44
votes
Accepted
When to bemoan and when to moan
"Bemoan" is a transitive verb which takes an object so you can "Bemoan your fate" but not just "Bemoan" in the abstract or "Bemoan about your fate".
"Moan", however, as an intransitive verb which ...
44
votes
Accepted
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
There is one. No one uses it.
invalue, v.²
transitive. To make valuable; to give value to.
Literally no one. The OED notes that, as far as it can tell, it has only shown up in dictionaries glossing ...
36
votes
Accepted
Is "create new" not pleonastic?
Create a new something is not always redundant. Even if it is slightly, it definitely connects the new created thing with what existed before it.
For example, if you read:
I am asked to create a ...
13
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
endear (historically)
I've had to think of a popular answer that I had once given - before closing my account - on StackExchange :
Why do Russians call their women expensive (“дорогая”)?
In Old ...
11
votes
Accepted
Is "He died himself." a correct sentence?
The example "he died himself" is grammatical provided it occurs in a context which allows "himself" to be interpreted as a sort of intensifier. For instance, "The doctor devoted his life to ...
10
votes
Literary devices and sentence structure in Matthew 7:1 (KJV)
The literary device at play in your cited verse is parallelism, much stricter in the original Koiné:
Μὴ κρίνετε ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε
mē krinete hina mē krithēte
Not (y’all) judge so that not (y’all) should ...
9
votes
When to bemoan and when to moan
As suggested in the following extract bemoan is a transitive verb whose object is generally an abstract concept (absence, lack, failure etc.) while moan is an intransitive verb:
Bemoan is one of a ...
9
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
This is a good question, I think "Enhance" would be applicable in a lot of situations, though not a lot different to "Enrich".
Interestingly for the opposite action of devaluing ...
9
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
It's a hapax legomenon only attested once and formed by analogy with cheapen, but
worthen
To give worth to; value; make or become worth or worthy; appraise. (via Wiktionary)
9
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
The OED says it's a US usage, but appreciate should work just fine for you:
Originally U.S. Opposed to depreciate.
a. transitive. To raise in value.
They even give an example that fits your "[...
8
votes
Accepted
Mnemotechnic approach to identifying transitive vs verb-adjective constructs
Attempting to analyse sentences in isolation runs counter to what language as a system of communication is. There is no way to disambiguate the plant has buried leaves without further context and/or ...
8
votes
Accepted
What is it called when I poop the dog?
This is called transitivization, where an intransitive verb is turned around and made transitive. We're also making the subject the object.
This workshop paper from Ellenbas, Mondorf, et. al. at ...
8
votes
Literary devices and sentence structure in Matthew 7:1 (KJV)
Transitivity of "judge not"
Webster's 1828 cites this verse as an example of the transitive form of the verb judge¹:
JUDGE, verb transitive
To censure rashly; to pass severe ...
8
votes
Literary devices and sentence structure in Matthew 7:1 (KJV)
KariG's answer is very important, though the questioner does not have ready access to it.
The original Greek has absolutely no literary device. It is plain Greek. Translating into the same plain ...
8
votes
Accepted
Does using a preposition phrase instead of a direct object change the transitivity of a verb?
Short answer
The book takes the principled position that a noun phrase following a preposition is a Complement of that preposition, not an Object or other Complement of the verb. For that reason, the ...
7
votes
Is "He died himself." a correct sentence?
Without enough context, it will be ambiguous. "He died himself" pit against "He died a hero" could mean he died being his normal self without becoming a hero.
So it's okay to use, ...

NVZ♦
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7
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
As tchrist (please correct me if I'm mistaken) mentioned in a comment, envalue is a word that, while not recorded in any dictionary, has seen actual use over the last hundred years and more with a ...
7
votes
Is "create new" not pleonastic?
It is pretty much idiomatic and the usage goes far back, as early as 1540 per the earliest citation in OED where it was used as create a new (something). OED lists the sense of the verb create for ...
6
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
A common verb for this is endow. To be endowed is to be gifted with good attributes, properties, possessions and such. This is related to the noun dowry, which is essentially value added to a bride. ...
5
votes
Accepted
Can "flourish" be used as an active verb?
Nope! Flourish is an intransitive verb. It can't take a direct object.
Take another look at the dictionary and you'll probably see some cryptic abbreviation like "v.intr."
Plants grow. (ok, ...
5
votes
How to use "allow to do something" without mentioning a person?
Your unedited question had a French sentence in it that I interpret as:
Our software XYZ allows the resizing and conversion of PNG images.
Please note that the edit appears to have changed convert ...
5
votes
Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
exalt
To raise to a higher class, a higher degree of value or excellence; to dignify, ennoble. [According to definition e. of the OED]
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 4. ⁋8 I shall not lower but ...
4
votes
Accepted
What are some give-type verbs that cannot undergo straight dative alternation?
You are right; they are 'off', in fact they're ungrammatical.
"Donate" and "submit" are mono-transitive verbs; they can only take direct objects. With these verbs, the recipients or beneficiaries of ...
4
votes
Accepted
Can "procrastinate" be a transitive verb?
Transitive
In the 19th century and before, the transitive use of procrastinate in the sense ‘delay, postpone’ is quite frequent:
This motion was opposed as tending to procrastinate the funding ...
4
votes
Accepted
Is “bescumber” transitive or intransitive?
To bescumber, to scumber, scummerings, to discumber
Becumber is normally transitive — or at least, can be.
But you shouldn’t use it in casual, non-dialectal speech unless you’re being deliberately ...
4
votes
When to bemoan and when to moan
Besides the already mentioned transitive/intransitive difference, another difference is that the word moan is usually associated with making an audible noise, whereas this is not the case with bemoan.
...
4
votes
Does using a preposition phrase instead of a direct object change the transitivity of a verb?
Intransitive verbs have no objects, only a subject.
Transitive verbs have a subject, and a direct object.
Ditransitive (or bitransitive) verbs have a subject, and a direct object, and also an indirect ...
3
votes
Accepted
Transitive use of suicide
I don't think the users of this site really have much ability to answer the question "Is the transitive usage of suicide grammatical and commonly acceptable?"
"X was suicided by Y" doesn't violate ...
3
votes
what is the meaning of " much less"?
From a native speaker:
Let's say you have a 20% chance of affording a bicycle, and only a 1% chance for a car. Since your chance of the car is much less than your chance of the bicycle, you say "I ...
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