Transitive Verbs

Subject + Verb + Object

•They take a direct object after them and without the

object they are incomplete.
•Incomplete: I saw. (what did I see?)

•Complete: I saw a bird. (a bird is the direct object

here and completes the meaning)
•Incomplete: I baked. (what did I bake?)
• Complete: I baked some cake. (some cake is the direct
object here and completes the meaning)
• Note: notice that you can understand a verb whether
transitive or not by asking the question "what".

• Example: We played soccer.

• Now that we can ask the question "what did you play?" it is
transitive.
• Note: some transitive verbs may take more than one object.
• My son bought me a watch for my birthday.
• They gave me a pay raise.

• In the two sentences above the words in bold are indirect objects and the
underlined words are direct objects; so, the verbs "buy and give" are
transitive.

• They awarded a gold medal to the top 10 students.

• The young girl brought some flowers to her mother.

• In the two sentences above the words in bold are direct objects and the
underlined words are indirect objects; so, the verbs "award and bring" are
transitive.
 Intransitive Verbs
Subject + Verb

• They don’t take objects after them.

• Example: Sandra cried.
• We can’t ask the question "what did she cry?" so it’s
intransitive.
• The room flooded.
• We swam.
• The birds flew.
• He jumped.
• Notice that most intransitive verbs describe movement,
and are usually followed by a prepositional or adverbial
phrase to complete the meaning of the sentence with
extra information.
• Examples:
• They danced at Sally’s birthday party for hours.
• When the fire alarm rang, we all ran out of the building as fast as
we could.
• The little girl was sitting on the corner.
• The Sun rises in the East.
• The earthquake happened yesterday at around 3 am.
• Note: only transitive verbs can be turned into
passive. Intransitive verbs don’t have passive forms
• Examples: The hurricane happened in 1997.
• Not The hurricane was happened
• The athlete ran so fast that he broke the world
record.
• Not the athlete was run.
• The little boy broke the vase.
• The vase was broken by the little boy.
• Note: notice that there are some verbs that can be both
transitive and intransitive depending on its usage and meaning.
• Examples:
• You have spoiled everything again.
• Put the meat in the fridge so that it doesn't spoil.

• In the first sentence above the verb "spoil" has a meaning of

ruining something and has an object so it is transitive; however
in the second sentence “it doesn't spoil” means it doesn't go bad
and doesn't have an object; so it is intransitive.
 List of common intransitive verbs

• adapt
• agree

• arrive
• become

• belong
• collapse

• cost
• depend
• die

• emerge
• exist

• fly
• go

• happen
• laugh
• occur
• rise

• sit
• Sleep

• stay
• swim

• jump
• explode
 Use of Passive Voice
• When you don't know the person who
performed the action.
The bank was robbed.

• When it is not important who performed the

action.
Harvard University was founded in 1636.
• When the performer is not a specific person.
English is spoken in many countries around the
world.
• When you prefer not to mention the name of
the performer.
I was told that you didn't go to work today.
Used with a performer: by + performer
The cake was made by my cousin.
• Note:
• In a passive sentence, If we want to mention
what caused or who did the action, we use the
agent (by...........)
• Active: Charles Dickens wrote many novels.
• Passive: Many novels were written by Charles
Dickens.