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T h e Tr a n s i t i v e Ve r b

Recognize a transitive verb when you see one.


A transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb. Here are some examples of transitive verbs:
Sylvia kicked Juan under the table.

Kicked = transitive verb; Juan = direct object.


Joshua wants a smile from Leodine, his beautiful but serious lab partner.

Wants = transitive verb; smile = direct object.


Cornelius painted the canvas in Jackson Pollock fashion, dribbling bright colors from a heavily soaked brush.

Painted = transitive verb; canvas = direct object.


Alicia wrote a love poem on a restaurant napkin.

Wrote = transitive verb; poem = direct object.


Antonio eats lima beans drenched in brown gravy.

Eats = transitive verb; lima beans = direct object.

Pinky the poodle cleans the dirty supper dishes with his tongue before Grandma loads the "prewashed" items into dishwasher.

Cleans, loads = transitive verbs; dishes, items = direct objects. Important note: When no direct object follows an action verb, the verb is intransitive.

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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Depending on the type of object they take, verbs may be transitive, intransitive, or linking. The meaning of a transitive verb is incomplete without a direct object, as in the following examples: INCOMPLETE The shelf holds. COMPLETE The shelf holds three books and a vase of flowers. INCOMPLETE The committee named. COMPLETE The committee named a new chairperson. INCOMPLETE The child broke. COMPLETE The child broke the plate.

An intransitive verb, on the other hand, cannot take a direct object: This plant has thrived on the south windowsill. The compound verb "has thrived" is intransitive and takes no direct object in this sentence. The prepositional phrase "on the south windowsill" acts as an adverb describing where the plant thrives. The sound of the choir carried through the cathedral. The verb "carried" is used intransitively in this sentence and takes no direct object. The prepositional phrase "through the cathedral" acts as an adverb describing where the sound carried. The train from Montreal arrived four hours late. The intransitive verb "arrived" takes no direct object, and the noun phrase "four hours late" acts as an adverb describing when the train arrived. Since the company was pleasant and the coffee both plentiful and good, we lingered in the restaurant for several hours. The verb "lingered" is used intransitively and takes no direct object. The prepositional phrase "in the restaurant for several hours" acts as an adverb modifying "lingered." The painting was hung on the south wall of the reception room. The compound verb "was hung" is used intransitively and the sentence has no direct object. The prepositional phrase "on the south wall of the reception room" acts as a adverb describing where the paint hung. Many verbs can be either transitive or intransitive, depending on their context in the sentence. In the following pairs of sentences, the first sentence uses the verb transitively and the second uses the same verb intransitively: transitive According to the instructions, we must leave this goo in our hair for twenty minutes. In this example, the verb "leave" takes a direct object, the noun phrase "this goo." intransitive We would like to stay longer, but we must leave. In this example, the verb "leave" does not take a direct object. transitive The audience attentively watched the latest production of The Trojan Women.

In this example, the verb "watch" is used transitively and takes the noun phrase "the latest production of The Trojan Women" as a direct object. intransitive The cook watched while the new dishwasher surreptitiously picked up the fragments of the broken dish. In this example, the verb "watched" is used intransitively and takes no direct object. intransitive The crowd moves across the field in an attempt to see the rock star get into her helicopter. Here the verb "moves" is used as an intransitive verb and takes no direct object. transitive Every spring, William moves all boxes and trunks from one side of the attic to the other. In this sentence "moves" is used as a transitive verb and takes the noun phrase "all the boxes and trunk" as a direct object. Written by Heather MacFadyen

The Difference Between Transitive and Intransitive Verbs My sister broke the window. My father cried. Can you figure out the difference between the verbs (broke, cried) in the above sentences? I'm not talking about the meaning, I'm talking about the grammar. In other words, how are these two verbs grammatically different? We should notice that the first verb, broke, has another word after it. The second verb, cried, does not have another word after it. Generally speaking, we can say that all verbs in English can be divided into two groups--those that must have a word (or words) after them and words that do not have to have any word after them. This rule is simplified right now, but we will learn more later. For now, let's just focus on the simple ideas. Let's look at the two different kinds of verbs. Transitive Verbs My sister broke the window. In the first sentence, the word that comes after the verb, window, is the object of

the verb. We say that window is the object because it receives the action of the verb. All objects of verbs receive the action of the verb. Here are some more examples of transitive verbs with their objects:

o o o o o

I sold some books. I took the bus. I bought a radio. I understood her question. I wrote a letter.

When a verb has an object that receives the action of the verb, we say that the verb is transitive. Transitive verbs are more common on the TOEFL than intransitive verbs, but many students get confused about intransitive verbs. Let's look at the other kind of verb now.

Intransitive Verbs
My father cried. We can see in this sentence that there is no word after cried. In other words, there is no object for the word, so there is no noun to receive the action of the word. Think about it--what could we say? My father cried something. Is there a noun that we could use after cried? We could probably think of one or two nouns, like tears, or even, good-bye, but normally, we do not use the verb crywith an object. In this case we say that this verb is intransitive because it does not have an object after it. Here are some more examples of intransitive verbs:

o o o o o

I slept. I coughed. The glass fell. My cat ran. The sun rose.

We should notice that in each case, the subject is doing the action of the verb and nothing receives the action.

