Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

While the phrasal verb "quiet down" is more commonly intransitive, I
doubt the claim that it always is.  The verb is equivalent to the
one-word verb (marked in my American desk dictionary as British usage)
"quieten", which can be either transitive or intransitive, as can bare
"quiet" as a verb.  A cursory look shows instances of it like these:

. "Quiet Down the Noisy House" (article title)
. "How can you quiet down the generator on a motor home?" (another
title)
. "Tips and tricks to quiet down the PC"
. "[Y]our primary objective was clearly not to embarrass them-it was
simply to quiet them down."
. "One thing I often do, especially to quiet down my very "chatty"
class is..."
. "No one individual could at once quiet down a whole dinner party."

Now finding uses via Google certainly doesn't make them valid or
correct; but, in this case, where we are only wondering if a given verb
can reasonably and idiomatically be used transitively, there is at
least presumptive evidence that it can.

The writer was using the verb to mean that his opening remarks (even
though given in apparently obvious nervousness) were sufficient to
cause the crowd to settle down and listen to him: he is saying that
those remarks "quieted the crowd down" (or "quieted down the crowd").
My ear, at least, detects nothing wrong with that form, nor any of the
other examples listed above.