk_, _live_, &c., have
preferred to mark the distinction and call them _in_transitive; because,
say they, they do not terminate on any object expressed.

A _transitive verb_ "expresses an action which passes from the agent to
the object; as, Caesar conquered Pompey." To this definition we can not
consent. It attempts a distinction where there is none. It is not true
in principle, and can not be adopted in practice.

"Caesar conquered Pompey." Did the act of conquering pass _transitively_
over from _Caesar_ to Pompey? They might not have seen each other during
the whole battle, nor been within many miles of each other. They, each
of them, stood at the head of their armies, and alike gave orders to
their subordinate officers, and they again to their inferiors, and so
down, each man contending valiantly for _victory_, till, at last, the
fate of the day sealed the downfall of Pompey, and placed the crown of
triumph on the head of Caesar. The expression is a correct one, but the
action expressed by the verb "conquered," is not transitive, as that
term is understood. A whole train of causes was put in operation which
finally terminated in the defeat of one, and the conquest of the other.

"Bonaparte _lost_ the battle of Waterloo." What did _he_ do to _lose_
the battle? He exerted his utmost skill to _gain_ the battle and escape
defeat. He did not do a single act, he entertained not a single thought,
which lead to such a result; but strove against it with all his power.
If the fault was _his_, it was because he failed to act, and not because
he labored to _lose_ the battle. He had too much at stake to adopt such
a course, and no man but a teacher of grammar, would ever accuse him of
_acting_ to _lose_ the battle.

"A man was sick; he desired to recover (his health). He took, for
medicine, opium by mistake, and _lost_ his life by it." Was he guilty of
suicide? Certainly, if our grammars are true. But he _lost_ his life in
trying to get well.

"A man in America _possesses_ property in Europe, and his children
_inherit_ it after his death." What do the children do to _inherit_ this
property, of which they know nothing?

"The geese, by their gabbling, _saved_ Rome from destruction." How did
the geese save the city? They made a noise, which waked the sentinels,
who roused the soldiers to arms; they fought, slew many Gauls, and
delivered the city.

"A man in New-York _transacts_ business in Canton." How does he do it?
He has an agent there to whom he sends his orders, and he transacts the
business. But how does he get his letters? The clerk writes them, the
postman carries them on board the ship, the captain commands the
sailors, who work the ropes which unfurl the sails, the wind blows, the
vessel is managed by the pilot, and after a weary voyage of several
months, the letters are delivered to the agent, who does the business
that is required of him.

The miser _denies_ himself every comfort, and spends his whole life in
hoarding up riches; and yet he dies and _leaves_ his gold to be the
possession of others.

Christians _suffer_ insults almost every day from the Turks.

Windows _admit_ light and _exclude_ cold.

Who can discover any thing like _transitive_ action--a passing from the
agent to the object--in these cases? What transitive action do the
windows perform to _admit the light_; or the christians, to _suffer
insults_; or the miser, to _leave his money_? If there is neutrality any
where, we would look for it here. The fact is, these words express
_relative_ action, as we shall explain when we come to the examination
of the true character of the verb.

_Neutrality_ signifies (transitive verb!) no action, and _neuter_ verbs
_express a state of being_! A class of words which can not act, which
apply to things in a quiescent state, _perform_ the transitive action of
"_expressing_ a state of being!"

Who does not perceive the inconsistency and folly of such distinctions?
And who has not found himself perplexed, if not completely bewildered in
the dark and intricate labyrinths into which he has been led by the
false grammar books! Every attempt he has made to extricate himself, by
the dim light of the "simplifiers," has only tended to bewilder him
still more, till he is utterly confounded, or else abandons the study
altogether.

* * * * *

An _intransitive_ verb "denotes action which is confined to the actor,
and does not pass over to another object; as, I sit, he lives, they
sleep."

"A verb _neuter_ expresses neither action nor passion, but being, or a
state of being; as, I am, I sleep, I sit."

These verbs are nearly allied in character; but we will examine them
separately and fairly. The examples are the same, with exception of the
verb _to be_, which we will notice by itself, and somewhat at large, in
another place.

Our first object will be to ascertain the _meaning_ and use of the words
which have been given as samples of neutrality. It is unfortunate for
the neuter systems that they can not define a "neuter verb" without
making it express an action which terminates on some object.

* * *

"The man _sits_ in his chair."

_Sits_, we are told, is a neuter verb. What does it mean? The man
_places_ himself in a sitting posture in his _seat_. He _keeps_ himself
in his chair by muscular energy, assisted by gravitation. The chair
_upholds_ him in that condition. Bring a small child and _sit_ it
(active verb,) in a chair beside him. Can it _sit_? No; it falls upon
the floor and is injured. Why did it fall? It was not able to _keep_
itself from falling. The lady fainted and _fell_ from her _seat_. If
there is no action in sitting, why did she not remain as she was? A
company of ladies and gentlemen from the boarding school and college,
entered the parlor of a teacher of neuter verbs; and he asked them to
_sit_ down, or be _seated_. They were neutral. He called them impolite.
But they replied, that _sit_ "expresses neither action nor passion," and
hence he could not expect them to occupy his seats.

"_Sit_ or _set_ it away; _sit_ near me; _sit_ farther along; _sit_
still;" are expressions used by every teacher in addressing his
scholars. On the system we are examining, what would they understand by
such inactive expressions? Would he not correct them for disobeying his
orders? But what did he order them to do? Nothing at all, if _sit_
denotes no action.

"I _sat_ me down and wept."

"He _sat him_ down by a pillar's base,
And drew his hand athwart his face."
_Byron._

"Then, having shown his wounds, he'd _sit him_ down,
And, all the live long day, discourse of war."
_Tragedy of Douglass._

"But wherefore _sits he_ there?
Death on my state! _This act_ convinces me
That this retiredness of the duke and her,
Is plain contempt."
_King Lear._

"_Sitting_, the _act of resting_ on a seat.
_Session_, the _act of sitting_."
_Johnson's Dictionary._

* * *

"_I sleep._"

Is sleep a neuter verb? So we are gravely told by our authors. Can
grammarians follow their own rules? If so, they may spend the "live long
night" and "its waking hours," without resorting to "tired nature's
sweet restorer, balmy sleep;" for there is no process under heaven
whereby they can procure sleep, unless they _sleep_ it. For one, I can
never _sleep_ without sleeping _sleep_--sometimes only a short _nap_. It
matters not whether the object is expressed or not. The action remains
the same. The true object is necessarily understood, and it would be
superfluous to name it. Cases, however, often occur where, both in
speaking and writing, it becomes indispensable to mention the object.
"The stout hearted have _slept_ their sleep." "They shall _sleep_ the
_sleep_ of death." "They shall _sleep_ the perpetual _sleep_, and shall
not awake." "_Sleep_ on now and _take_ your rest." The child was
troublesome and the mother sung it to sleep, and it _slept itself_
quiet. A lady took opium and _slept herself_ to death. "Many persons
sleep themselves into a kind of unnatural stupidity." Rip Van Winkle,
according to the legend, _slept_ away a large portion of a common life.

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