{"id":1096,"date":"2020-09-14T10:30:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.englishforums.com\/blog\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2020-09-14T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T09:30:01","slug":"the-transitive-verb-do-you-know-how-to-use-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/the-transitive-verb-do-you-know-how-to-use-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Transitive Verb: Do you know how to use it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A verb can be a transitive verb<\/strong> or an intransitive verb, but most people tend to think that these two words; \u201ctransitive\u201d or \u201cintransitive\u201d are indicative of action and non-action respectively. It is important to note right off the bat that these words are not meant to describe whether a verb is active or not. It is much more beneficial to associate the world transitive with \u201ctransfer\u201d rather than \u201caction. This way, understanding what a transitive verb or intransitive verb becomes much easier.
\nIn this sense, it is correct to say that a transitive verb is needed when transferring its action to something else (usually a noun or object). The verb (action) affects something else.
\nFor example, using the transitive verb<\/a> “bring”: Please bring the car.
\nIn this sentence, the \u201ccar\u201d is the object that the transitive verb \u201cbring\u201d affects it. The receiver of the action is the direct object. Now, asking “to whom or for whom”? If the\u00a0sentence<\/strong>\u00a0tells you the answer to this question, you have found an\u00a0indirect object<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How to identify a transitive verb<\/h2>\n

Transitive verbs<\/strong> affect an object and without the object, the sentence would make little sense or incomplete.
\nWithout the object, our sentence above would read; \u201cPlease bring\u201d and therefore be incomplete, leaving the reader to ask \u201cbring who or what?\u201d
\nWhen you add the object \u201ccar\u201d, the transitive verb has something to affect (the object), and the sentence is now complete. See examples of transitive verbs and the direct object they affect:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • My friend found my phone.\u00a0\u00a0 (“phone” as direct object)<\/li>\n
  • The school closed its doors early in the year. (“doors” as direct object)<\/li>\n
  • Could you call him today? (“him” as direct object)<\/li>\n
  • I love this music. (“music” as direct object)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Knowing examples of transitive verbs, guess which receives the action of the verb (direct object)?<\/p>\n

      \n
    • He submitted the assignment on time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      You’re right – assignment!<\/p>\n

      How to identify an intransitive verb <\/strong><\/h2>\n

      Intransitive verbs are<\/strong> the direct opposite of a transitive verb, in that it doesn\u2019t require an object to act on.
      \nMany verbs in the English language are intransitive and make no sense when paired with an object. For instance, the verbs \u201clie\u201d, \u201cdie\u201d or sit\u201d cannot be paired with an object. They are also verbs expressing doing an activity but intransitive verbs do not need a receiver of the action.
      \nThis is also why they can make single-word sentences. For example, \u201cRun!\u201d or \u201cSit!\u201d can be a sentence on its own, especially if the subject had already been established in previous sentences.
      \nHere are examples of intransitive verbs used in a sentence:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • She ran.<\/li>\n
      • They sat.<\/li>\n
      • The cat was running.<\/li>\n
      • The dog was barking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        A verb can be both transitive and intransitive<\/strong><\/h2>\n

        But like most other rules in the English language, there are some exceptions. There are some verbs that can be both either transitive or intransitive, depending on how you use them.
        \nFor instance;<\/p>\n

          \n
        • Cheered on by her brother, she played.<\/li>\n
        • She played the national anthem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          The verb \u201cplayed\u201d can either be transitively or intransitive. In the first sentence, it is intransitive and in the second it is a transitive verb since it acts on the object \u201cnational anthem.\u201d<\/p>\n

          Verb transitivity in phrasal verbs <\/strong><\/h2>\n

          One can determine transitive and intransitive verbs even with phrasal verbs such as \u201cbreak-in\u201d. If the verb needs a direct object, then you know that it is transitive.
          \nFor example;<\/p>\n

            \n
          • Unable to find his keys, he broke in.<\/li>\n
          • I need to break in those shoes before the marathon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            In the first example, \u201cbreak-in\u201d is used intransitively since it doesn\u2019t affect any direct objects and expresses a doable activity. In the second example, the same phrasal verb affects \u201cshoes\u201d and is therefore transitive. Now that you know that transitive verbs need a direct object, determining transitive vs intransitive verbs is a breeze.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Do you know how to identify and use transitive verbs? Here’s a guide from the English Forward team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}