transitive verb - vocabulary

noun

Note: The transitive verb is a good thing to know. Because many experienced writers usually know its ins and outs, I’ve included a brief discussion here.

Here’s an excerpt from the Parts of Speech section of Grammar.com:

Verbs with Objects

As Amber and Igor [our prehistoric grammarians] became grammatically aware, Amber noticed that action verbs came in two models. One described someone (the subject) doing something (the verb) to someone or something (the direct object). Thus:

The spear (subject) snagged (verb) the fish (direct object).

John (subject) hit (verb) the ball (direct object).

These short, simple, three-part sentences seem limitless:

Three-Part Sentences with Transitive Action Verbs

So way back at the dawn of grammatical time, Amber and Igor noticed that, among all the action verbs they had created, most had the capability of sticking directly to a noun. These action verbs could seemingly pick up a noun all by themselves. Write could pick up book. Hit could pick up ball. Snag could pick up fish.

To name these kinds of action verbs, Amber and Igor first grunted: noun-picker-upper!

For they knew that this most prevalent of the action verbs had the unique ability to pick up a noun and complete the action of the verb: John (the do-er) hit (the action) the ball (the do-ee). But because the term noun-picker-upper would never survive in the faculty lounge, our ancient grammarians went back to the drawing board and then grunted: transitive verb!

Much better.

To be admitted to The Writers' Club, you must know what a transitive verb is. You must know that it's an action verb. You must know that it's an action verb that can pick up a noun all by itself. You must know that you can stick a noun directly on the transitive verb. And you must know the name of that noun: direct object.

. . . .

Why is it important to know what a transitive verb is?

Two reasons.

First, when we study the active and passive voices, you'll learn that only transitive verbs can appear in the passive voice. Second, if you go around grunting noun-picker-upper all the time, you'll never make it in the faculty lounge.

Your understanding of the transitive verb will grow when you fully comprehend its opposite, the intransitive verb.

For a lot more on verbs, click here.