Transitive verbs

What is a transitive verb? Transitive verbs perform an action on something. This is called the direct object of the verb. Intransitive verbs may have an indirect object. The indirect object is the person or thing for whom the action was performed. Transitive examples Intransitive examples Read the book. (the book is the direct object) Sit on the floor. (The floor is the object for which the action was performed. The floor didn't sit.) Drive the car. (the car is being driven) Wait for a bus. (The bus is definitely not the direct object of waiting. The bus is not affected in any way by our action of waiting.) Tell the boy. (the boy is the direct object) Tell and Speak Speak to him. (Speaking focuses on the action from the point of view of the speaker. Tell him. (Tell focuses much more on the action of informing the other person.) Some verbs with transitive and intransitive forms To balance I balanced on the high wire. (There is no direct object. The high wire is the indirect object on the high wire. The preposition is used because the high wire was not the object of the action of balancing.) I balanced a plate on my head. (This time the plate is clearly the direct object of the action.) www.EnglishTap.comTo protest This verb is usually intransitive. Eg: I protested against that decision. (I protesed but did not perform an action on the decision.) It can also have transitive forms. He protested his innocence "I'm innocent!!" (Here the innocence is having something done to it and is the direct object of the protest. We could say that the protest was aimed at his innocence.) Depending on the type of object they take, verbs may be transitive, intransitive, or linking. The meaning of a transitive verb is incomplete without a direct object, although the direct object may be implied but not stated. Let's look at some examples: AmE, permits "protest" as a transitive verb in sentences such as "She protested the cuts". In English we would use contested this way because if you contest something, you direct the action at that direct object, in this case the cuts, but if you protest against the cuts the cuts dont have the feeling of having any action performed on them. The shelf holds. Incomplete without a direct object as "to hold" is a [T] transitive verb. The shelf holds three books and a vase of flowers. (The direct object can have articles a/an/the/three and immediately follows the verb.) The committee named. (Named who? Named what? We can't imply this. To name is [T] The committee named a new chairperson. Now this is a complete sentence. www.EnglishTap.comThe child broke. To break should be transitive here in this context [T] The child broke the plate. Transitive verbs, marked as [T] take a direct object. (usually an object immediatly after the verb) Intransitive verbs (Marked as [I] (can't take a direct object and are often followed by a preposition and an object.) There are some verbs which take both forms. Intransitive verbs relate to prepositions. Intransitive verbs usually have a preposition which follows the verb and precedes the object. Check the common verb /preposition pairs. www.EnglishTap.comFor each of these verbs, decide whether they are: always transitive, always intransitive or could be either transitive or intransitive. Make one or two correct sentences to show whether the verb can be transitive or intransitive or both: burn, describe, wait, invite, pull, lose, sit, start, want, send, happen, surprise, eat, sleep, shut, warn, explain, wake, make, fall, spoil www.EnglishTap.com