Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.

Transitive verbs are action verbs that require or demand direct objects. The verb’s action is transferred directly to the object.

Some examples include:

• Suggest, let me suggest two sites to you.
• Discuss, we discussed his plans.
• Write, I wrote a poem.
• Sell, I sold my old car.
• Take, she took the bus.
• Tell, she told me a story.
• Describe, she described her counsellor in college as “the greatest.”

You can always find the direct object of a transitive verb by asking what? or whom?

For instance, I wrote a poem.

Q: What did I write? A: A poem. You cannot just say “I wrote”. It is incorrect, you need to write “something.”

Another example is this: She told me a story.

Q: What did she tell you? A: A story.

An intransitive verb is one which is complete in itself. It is not done to someone or something. It does not require an object to complete its meaning in the sentence. In other words, it does not have or take a direct object.

Some examples are:

• Cry, I cried for you on the kitchen floor.
• Sit, I sat down and fell asleep.
• Die, he died with his eyes open.
• Disappear, he disappeared into thin air.
• Sleep, I slept all night and day.

The golden rule that you should know is this: Intransitive verbs do not have passive forms. For example, “I fell asleep” and “I sat on the edge of my bed” are correct, but “I was fallen asleep” or “I was sat on the edge of my bed” are obviously incorrect.

Please, make sure that you have really understood it with our quiz.