Collins Cobuild English Grammar (70 page)

For example, you could say either
She eats food slowly
or
She eats slowly
. It is obvious in this context that what she eats is food, and so you only mention food if you want to emphasize the fact (which is unlikely), or if you want to say what kind of food she eats.

With verbs like these, you normally use an object only when you want to be specific or when you want to contrast what happened on one specific occasion with what happens normally. For example, you would say
I’ve been studying history
, as opposed to
I’ve been studying
, only if you want or need to mention the subject specifically, or if you normally study something else.

…a healthy person who
eats
sensibly.
Twice a week he
eats an apple
for lunch.
He raised his own glass and
drank
.
He
drank a good deal of coffee
.
He had won, and she
had helped
.
She
could help him
to escape.
I
cooked
for about eight directors.
She had never
cooked dinner
for anyone.
I washed and
ironed
for them.
She
ironed my shirt
.
Rudolph
waved
and went into the house.
She smiled and
waved her hand
.
She sat and
typed
.
She
typed a letter
to the paper in question.

You need to give the object when it is different from the one that people would normally associate with the verb. For example,
to wave
is usually interpreted as meaning
to wave your hand
, so if something else is being waved, you have to mention it.

He waved
a piece of paper
in his left hand.
Charlie washed
Susan’s feet
.

You also mention the object when you want to say something specific about it.

He washed
his summer clothes
and put them away.
Bond waved
a cheerful hand
.
I could save
quite a lot of money
.

3.50
    Here is a list of verbs that can be used without an object when it is obvious what sort of thing is involved:

borrow

change

clean

cook

draw

drink

drive

dust

eat

film

help

iron

learn

lend

marry

paint

park

point

read

ride

save

sing

smoke

spend

steal

study

type

wash

wave

write

object already mentioned

3.51
    There is another group of verbs that usually have an object but that can be used without an object with the same meaning. These are verbs where the object is obvious because it has already been mentioned. For example, if you have already mentioned the place where something happened, you can say
I left
, without naming the place again.

At last she thanked them and
left
.
He turned away and walked quickly up the passage. I locked the door and
followed
.
I was in the middle of a quiet meal when the tanks
attacked
.
She did not look round when he
entered
.
The sentry fired at the doctor and fortunately
missed
.
Only two or three hundred men belonged to the Union before the war, now thousands
joined
.

3.52
    Here is a list of verbs that can be used without an object when the object has already been mentioned:

accept

aim

answer

approach

ask

attack

begin

bite

blow

board

call

check

choose

consider

direct

dry

enter

explain

fit

follow

forget

gain

guess

improve

join

judge

know

lead

leave

lose

mind

miss

move

notice

observe

offer

order

pass

phone

play

produce

pull

push

remember

ring

rule

search

serve

share

sign

strike

telephone

understand

watch

win

3.53
    If you think that the object may not be obvious from what has been said or if you particularly want to draw attention to it, you mention it.

All I know is that Michael and I never
left the house
.
Miss Lindley
followed Rose
into the shop.
They were unaware they had
attacked a British warship
.
A man
entered the shop
and demanded money.
She threw the first dart and
missed the board
altogether.
I
had joined an athletic club
in Chicago.

speaker’s decisions

3.54
    There are not many verbs that always have an object or never have an object. The decision about whether or not to mention an object is left to the users. If they think that the people reading or listening to them will have no difficulty in working out what person or thing is affected by the action, then they can leave out the object. If they think that this will not be clear, they will use an object in order to prevent misunderstanding. The main reasons for omitting the object are that it is obvious from the meaning of the verb itself, or that it is obvious from what has already been said.

Verbs that can take an object or a prepositional phrase

3.55
    There is a small group of verbs that can be followed by either an object or a prepositional phrase. The verb
fight
is one of these verbs, so that, for example, you can say
He fought the enemy
or
He fought against the enemy
.

The Polish Army
fought the Germans
for nearly five weeks.
He
was fighting against history
.
The New Zealand rugby team
played South Africa’s Springboks
.
In his youth, Thomas
played against Glamorgan
.

3.56
    There is usually little difference in meaning between using the verb on its own and following it with a preposition. For example, there is very little difference in meaning between
brush
and
brush against
,
gnaw
and
gnaw at
, and
hiss
and
hiss at
in the following examples.

Her arm
brushed my cheek
.
Something
brushed against the back of the shelter
.
Rabbits often
gnaw the woodwork of their cages
.
Insects
had been gnawing at the wood
.
They
hissed the Mayor
at the ceremony.
Frederica
hissed at him
.

3.57
    Here is a list of verbs that can be used with an object or a prepositional phrase, with little difference in meaning:

boo (at)

brush (against)

check (on)

distinguish (between)

enter (for)

fight (against)

fight (with)

gain (in)

gnaw (at)

hiss (at)

infiltrate (into)

jeer (at)

juggle (with)

mock (at)

mourn (for)

nibble (at)

play (against)

rule (over)

sip (at)

sniff (at)