Grammar 19 - Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
The English language is one which makes communication between two people easier if the speaker or writer and the listener or reader understand grammar well. Verbs are parts of speech that are vital to the English language. We have seen that verbs express some action, feeling or existence. In short they portray action.
Look at the following two sentences:
- ‘Mustaq DROVE the car.’
- ‘Mustaq DROVE to the cinema.’
Can you see any difference between the verb DROVE in the two examples? In the first sentence if you ask the question ‘what did Mustaq drive?’ you get the answer 'the car'. In the second sentence you don’t get an answer to your question, even though it tells us where he drove to. The cinema isn't a direct object; it's an indirect object. The two verbs in these examples are called TRANSITIVE and INTRANSITIVE VERBS respectively.
To clarify further, TRANSITIVE VERBS are action verbs that perform their action on an object. In the first sentence the object ‘car’ received the action of the verb DROVE. Some more examples, such as 'I COOKED SOME FOOD' and 'I DRANK THE MILK' might help to clarify further. In these sentences FOOD and MILK are objects receiving the action of their respective verbs, COOKED and DRANK.
INTRANSITIVE VERBS, on the other hand, don’t have a direct object on which the action verb can act. Some more examples, such as 'The aircraft FELL' and 'The donkey BRAYED' might help you to understand. In these sentences we don’t have a direct object to receive the action of the respective verbs. Generally, no words are found after an intransitive verb as that verb does not have an object to act upon. However, there are exceptions. Take the quiz that follows and learn to identify transitive and intransitive verbs.
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