Verb-phrases with Prepositionless Object

To identify the semantic and structural traits of different variants of verb-phrases we shall compare the following:

1. dig ground, meet our friends, build a house, observe the stars, etc.

2. walk the streets, sit a horse, smile a sunny smile, bow one's thanks, nod approval, etc.

With all their similarity, the two types of verb-phrases differ essentially in their syntactic content. The former imply that the person or thing is directly affected by the action, i. e. the action is directed to the object which completes the verbal idea and limits it at the same time. The duty of the object in examples (B) is to characterise the action; the phrase therefore is descriptive of something that is felt as characteristic of the action itself.

Phrases of group (A) are fairly common. A limiting object may be expressed by nouns of different classes, concrete and abstract, living beings and inanimate things, names of material, space and time. The range of verbs taking such kind of objects is known to be very wide.

Phrases of group (B) are somewhat limited in their use. The range of verbs taking such descriptive objects is rather small. Many patterns of this kind are idiosyncratic in their character. Some verbs which are generally intransitive acquire a transitive meaning only in such collocation.

Objects of group (A) are functionally identical in their limiting character but are contrasted to each other in the following terms:

1. the outer character of the action: the object is acted upon without any inner change in the object itself, as in: dig the ground, clean the blackboard, apply the rule, dress the child, take a book, send a letter, etc.;

2. the inner character of the action: the object is acted upon, which results in some inner changes in the object itself: improving the method, injured the tree, weakened the meaning, intensified the idea, etc.;

3. the resultative character of the action. This kind of objects presents no difficulty and no particular interest, e. g.: painted a picture, made the dress, wrote a monograph, built a house, etc

The same kind of object is obvious after verbs like beget, create, develop, draw, construct, invent, manufacture, etc.

In terms of transformational analysis, phrases of group (A) are characterised by the following:

1) pronominal transformation — noun-objects may be replaced by corresponding pronominal forms, e. g.: dug it, dressed it, took it, washed it (the linen), violated it (the rule), etc.

2) transformation through nominalisation:

dig the ground — digging the ground;

violating the rule — the violation of the rule;

he approved our choice — his approval of our choice.

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3) adjectivisation:

she washed her linen — her washed linen; he deserted his friend — his deserted friend; forgot his promise — forgetful of his promise.

Verb-phrases of group (B) have some characteristic features of their own.

Compare the following:

1. He writes a good letter;

2. He writes a good hand.

He strikes me as capable, orderly, and civil; I don't see what more you want in a clerk. He writes a good hand, and so far I can see he tells the truth. (Galsworthy)

Phrases of group (B) can have overlapping relations of manner and consequence:

Such are phrases with the so-called cognate object ¹, e. g.: to live a life, to fight a fight, to laugh a laugh, to smile a sunny smile, to fight a battle, etc.

The syntactic content of such verb-phrases can be adequately explained by transformational analysis, e. g.:

He has fought the good fight → ...has fought so as to produce the good fight.

He lived the life of an exile →... his manner of living was that of an exile.

Combinations of this kind are found with verbs that are otherwise intransitive (live, smile).

Phrases with the cognate object are stylistic alternatives of corresponding simple verbs: to live a life = to live; to smile a smile = to smile, etc. functioning as an easy means of adding some descriptive trait to the predicate which it would be difficult to add to the verb in some other form. To fight the good fight, for instance, is semantically different from to fight well; he laughed his usual careless laugh is not absolutely synonymous with he laughed carelessly as usual.

Cognate objects commonly have attributive adjuncts attached to them.

Having said that Jolyon was ashamed. His cousin had flushed a dusky yellowish red. What had made him tease the poor brute? (Galsworthy)

He laughed suddenly a ringing free laugh that startled the echoes in the dark woods. (Mitchell)

She frowned at his facetiousness — a pretty, adorable frown that made him put his arm around her and kiss it away. (London)

Winter snowed its snow, created a masterpiece of arctic mist and rain until a vanguard convoy of warm days turned into Easter, with supplies of sun run surreptitiously through from warmer lands. (Sillitoe)

The chief point of linguistic interest is presented by V + N phrases with intransitive verbs where the relations between verb and noun lead to the formation of special lexical meanings. The use of verbs which are otherwise semantically intransitive in V + N patterns is fairly com-

¹ Other terms of "cognate object" are: "inner object", "object of content", "factitive object" (an older term is "figura etymologica").

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mon. Verbs involved in such syntactic relations undergo considerable semantic changes. Some of them acquire a causative meaning, e. g. to run a horse, to run a business, walk the horses, etc.

Verbs of seeing, such as to look, gaze, stare, glare, which are generally used with a prepositional object, when employed in V + N patterns develop the meaning "to express by looking", as in: She looked her surprise; He said nothing but glanced a question; She stared her discontent.

Similarly: to breathe relief, to sob repentance, to roar applause, to smile appreciation, to bray a laugh and still others.

As we see, patterns of this sort are frequent with verbs which are otherwise intransitive, as in:

"Because..." Brissenden sipped his toddy and smiled appreciation of it. (London)

Further examples are:

She nodded approval.

He bowed his thanks.

She beamed satisfaction.

She laughed her thanks.

He breathed his astonishment.

He could only stare his surprise.

Somewhat related to these formations are such grammatical idioms where some special addition to a secondary word cannot conveniently be expressed by means of a subject: a predicative-word is consequently loosely attached to the sentence as the bearer of the specialisation in the form of modifier, as in: her face was very pale, a greyish pallor.

Not infrequently modifying words are introduced by the preposition with. Consider the following examples:

Not much give and take about Desert — restless, disharmonic, and a poet! And proud — with that inner self-depreciation pride which never let up on a man. (Galsworthy)

Similarly:

She was pretty, with the prettiness of twenty.

He was sick with a sickness more than of a body, a sickness of mind.