ENGLISH GRAMMAR
LESSON # 25
"RECOGNIZING TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE
VERBS"
LECTURE NOTES:
Action verbs may be classified as transitive
or intransitive.
The word transitive means
"passing over ." Therefore,
if the action of the verb passes over to a receiver. the
verb is called "transitive."
a. A transitive verb is a verb that has a receiver of the
action to complete its meaning.
The pitcher threw the ball. {Ball receives the action.)
Mr. Gray reseeded
his lawn. {Lawn receives the action.)
We repaired
the sail on our catamaran. {Sail receives the action.)
b. An intransitive verb is a verb that does not have a
receiver of the action.
Their plot failed.
The
train stopped abruptly.
The ball sailed
over the fence.
Note. The verb does not require a receiver for the action in these
examples. The action is complete in the verb itself.
c. Most verbs can be either transitive or intransitive according
to their use in the sentence.
Terri plays the piano. (transitive-piano
receives the action)
Terri plays
well. (intransitive-no receiver for the action)
Note. You can determine whether a verb has a receiver for the action
by asking whom or what after the verb.
EXERCISE. On a piece of paper: (1) Find the action verb in each sentence and write
it down. (2) If the verb is transitive, write the word that receives the action
and write tr. If the verb is intransitive, write intr.
1. Samuel Pepys's
Diary contains a fascinating account of the reign of King Charles II.
2. After sixteen years of ominous tremors,
3. We planted poplars on the north
side of our property for a windbreak.
4. Cleopatra ruled in
5. The Diary of Anne Frank, a drama
about a Jewish family during the Nazi regime, won the Pulitzer prize in 1956.
6. The yearly Feast of Purim reminds the
Jews of their deliverance during the time of Queen Esther.
7. Haman resented
the position of Mordecai, Esther's cousin.
8. Esther informed her husband King Ahasuerus of Haman's plot.
9. Ahasuerus
hanged Haman on the gallows, instead of Mordecai.
10. The Great Pyramid still
stands in the desert near Gaza, Egypt.
11. The Basques live in the
12. Pyrite (fool's gold), a
compound of iron and sulfur, deceived many unwary miners.
13. The Greek mathematician
Euclid proved the Pythagorean Theorem.
14. Parliament usually meets in
15. Gary Landis, a missionary in
16. Fierce persecution often
comes to Muslim converts to Christianity.
17. Moses dwelt with Jethro and his daughters in the wilderness of the Sinai.
18. Piranha fish can devour a
large animal in only a few minutes.
19. The Phoenicians established
trade routes throughout the ancient world to such distant places as