To speak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad chest,
To confront with your personality all the other personalities of the earth."
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
THE WORD THAT ASSERTS
93. You remember when we studied sentences we found that we could not have a sentence without a verb or a word that asserts. The life of a sentence is the verb, for without the verb we cannot assert, question or command. It was on account of this importance that the Romans called the verb, verbum, which meant the word. Verbs, like nouns, are divided into classes.
94. In some of our sentences the verb alone is enough to make a complete assertion, but in other sentences we use verbs that need to be followed by one or more words to complete the assertion. Notice the following sentences:
- The boy ran.
- The boy found the ball.
- The earth revolves.
- The earth is round.
Do you notice any difference in the verbs used in these sentences? Notice that the verbs ran and revolves make the complete assertion about their subjects. Notice the verbs found and is. These are not complete without the addition of the words ball and round. If we say The boy found, The earth is, you at once ask, The boy found WHAT? The earth is WHAT? The sense is incomplete without the addition of these words ball and round. A part of the thought is unexpressed; but when we say The boy found the ball, The earth is round, the sense is complete.
So we have two classes of verbs, COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE VERBS.