Recognizing Transitive Verbs When You See Them However, you should be aware that intransitive verbs are often followed by prepositions or adverbs. None of the actions described above require direct objects for the action of the verb to make sense. They can be any verb that fulfills the criteria of not needing a direct object to confer action upon:

(There is no need for a direct object).Īs with transitive verbs, there are many examples of intransitive verbs. You can run without transferring the action of running on a direct object. Send – you need to send something or someone for the verb to make sense.Īs you might guess, an intransitive verb is one that does not need to transfer action on an object in order to make sense.Ĭonsider the verb to run.Take – you need to take something or someone for the verb to make sense.Kick – you need to kick something or someone for the verb to make sense.Buy – you need buy something for the verb to make sense.Carry – you need to carry something or someone for the verb to make sense.Love – you need to love something or someone for the verb to make sense.She didn’t take anything from the table.Ĭonsider how these verbs need to confer the action upon the object.

Consider these examples and see how the verb exerts action on an object. They can be any verb that fulfils the criteria of needing to confer action upon an object. There are lots of examples of transitive verbs. I will bring my brother to the meeting.I bring a book for Grandma (makes sense because of the direct object, book).I bring (doesn’t make sense without an object).

That something or someone – Joe, a book, your brother, a good mood – is the direct object of the sentence, i.e. Simply saying I bring will not make sense on its own, you must bring something, an object or a person or a feeling. That means the verb doesn’t sound good or work on its own without an object.Ĭonsider the verb to bring: The verb will not make sense if the action of the verb is not acting on something, i.e. Start writing with Ginger What is a Transitive Verb?Ī transitive verb is one whose action must be used in relation to an object, and when using the verb, it only makes sense if the verb is transferring action upon an object.

What is transitive verb