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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

The document discusses transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs take a direct object and can be used in the passive voice. Intransitive verbs do not take objects and cannot be used in the passive voice. Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive depending on their usage. The passive voice is used when the performer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or unspecified.

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Ali Waqas
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99 views

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

The document discusses transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs take a direct object and can be used in the passive voice. Intransitive verbs do not take objects and cannot be used in the passive voice. Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive depending on their usage. The passive voice is used when the performer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or unspecified.

Uploaded by

Ali Waqas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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.

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