ly transitive.

_Intransitive verbs._--An act may take place, and yet no object be affected
by it. _To hunger_, _to thirst_, _to sleep_, _to wake_, are verbs that
indicate states of being, rather than actions affecting objects. Verbs like
_hunger_ and _sleep_ are naturally intransitive.

Many verbs, naturally transitive, may be used as intransitive,--e.g., _I
move_, _I strike_, &c.

Many verbs, naturally intransitive, may be used as transitives,--e.g., _I
walked the horse_ = _I made the horse walk_.

This variation in the use of one and the same verb is of much importance in
the question of the government of verbs.

A. Transitive verbs are naturally followed by some noun or other; and that
noun is _always_ the name of something affected by them _as an object_.

B. Intransitive verbs are not naturally followed by any noun at all; and
when they are so followed, the noun is _never_ the name of anything
affected by them _as an object_.

Nevertheless, intransitive verbs may be followed by nouns denoting the
manner, degree, or instrumentality of their action,--_I walk with my feet_
= _incedo pedibus_.

s. 473. _The auxiliary verbs_ will be noticed fully in Chapter XXIII.

s. 474. The verb _substantive_ has this peculiarity, viz., that for all
purposes of syntax it is no verb at all. _I speak_ may, logically, be
reduced to _I am speaking_; in which case it is only the _part_ of a verb.
Etymologically, indeed, the verb substantive is a verb; inasmuch as it is
inflected as such: but for the purposes of construction, it is a copula
only, i.e., it merely denotes the agreement or disagreement between the
subject and the predicate.

For the _impersonal_ verbs see Chapter XXI.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CONCORD OF VERBS.

s. 475. The verb must agree with its subject in person, _I walk_, not _I
walks_: _he walks_, not _he walk_.

It must also agree with it in number,--_we walk_, not _we walks_: _he
walks_, not _he walk_.

Clear as these rules are, they require some expansion before they become
sufficient to solve all the doubtful points of English syntax connected
with the concord of the verb.

A. _It is I, your master, who command you_. Query? would _it is I, your
master, who commands you_, be correct? This is an example of a disputed
point of concord in respect to the person of the verb.

B. _The wages of sin is death_. Query? would _the wages of sin _are_ death_
be correct?