Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive Verbs
A verb that needs an object or a verb that is followed by an
object is called a transitive verb. Transitive means passing over, so it passes
over an action from the subject to the object.
- Ali kicked the ball.
- He studied math last night.
- They bought a new house in the town.
In the discussion of transitive verbs, the object is focused. You
need to check whether there is any object or not. You need to check whether the
verb needs an object or not. When a verb needs an object and you don’t put the
object, the sentence becomes incomplete. You can easily notice
information that is missing.
- Ali borrowed.
- She bought.
In these sentences, the verbs (borrowed, bought) need objects
to give complete information. What did Ali borrow? What did she buy? These are
the questions that are created in one’s mind. Without objects the sentences
are incomplete and we notice information that is missing.
- The player kicked the ball.
- We bought a house.
In the above sentences, the verbs have direct objects (ball,
house), so we call the verbs (kicked, bought) transitive verbs. The verbs have
objects to be acted upon. They give complete information.
Intransitive Verbs
A verb that does not need an object or a verb that is not
followed by an object is called an intransitive verb. In contrast to transitive
verbs, intransitive verbs do not pass over the action. An intransitive verb is
used when there is nothing to receive the action.
- She slept on her bed.
- He arrived at 10:30 p.m.
- They laughed at us.
In the above sentences we don’t have objects after the verbs
(slept, arrived, laughed), so we call the verbs (slept, arrived, laughed)
intransitive verbs. They provide complete information without any objects.
Verbs that are both Transitive and Intransitive (Ambitransitive)
In English, we have some verbs that can be used transitively as
well as intransitively. It depends on the situation. These verbs sometimes
need objects and sometimes don’t need objects. It means one verb can be
transitive in one sentence and the same verb can be intransitive in another
sentence. These verbs are also called ambitransitive verbs.
- (1) We played football yesterday.
- (2) We played.
The verb played in sentence 1 is transitive because it is followed
by an object(football). The same verb in sentence 2 is intransitive because we don’t
have any object after the verb.
Be aware of Linking Verbs
It is important to keep in mind that transitive and
intransitive verbs don’t work with linking verbs. Other than linking verbs can
be transitive and intransitive.
- Ali is thirsty.
- The soup tastes delicious.
