Verbs, doing words, tell us what the subject is doing. This usually takes the form of an action, though it can also be a state or an event. Actions show things happening:
- The man ran.
States show what condition the subject is in (which can also demonstrate an event):
- The woman was sad.
- The festival is today.
All of these examples only give us information about the subject, but verbs can also be linked to objects – the things which the verb is done to or for. This gives us two different categories for verbs – transitive (which need an object) or intransitive (which do not need an object) verbs.
Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs require an object to make sense. These are actions that affect another thing, and when a transitive verb does not have an object it will not make sense.
- He raised the flag.
- She picked up the pen.
He raised. and She picked up would be incomplete ideas.
Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, do not require an object to make sense.
- She dances.
- They laughed.
We could add additional information to these sentences (such as She dances the tango.), but we do not have to, they are actions that can be completed without an object.
Verbs that can be both
Some verbs can be used in both an intransitive and a transitive sense, depending on if the subject does the action to an object, or the action affects the subject itself.
- The boy broke the window.
- The window broke.
Verbs can also be transitive or intransitive depending on what we are trying to demonstrate in a sentence. When the action or state is more important, the verb might not need an object, whilst an object may be required if that is the information we wish to show.
- She is reading. (Answering ‘what is she doing?’)
- She is reading a book. (Answering ‘what she is reading?’)
For other verbs, however, the same action may be represented by a different verb depending on if the meaning is transitive (directed at an object) or intransitive (directed at the subject). Two common examples are the verb pairings lay-lie and raise-rise. Lay (put down) and raise (lift up) require objects, while lie (descend) and rise (ascend) do not.
- He lay the book on the table.
- He lies on a hard bed.
- We raised the chair onto the table.
- We rose early for school.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Exercises
Exercise 1
For the following sentences, decide if the verbs are transitive or intransitive. If they are transitive, what is the object?
- The sun rose.
- She was reading a book.
- He set his hair with styling cream.
- Both my children are studying at university.
- We walked for hours.
- Your face is dirty.
- My dog barked.
- I hit the ground hard.
- He tripped.
- I am not sure about the answer.
- The English Channel flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
- They laughed loudly.
- That boy looks happy.
- The waiter will clean up this mess.
- The price of the bag fell.
Exercise 2
Complete the following sentences with appropriate objects for the verbs.
- We put on ____________ before going outside.
- My brother has cleaned his ____________ .
- The girl threw a ____________ at the cat.
- When they told him he could not come, Jonnie kicked the ____________ .
- My sister is good at ____________ and ________ .
- I bought ____________ for my parents’ anniversary.
- There is ____________ next Friday.
- They guessed the ____________ correctly.
- Films are ____________ .
- The fireman helped ____________ .
Answers to Exercise 1
- The sun rose. (Intransitive)
- She was reading a book. (Transitive)
- He set his hair with styling cream. (Transitive)
- Both my children are studying at university. (Intransitive)
- We walked for hours. (Intransitive)
- Your face is dirty. (Intransitive)
- My dog barked. (Intransitive)
- I hit the ground hard. (Transitive)
- He gave in his test. (Transitive)
- I am not sure about the answer. (Intransitive, with a complement)
- The English Channel flows into the Atlantic Ocean. (Intransitive, with a complement)
- They laughed loudly. (Intransitive)
- That boy looks happy. (Transitive)
- The waiter will clean up this mess. (Transitive)
- The price fell. (Intransitive)
Exercise 2 requires some creativity, so I won’t supply you with answers for that!
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“The weather is cold” is this sentence Transitive or intransitive.
Hi Swalna, in this case the verb sentence is intransitive as we don’t have an object – transitive/intransitive refers to when one object has a verbal effect on another, whereas with stative verbs we are merely linking the subject to an adjective (technically this is called a copulative verb).
I am happy. Is it transitive or intransitive?
The verb “to be” is intransitive as it does not take an object, but rather connects to a noun complement. Here, “happy” is a complement, telling us something about the noun, “I”, rather than an object, which would be a different noun.
Thanks a lot Phil. Please help me with the cases when there is a preposition between the verb and the object:
take “She is looking at me.” for example. Is ‘look’ a transitive verb?
Hi Tran, technically no – transitive/intransitive refers to a direct object (connected without a preposition); if we have a prepositional phrase it’s an indirect object. Indirect objects can give a whole range of information, whereas for a verb to be transitive it means there is a specific piece of information missing – for example “He wanted…” the question is “What?” But with “He looked…” then prepositional objects could answer a number of questions for additional information, “Where?” “For what?” “For how long?”
However, there are some cases where a prepositional object may also be required, which I suppose fall into the ‘complex transitive’ category (requiring both a direct object and a complement). For example, “to give” – “I gave a sandwich to my brother”.
Thanks a lot Phil. It’s all clear. 🙂
Am I crazy? It seems to me that the answers to exercise 1 are all the opposite of what they should be. “The sun rose.” does not have or need an object. By your own explanation, that would make it intransitive. It’s the same for all of the other answers.
