Jackie's post about self-raising vs. self-rising flour and pay raises vs. pay rises got me thinking about this whole subject, which has been touched on before.

Rise and raise are examples of a whole class of pairs of similar verbs in which one verb is transitive and regular and the other intransitive and irregular. They come in three types which we can categorize as follows:

Type A) Verbs which are identical in the dictionary form. Examples: hang, shine.

Type 2) Verbs in which the dictionary form of the transitive is in the form of the past tense of the intransitive. Examples: lie/lay, fall/fell.

Type Þ) Verbs in which the transitive and intransitive dictionary forms are similar but do not meet the criteria of either Type A or Type 2. Example: rise/raise.

My intent here is, in general, to examine the nature of these verbs and, in particular, to discuss the terms self-r(a)ising and pay r(a)ise in terms of what we determine about the class of verbs in general.

One thing that immediately came to mind is that in verbs of Type A, the distinction between transitive/regular and intransitive/irregular has become somewhat muddied. This is evident in the usages associated with the example verbs. In particular, the verb hang is frequently encountered in the irregular even in transitive senses unless the object is a condemned human being.

Note: I would appreciate it if people could resist the urge to enter posts which do nothing to advance the intended subject of the thread but rather are merely vehicles for gratuitous puns or other word play. If you must post along these lines, please do so in Word Play and Fun.