Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 Excerpt: ... may be called "birds," in reference to their beauty of form, or their speed of motion. Rule 2. If the verb be any other than the verb "to be," the grammatical nominative must be a concrete term to denote the agent that does, or may be conceived to perform, the action. 280. We are so much accustomed to the departure from this rule, by metonymy, that we shall hardly be prepared to admit it without some of the considerations that follow below. But of course we. cannot conceive of any action without something that acts, and that something whatever it may be, will be denoted by a concrete term if denoted or spoken of at all; or rather whatever term is used to denote it becomes de facto concrete. Rule 3. If the verb be transitive, denoting not only a state of action, but actual causation, either producing, perceiving, or changing something, the word which denotes the grammatical object must be a concrete term. 281. This also results from the nature of the act denoted; thus, " to eat" is a verb of this kind, and in order that the act may be performed there must be something that is eaten, and that thing must be a substantial reality, or the act cannot lake place, or be conceived to take place. 282. Many verbs, however, are active intransitive, as "to walk," "to run," and they require no objective case after them. Many of them will take none, except as they are followed by a preposition between them and the noun, as " to walk on the floor, with a cane," etc. Many such words, however, will take after them an abstract noun denoting the action itself; thus we may say either "to strike the ground," denoting the object struck, or "to strike a blow," the objective in this case denoting no ob...
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