W. M. Lindsay, Syntax of Plautus

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The main function of the Accusative, the expression of the Object of the Verb of the sentence, is pushed to the widest possible extent. The use of the Neuter Accusative of Pronouns with all manner of Verbs has been already noticed in connexion with the Cognate Accusative (above, 35). ‘Constructio ad Sensum’ is the usual explanation in Grammars for lines like

• Capt. 969 “quid dignus siem (= merear)”,
• Poen. 860 “aliquem id dignus qui siet”,
• Ter. Phorm. 519 “quod es dignus”;

in Pseud. 643 “hoc inicere ungulas”, hoc may be the Old Latin form of huc (see below, IV. 20). On manum inicere (= comprehendere） with Accusative and on other examples of Accusative in ‘Constructio ad Sensum,’ see I. 4. Perditus esse with the sense of deamare takes its construction, Mil. 1253 “ut, quaeso, amore perditast te misera!” (cf. Cist. 132).

The passage of Intransitives into Transitives had already begun in Plautus' time, and the Accusative with them admits of the same explanation as the Accusative with perditus esse. Examples are:

• pereo, e.g. Poen. 1095 “earum hic alteram efflictim perit”;
• depereo, e.g. Bacch. 470 “meretricem indigne deperit”;
• demorior, e.g. Mil. 970 “ea demoritur te”;
• calleo, e.g. Most. 279 “ut perdocte cuncta callet!”;
convenio ‘I meet,’ e.g. Men. 401;
• conloquor, e.g. Pseud. 252 “non licet conloqui te?”;
• On consuesco, see below, 70;
• studeo, e.g. Mil. 1437 “minus has res studeant” (see above, 8);
• pecco, Bacch. 433 “si unam peccavisses syllabam”;
• queror, Amph. 176 “satiust me queri illo modo servitutem”;
exeo, Ter. Hec. 378 “iam ut limen exirem” (cf. Mil. 1432);
• aversor, Ennius Ann. 464 V. “aversabuntur semper vos vostraque vulta.”