Author: Wordsmyth

The terms “transitive” and “intransitive” refer to how verbs operate in a sentence. When we call a verb’s particular meaning “transitive,” we mean that the verb is always followed by a specifically stated direct object. On the other hand, a sense of a verb labeled “intransitive” means that it is never followed by a stated direct object. In the dictionary, all senses (distinct meanings) of a verb are marked as either “transitive” or “intransitive.” Some verbs have only transitive meanings and some have only intransitive meanings, but many verbs have both transitive and intransitive meanings.

A closer look at transitive verbs

Stated in a different way, a transitive verb follows the pattern VERB + DIRECT OBJECT, and an intransitive verb follows the pattern VERB + ZERO OBJECT. If someone said “I like very much” (VERB + ZERO OBJECT), most speakers of English would feel that the sentence was missing something. They might think, “Huh?—like WHAT very much??” Unconsciously, English speakers know that the verb “like” operates transitively and requires some kind of object to follow it.*

Here are some examples of transitive verbs with their direct objects highlighted:

I like cats.
I like cooking, but I don’t like cleaning up.
What are you doing?
They prevented the fire from spreading.
We believe that such behavior is wrong.

Object or No Object?

Let’s look at a simple word like “eat.” When “eat” is a transitive verb, it is always followed by its grammatical direct object—“toast” or “dinner,” for example.

With a transitive verb, one can always ask a question like “What are you eating?” or “What did you eat?” and get an answer—even if the answer is just “nothing.” That answer is the “direct object.” Even in the question, there is a stated object—the word “what”—that takes the grammatical place of the specific thing that is eaten.

On the other hand, in the sentence “Don’t talk to him while he’s eating,” the verb “eat” is used intransitively. There is nothing following the verb that tells us what this person is eating. Of course, he has to be eating something if he’s actually eating, but the verb “eat” can be used in this way, intransitively, without any statement of what is being consumed. The fact that “eat” can be used either transitively (with a stated object) or intransitively (without a stated object) is an important quality of this particular verb.

Intransitive Use

Verbs used intransitively often have no object in real life. You can see this in the following examples that use intransitive verbs. (Note that other words can follow an intransitive verb, but no objects.)

Here are examples of the use of intransitive verbs:

The population grew.
The spark plugs fired.
The wind blew hard.
The water is running.
The baby is sleeping.
She hesitated for a moment.
They skate beautifully together.

Notice, though, that with a change in meaning, some of these same verbs can be used transitively, as shown in the first example for each pair below:

The boss fired the whole team.
The spark plugs fired.

We grew tomatoes last year.
The population grew.

His daughter is running the business now.
The water is running.

A Difference in Focus

Let’s look at the verb “eat” again. The actual meaning of the word in the sentence “I’m eating toast” is the same as in the sentence “I’m eating.” There is some activity with food happening in this person’s mouth. However, the focus is different. The transitive sentence focuses on both the action of eating and on the toast being eaten. The intransitive sentence, on the other hand, focuses only on the action and ignores what is actually being consumed. The intransitive sentence answers questions like “What are you doing?” or “Are you busy?” The transitive sentence answers questions such as “What are you eating?” or “Are you eating my donuts again?”

Compare the following examples of a verb being used transitively versus the same verb, with essentially the same meaning, being used intransitively:

I only eat toast in the mornings, so I am pretty hungry by lunch time.
I was eating when he called, so I told him I’d call him back.

The boss worked the employees hard.
The boss worked until midnight.

The wind blew the ship off course.
The wind blew hard.

Noting whether a verb follows a transitive pattern or an intransitive pattern is important for learners so that they may avoid using a transitive verb without any kind of object (“I like very much”) or using an object directly after an intransitive verb (“I apologized him”). Moreover, intransitive senses of a verb often differ from transitive senses in the general feeling they convey. Even if the meaning of the verb itself is essentially the same (“eat”), the focus when using a verb intransitively differs from when the same verb is used transitively.

Finally, although it’s common practice to speak of “transitive verbs” and “intransitive verbs,” it may be more appropriate to speak of transitive and intransitive senses of individual verbs. As stated earlier, many verbs have both transitive and intransitive senses. In addition, verbs historically used as transitives can develop new, intransitive senses and vice versa. Verbs are not inherently transitive or intransitive. They have tendencies to be used in certain ways for different meanings.

*The verb “like” is typically used transitively, but it does have a less common intransitive sense as in “You can sit here, if you like.”