Sympathise (with)

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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Brahman
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Sympathise (with)

Post by Brahman »

I found the following sentence in an article that appeared in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... neighbors/):

1. Other forum users sympathize.

I have always thought that the verb, "sympathize", should always be followed by the preposition "with". That is what most dictionaries say. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says that the word is also a transitive verb, and therefore, it appears to be that there could be instances when the preposition is not mandatory. I cannot, however, find examples of that usage in any dictionary. I should appreciate it if someone could tell me whether

(i) the sentence in question is grammatical, and if so,

(ii) is it a recent usage?
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Alan
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Re: Sympathise (with)

Post by Alan »

No. The verb 'sympathize' is an ordinary intransitive verb and does not require an overt prepositional complement, since this can generally be inferred from context.
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