English

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs explained with examples

len Alfred Ajibola - 11th February, 2019 @ 09:01 AM

Topics in English

Phrase: Types of Phrase Clause explained with its types Essay: How to write the major types of essay Nouns and Adjectives: Examples of nouns formed from adjectives Meaning and Examples of Homonyms Idioms and Examples of Idioms What are Synonyms? Examples of Synonyms Figures of Speech: Meaning, examples and types of figure of speech Relative pronouns and compound relative pronouns explained with examples Transitive and Intransitive Verbs explained with examples Phrase explained with examples Essay: Formal, Semi-Formal and Informal Essays explained


Academic Questions in English

Please click here to see all Questions and Answers

For this question and the three questions below, choose the option that best completes the sentence.

The doctor _____ the illness as malaria, not dysentery.

  • A. Discovered

  • B. Diagnosed

  • C. Tested

  • D. Examined

  • E. Announced

  • F. Prescribed

The principal reacted to the disrespectful action of the student with strong _____.

  • A. Indignation

  • B. Condemnation

  • C. Accusation

  • D. Demonstration

  • E. Mobilization

  • F. Impunity

Since the writer did not indicate his name, the editor did not publish such a/an _____ article.

  • A. Poor

  • B. Libellous

  • C. Discourteous

  • D. Impolite

  • E. Anonymous

  • F. Scandalous

The play was so interesting that the _____ clapped for a long time at the end.

  • A. Congregation

  • B. Fans

  • C. Spectators

  • D. Audience

  • E. Watchers

  • F. People

Answer true of false with regards to the sentence below:

'Humility' is a noun and 'Humble' is an adjective

  • A. True

  • B. False

A part of a sentence or clause that contains a verb and something concerning the subject within that sentence is termed a/an _____.

  • A. Predicate

  • B. Object

  • C. Adverbial clause

  • D. Adverbial phrase

  • E. Half clause

  • F. Body of adverbial clause

The acronym Wi-Fi stands for _____.

  • A. Wireless Files

  • B. Wireless Flips

  • C. Wireless Fidelity

  • D. Wireless Freedom

  • E. Wireless and Free

  • F. Wireless Fun

The words massacre and bloodbath are _____.

  • A. Antonyms

  • B. Synonyms

  • C. Homonyms

  • D. Homophones

  • E. Heteronyms

  • F. Heterophone



What is a transitive verb?


A verb is said to be transitive or intransitive based on the presence or absence of an object in a sentence.

Consider the examples below:

  1. I love children……. (Example 1)
  2. The children laughed…….. (Example 2)

From example 1, you will observe that the verb love takes an object 'children', while in example 2, the verb laughed has no object.

A transitive verb is a verb that is used with an object.

You can read on relative pronouns here

Understand that an object in a sentence refers to a person, place or thing. Consequently, having an object in a sentence gives more meaning to the sentence.

If you guessed that the verb 'love' (in example 1) is a transitive verb, then you’re correct.

Please read on essay writing here

In our examples below, the transitive verbs have been written in red while the objects are written in color green:

  • We urgently need him
  • The little girl ate hastily
  • I like the little boy
  • She sold a book to the smart girl

  • Biola showed me his photos
  • Please help the old man
  • The mistake had cost him the job

Please read on phrase and clause here


Transitive verbs can also be used simultaneously with indirect and direct objects. In the example below, the transitive verb is written in red, the direct object in green while the indirect object in color blue:

  • I gave him some wine

Notice that 'him' is the direct object while 'wine' is an indirect object. The verb 'gave' is a transitive verb.


Other examples of transitive verb in sentences containing direct and indirect objects include:

  • He sold the house to me

  • Please lend me a thousand naira.
  • I took Jibola to California.
  • We were with him in Lagos.
  • I made them some barbecue.

 

Intransitive verb


An intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. Below is an example:

  • The handsome boy danced beautifully.

Notice that the intransitive verb 'danced' does not have an object. However, the word 'beautifully' in our example is an adverb because it qualifies or describes the verb 'danced'.

Note: The word 'handsome' in the above instance is an adjective that describes or qualifies the noun 'boy'.

You can read on nouns formed from adjectives here


Other example of sentences with intransitive verb (highlighted in red color) include:

  • He arrived early
  • She ate hastily
  • Barcelona versus Real Madrid begins at 1 o’clock
  • He can’t read nor write
  • The lion roared
  • The sun shone brightly
  • The rain fell scantily

It is important to state that a verb can be transitive or intransitive depending on how it is used in a sentence.

In the examples below, the verbs are highlighted in color red and the objects, color green:

He ate hastily. (Intransitive)

He ate the rice hastily. (Transitive)

He arrived early. (Intransitive)

He arrived the park early. (Transitive)

The main point to note is:

  • Intransitive verbs take no object while transitive verb takes one or more objects

Kindly share this article via the links below:


len


Please click here to contact Alfred if you require any of the following services:

  • If you need a standard website at an affordable price.

  • Online training on the academic subjects: biology, chemistry and basic science.

  • If you require an advanced smart school management system (web application) for your school.

Click here to read on Len Academy Smart School Software.


Please click here to follow Len Academy on Google News.



Amazing facts in English

Scrunched and strengthed are the longest one-syllable words in the English language

The longest word in English language with only one vowel is 'strengths'

The word pangram refers to a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet. Below is an example of a pangram:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

The word Paraskevidekatriaphobia means the fear of Friday the 13th, while Triskaidekaphobia means an extreme fear of the number 13

Angry and Hungry are the only two English words that currently ends in '-gry'

The only English word with five consecutive vowels is 'queueing'

The dot on the top of letter ‘i’ is called a tittle

The sentence below uses every letter in the English alphabet:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Cat furnishings - Len Academy

The furry tufts of hair inside a cat's ear are called ear furnishings

There are only four words in the English language that end in 'dous'. These are:

  • Tremendous 

  • Horrendous

  • Stupendous

  • Hazardous


Notable points in English

Homonyms are words with the same spellings, same sounds but different meanings.

Below are some sentences containing homonyms with their respective meanings:

  • Keen

We have a keen match against Ronaldo’s team and Messi seems to be keen.

Keen: An involvement of people competing very hard for something.

Keen: Very interested in something.

  • Tear

Regardless the tear you shed, Mr. Frank will still tear your examination scripts.

Tear: The drop of liquid that comes out from a person's eye when they cry.

Tear: To damage something by pulling or cutting it apart.

  • Jot

There isn't any jot of truth in what he said, so I didn't jot anything down.

Jot: A very small amount of something

Jot: To write something quickly

Please read more on homonyms here

Certain words in English language appear to be similar but are quite different in meaning.

The table below shows some examples:

 Childlike

 Childish

 Stimulus

 Stimulant

 Destructible

 Destructive

 Negligible

 Negligent

 Comprehensible

 Comprehensive


Synonyms should not be confused with the above instance. They are different words with similar meanings.

Please read more on synonyms here.

Some words always exist in the plural form. Examples of such words are:

  • Scissors
  • Shears
  • Alms
  • News
  • Trousers

Possessive adjective tells you the owner of a thing. For instance;

This is his car.

'His' in the above statement is describing him as the owner of the car; and this makes 'his' a possessive adjective.

That is your bag.

'Your' is a possessive adjective in the above statement.

Note: An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

Possessive pronouns show possession.

A possessive pronoun will always correspond with each of the personal pronouns. For Instance:

I own the book. ('I' is a personal pronoun)

The book is mine. ('Mine' is the possessive pronoun)

She owns a car. ('She' is a personal pronoun)

The car is hers. ('Hers' is the possessive pronoun)