TRANSITIVE VERBS
AS TOLD IN CLASS.
TRANSITIVE VERB
A kind of verb that means the action affects directly the complement, that means, the object (NOUN: PERSON, ANIMAL or OBJECT). Once we know there is a DIRECT OBJECT COMPLEMENT, we know it is easy to convert an active voice sentence into a passive voice one.
The Transitive Verb
Recognize a transitive verb when you see one.
A transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb.
Here are some examples of transitive verbs:
Sylvia kicked Juan under the table.
Kicked = transitive verb; Juan = direct object.
Joshua wants a smile from Leodine, his beautiful but serious lab partner.
Wants = transitive verb; smile = direct object.
Cornelius painted the canvas in Jackson Pollock fashion, dribbling bright colors from a heavily soaked brush.
Painted = transitive verb; canvas = direct object.
Alicia wrote a love poem on a restaurant napkin.
Wrote = transitive verb; poem = direct object.
Antonio eats lima beans drenched in brown gravy.
Eats = transitive verb; lima beans = direct object.
Pinky the poodle cleans the dirty supper dishes with his tongue before Grandma loads the "prewashed" items into dishwasher.
Cleans, loads = transitive verbs; dishes, items = direct objects.
Important note: When no direct object follows an action verb, the verb is intransitive.
Verbs that take objects list
accept He accepted the offer.
add He added the numbers.
adore He adores is wife.
attend He attended college.
beat She beat the eggs.
bite She bit her fingernails.
borrow She borrowed some butter.
change She changed her shoes.
choose They chose their seats..
collect They collected the eggs.
complete They completed the test.
consider They considered the problem.
contain The police contained the crowd.
control The officer controlled the traffic.
cross They crossed the street.
count They counted the children.
cover We covered the food.
discover We discovered the error..
divide We divided the tips.
doubt We doubted his story.
draw He drew a picture.
drive He drives a truck.
drop He dropped his keys.
enjoy He enjoys movies.
expect She expects an answer.
fill She filled the bathtub.
feel She felt his forehead.
forget She forgot the key.
guess We guessed his name.
hang We hung our coats.
hate We hate their advertisement.
held We held our babies.
hit She hit me.
hug We hugged them.
introduce He introduced Gary.
invite He invited Adele.
join He joined the army.
kill He killed a spider.
kiss He kissed a girl.
lead He lead a group.
left He left the house.
lend He lent some money.
lift He lifted the weights.
like He likes the changes.
love He loves his son.
marry He married his girlfriend.
notice We noticed a mistake.
obtain He obtained a permit.
offer We offered help.
order We ordered dinner.
passed We passed the test.
permit He doesn't permit dogs.
pick We picked an apple.
pour We poured some milk.
practice We practiced the play.
prepare We prepared the food.
prove He proved his theory.
provide We provided assistance.
pull We pulled the fire alarm.
push She pushed the door.
reach We reached our destination.
realize She her mistake.
receive We receive help.
recognize They recognized him.
refuse We refused the offer.
remember We remember him.
repeat He repeated the word.
report She reports the news.
require They require identification.
save She saved her money.
search The police search the house.
separate She separated the egg.
serve We serve dinner.
share We share our toys.
shout He shouted the answer.
show We showed the pictures.
sign He signed the contract.
smell He smelled the flower.
spell She spelled her name.
spend We spent our money.
spread We spread the blanket.
suck The baby sucks his thumb.
suggest He suggested a restaurant.
supply The investor supplied the funds.
surprise They surprised us.
surround The wall surrounds the yard.
taste He tasted the soup.
tear She tore the paper.
thank They thanked us.
wave He waved the flag.
wear He wears jeans.
win He won the race.
INTRANSITIVE VERBS
An intransitive verb does not accept an object (NP) as its complement. Instead, it may take an adverb or a prepositional phrase as its complement (a required element) or as an adjunct (an optional element). A passive structure cannot be formed because there is no object.
bake
break
boil
burst
cook
cool
crack
form
fly
fry
heal
melt
move
sail
shake
sweep
tear
turn
transform
reverse
ring
run
roll
The above ARE partial (incomplete) lisTS of transitive/INTRANSITIVE verbs. Some verbs may occur without an object because it is understood from context. (He sucks!) Some verbs may also have other meanings (i.e., She realized her mistake. / She realized her dreams.)
mono-transitive – includes a subject and an object – Jason hugged Sophie;
ditransitive – includes a subject, an indirect object, and an object – Jason gave Sophie a hug.
†bite – That dog bites." – a description of the dog's behavior; or in slang – "That bites." (is unfortunate)
