Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Consider the verb to bring: The verb will not make sense if the action of the verb is not acting
on something, i.e. you have to bring something or someone. Simply saying I bring will not
make sense on its own, you must bring something, an object or a person or a feeling. That
something or someone – Joe, a book, your brother, a good mood – is the direct object of the
sentence, i.e. the thing that the verb is acting upon.
I love
Please carry the books for me.
Can we buy these ones?
Johnny kicked the ball.
She didn’t take anything from the table.
I will send the note for the doctor.
Consider how these verbs need to confer the action upon the object. This makes them
transitive verbs:
Love – you need to love something or someone for the verb to make sense.
Carry – you need to carry something or someone for the verb to make sense.
Buy – you need buy something for the verb to make sense.
Kick – you need to kick something or someone for the verb to make sense.
Take – you need to take something or someone for the verb to make sense.
Send – you need to send something or someone for the verb to make sense.
How did you get here so quickly? I ran. (There is no need for a direct object).
As with transitive verbs, there are many examples of intransitive verbs. They can be any verb
that fulfills the criteria of not needing a direct object to confer action upon:
It snowed.
We laughed.
He cried. He will probably cry again tonight.
We didn’t know.
They died.
When did they arrive?
None of the actions described above require direct objects for the action of the verb to make
sense. However, you should be aware that intransitive verbs are often followed by
prepositions or adverbs.
It snowed
We laughed
He cried
We didn’t know right away.
They died on Sunday night.
Did they arrive on time?
Unfortunately, it can sometimes be tricky to know if a verb is transitive because some verbs
aren’t only transitive or intransitive. Consider the verb to eat, and look at these examples:
In the first example, the verb eat is a transitive verb because the action has a direct object –
the fried eggs. However, the second example shows eat as an intransitive verb. There is no
action upon a direct object; quickly is an adverb describing the action of eating.
Other examples of verbs that are both transitive and intransitive include walk, drive, read,
and understand.
I walked.
I walked the dogs.
Daniel drives.
Daniel drives a large truck.
Barbara reads.
Barbara reads 10 books a month.
I understand.
I understand you.
So, to recognize a transitive verb, you must understand and be able to identify that it acts on a
direct object.
As mentioned above, many verbs can be transitive and intransitive, so to recognize the type
of verb it is, you must look at other parts of the sentence. Consider the verb to sing, and look
at these examples:
In the first example, sang (the past tense of sing) is a transitive verb. The birds are conferring
the action of singing on a direct object – the mating call.
But sang is an intransitive verb in the other three examples. We know this because the first
example requires no direct object for the action, the second example is followed by an adverb
and the final example is followed by a preposition.
Therefore, we can recognize an intransitive verb if it makes sense on its own (without a direct
object) or is followed by an adverb or preposition.