Hi Cheryl, Wow – you’re absolutely right, I don’t know how that happened! I must have had a muddle finishing it – I’ve corrected it now. Thank you for pointing that out.
Hi Phil,
This may appear strange, but is there any difference between a transitive verb (any transitive verb for that matter) in british english and american english? As in both british english and american english have the concept of verbs being transitive and non-transitive, correct?
Regards,
Shizuka
Hi Shizuka,
For the most part I would imagine that British and US English treat such verbs the same way; certainly the concept of transitive and intransitive verbs is the same in both, yes. But I expect there are some exceptions where it might be possible that verbs behave with objects differently depending on regional variations.
Phil
Hi Phil,
Since the definition of a transitive verb is that “a transitive verb is one that is used with an object: a noun, phrase, or pronoun that refers to the person or thing that is affected by the action of the verb”, and knowing that verbs and broadly be grouped into stative (state) and dynamic (action) verbs, my question is whether stative verbs can be transitive?
I ask this because my understanding is that state or stative verbs convey states and not actions, and since the definition of a transitive verb is one which is used with an object that is affected by the action of the verb (emphasis here being “action” and not a state), is it then possible for stative verbs to be transitive?
Regards,
Shizuka
Hi Shizuka,
Stative verbs are often intransitive, but they can be transitive as some certainly take an object, for example those expressing a feeling/opinion about something, like ‘to love’, or ‘to know’:
I love cake.
I know the answer.
These aren’t necessarily active/dynamic, but they do still use an object.
Best,
Phil
Hi Phil,
Thanks. I see, so stative verbs can also be transitive. If so, how can we address this definition of transitive verbs [i.e. a transitive verb is one that is used with an object (a noun, phrase, or pronoun) that refers to the person or thing that is affected by the action of the verb]?
Hi Shizuka,
I’m not sure I totally follow the problem here, as I think the principle fit’s it essentially the same way – essentially a transitive stative verb does use an object referring to or affecting the subject:
I know Paul. (Paul refers as an object back to the subject, who does the subject know?)
Phil
Hi Phil,
Thanks.
Firstly, what I meant by the question of how do we address the definition of a transitive verb which says that “a transitive verb is one that is used with an object (a noun, phrase, or pronoun) that refers to the person or thing that is affected by the action of the verb”, is that since object of a transitive verb is affected by the “action” of the verb, and since we know that stative verbs denote or represent states instead of action, then wouldn’t it make sense stative verbs cant be transitive if we go by the exact wording of this definition of transitive verb?
Secondly, thanks again for your explanation above. Interestingly, you mentioned that “a transitive stative verb does use an object referring to or affecting the subject” – actually may i know what you mean by an object referring to or affecting the subject? Since the subject is the “do-er” of the action, wouldnt it be right to say that the object of the transitive verb is affected by the subject through the subject’s action on the object?
Thirdly, I have an additional query on stative verbs, specifically on a sub-category of stative verbs known as “linking verbs”. I have read from several sources that say “linking verbs show states of being”, and “linking verbs tells us about the state of condition of the sentence’s subject”, as well as “Linking verbs (also known as copulas or copular verbs) are used to describe the state of being of the subject of a clause”. My question is do these explanations all agree with each other, and if so, I don’t quite understand the meaning of “state of being”? What exactly does “state of being” mean?
And are linking verbs called states of being verbs simply because a linking verb shows that the subject is in a state of “being” something, just as for example if someone is running, i can describe that person as being in a state of “running”, however now instead of a dynamic action like running, the person is in a state of “being”? Perhaps another way of putting it is that the person is in a state of “are-ing, is-ing, was-ing” etc depending on the subject’s person as well as tense of the linking verb. Does this sound right?
Apologies for the lengthy post once again, and thanks so much for your kind advice.
Regards,
Shizuka
Hi Shizuka,
On the first point, ah yes I think we touched on this elsewhere, it’s a problem with how we define verbs, as it is easiest to refer to actions or ‘doing’ words which isn’t entirely accurate. But you’re right action is not necessarily the best word, perhaps the function of the verb would suit better?
On the second point, I simply meant that the object is connected to the subject; they had a direct relationship.
Third: yes those descriptions agree with each, I’d say the ‘state of being’ is fairly well expanded in the middle example, it is essentially the condition, perhaps best explained as ‘how’ the subject is. Your final example is a good way of looking at it – being describes how a subject is/was, whilst other verbs may refer to states of doing, what a subject is/was doing.
No problem on the long post, just bear with me as it can take a while to come back to them all!
Best,
Phil
Hi Phil,
Is it right to say that in the sentence “she swam across the lake”, the verb “swim” acts as an intransitive verb?
But in “she swam the lake”, “swim” acts as a transitive verb?
Regards,
Shizuka
Hi Shizuka,
Yes, I believe that’s a fair summary.
Phil