Page:Graimear na Gaedhilge.djvu/332

Rh striking takes place. The information given by the single word “” is restricted to the action. There are circumstances surrounding that action of which we may wish to give information; e.g. “What is the object of the action?” “.” “What is the instrument used?” “.” “Where did the stone come from?” “” We may thus fill in any number of circumstances we please, and fit them in their places by means of the proper prepositions, but these circumstances do not change the nature of the fundamental word “.”

It may be objected that the word “” in the last sentence is passive voice, present tense, and means “is struck” and that “” is the subject of the verb. Granted for a moment that it is passive voice. Now since “” somebody strikes him, is active voice, as all admit, and by supposition “,” somebody strikes him, or, he is struck, is passive, then comes the difficulty, what voice is “,” somebody is struck? Surely it is the passive of “”; and if so “” itself cannot be passive, though it may be rendered by a passive in English. If we are to be guided merely by the English equivalent, then “” in the above phrase is as much a passive voice as “” because it can be correctly translated into English by a passive verb: viz., He is struck.

When we come to consider this form in intransitive verbs, our position becomes much stronger in favour of the Autonomous verb. Let us consider the following sentence: