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Saturday, December 8, 2018

December 08, 2018

How to Identify Transitive and Intransitive Verb in a Sentence

Identification of a transitive and an intransitive verb in a sentence is super easy if one knows to differentiate between direct and indirect objects.

Transitive Verb
Transitive verbs are those action verbs which are always followed by direct objects. 
Let’s look at the following examples.
Last night, I kicked the football out of the ground.
I = Subject; Kicked = Verb and football = Object.
To identify the verb either transitive or intransitive, first, we need to find out whether the object right after the verb is a direct object or an indirect one. A direct object always answers “What and Whom”. In this case, the object, football, is the direct object, therefore, without further thinking, we can say that “Kicked” is a transitive verb.
He has bought a white cap from the market.
Bought = Transitive Verb; white cap = direct object.'
He always skips his classes due to his company.
Skips = transitive verb; his classes = direct object. [What does he skip? He skips his classes.]
She hates him since when he has betrayed her.
Hates = transitive verb; him = direct object. [She hates whom? She hates him.]

Intransitive Verb
On the other hand, an intransitive verb is also an action verb but it does not have a direct object to receive the action. It is always followed by an indirect object. It is often followed by a prepositional phrase. If a verb is not followed by a direct object, it can never be a transitive verb.
Let’s look at the following examples.
Zara was sitting in the shade of a tree.
Sitting = Intransitive verb, in the shade = prepositional phrase.
He came to the school after a week.
Came = Intransitive verb; to the school = prepositional phrase.
Aslam gave my friend a gift.
In the example, the verb “gave” is followed by an indirect object.
Gave = Intransitive verb; my friend = indirect object. [Aslam gave a gift to whom? Aslam gave a gift to my friend.]
He was running over the desks in the classroom.
Running = Intransitive verb; over the desks = prepositional phrase.
To conclude, a verb can be transitive or intransitive depending on whether followed by a direct object or not.