Common Test Prep Points


It is extremely important to be able to understand whether a verb is transitive or intransitive. For many verbs in class, if your teacher thinks that the verb is hard to understand, we will ask something like this: T: Do we cry or do we cry something? Then, the student should respond something like this:

S: Just cry. In this case, we would say that cry is intransitive. BE CAREFUL!! One reason that understanding this point is so important is that it is very easy to become confused about whether a verb is transitive or intransitive. Consider the following example: I went to the store yesterday. Is went transitive or intransitive? Many people, including native speakers, will tell you that went is transitive since we have many words after went. However: To say that went is transitive would be a BIG mistake!! So, what are all those other words after went? Well, first of all, to the store is a prepositional phrase. Second, yesterday is an adverb. One more thing: just to make life easier, instead of saying transitive andintransitive all the time, we will say vi (since that's what most dictionaries say) if the verb is intransitive and vt (again, since that's what most dictionaries say) if the verb is transitive. Trust TestMagic: This is extremely important!! We will do some exercises on this point a little bit later.

Summary of Transitive and Intransitive Verbs


There are some important exceptions to these rules and we will talk about them later. However, for now, we have enough information to do some practice.

Practice Transitive and Intransitive Verbs


This exercise is relatively simple--just decide whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. In this case, write the answer choice that is more common. Finally, you will notice that several words have been repeated. This is because I want you to remember these words since they are the most common on the TOEFL and they cause the most problems for students.

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1.

vi or vt

Verb
run

2.

live

3.

throw

4.

sell

5.

eat

6.

result

7.

evolve

8.

research

9.

happen

10.

feed

11.

exist

12.

result

13.

follow

14.

make

15.

take place

16.

occur

17.

exist

18.

happen

19.

dwell

20.

evolve

21.

result

22.

send

23.

invent

24.

fly

25.

find

The discovery of a new fruit offspring January.


The whole world is thrilled by the discovery of a new type of fruit. The new type of fruit has been discovered by a group of scientist in California. It has created an excitement for the whole world. The fruit that has been discovered have the combination of genes from two types of fruits. Scientist has detect the genes that contains in the new discover fruit which is now named grapeberry . It is named grapeberry because scientist has confirmed that grape s gene and strawberry s gene are contains in the fruit s cell besides the shape is like a strawberry but purple in color. The inner structure of the fruit also represents the grape and it almost has the same taste of a grape. The garden of strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in the 1750s via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America and Fragaria chiloensis, which was brought from Chile by Amde-Franois Frzier in 1714. The fruit which is not actually a berry, but an aggregate accessory fruit is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is consumed in large quantities, either fresh or in prepared foods such as preserves, fruit juice, pies, ice creams, and milkshakes. Artificial strawberry aroma is also widely used in many industrialized food products. In the other hand Grapes are a type of fruit that grow in clusters of 15 to 300, and can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. "White" grapes are actually green in color, and are evolutionarily derived from the purple grape. Grapes are also used in some kinds of confectionery. Grapes are typically an ellipsoid shape resembling a prolate spheroid. During the discovery of Americas, Spanish settlers brought grapes to America, planting them in North America in the early 17th century. Thanks to the Spanians, grapes rapidly spread to California, where the favorable habitat made grapes a very successful crop in that zone. Both of the fruits were planted in North America in the past and they still exist until today. Scientist has came with the conclusion that, since the farms of both fruits are located nearby, the seeds might have mixed during the cultivation process. Eventually, the genes of the seeds started to mix and create new type of fruit (grapeberry). This conclusion is supported by the discovery of the grapeberry which is only found in between the two farms. It only grows at the area in California which is located in between a strawberry and a grape farm. The scientist is conducting an experiment to ensure that the fruit is safe to eat before it starts to bred in farm like its genetic parents.

Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type. Determiners are different to pronouns in that a determiner is always followed by a noun. Therefore personal pronouns ( I , you , he , etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be determiners. The definite and indefinite articles a/an/the are all determiners. You use a specific determiner when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about. The specific determiners are: the definite article : the demonstratives : this, that, these, those possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their For example:"The dog barked at the boy." "These apples are rotten." "Their bus was late." You use general determiners to talk about people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. The general determiners are: the indefinite articles : a, an few fewer less little many more most much

a few a little all another any

both each either enough every

neither no other several some

For example:"A man sat under an umbrella." "Have you got any English books that I could have?" "There is enough food to feed everyone." Either and Neither Either and neither are used in sentences concerning a possible choice between two items. Either can mean one or the other (of two) or each of two. For example:I've got tea and coffee, so you can have either. (One or the other) The room has a door at either end. (Both) Neither means not the first one and not the second one. For example:Neither of the students were listening.

Letter of application (referring to advertisement) (Name) (Address) (Contact number) (Date) Human Resource Manager (Company s name in caps) Address

Dear Sir/Madam,(salutation) I would like to refer on the advertisement in The Star dated 3 February 2012 regarding the post as a Technical Telecommunication Services. (Introduction) I graduated from Multimedia College Northern Region in December 2011 with a Diploma in Engineering (Telecommunication).(body 1) I did my industrial Training at the Telekom Malaysia in October 2011. Enclose is my Curriculum Vitae. Your consideration is greatly appreciated. Yours Sincerely, (initial) (NAME)

Mohamad Anuar Bin Md Rozali No. 264 Jln F3/14 Taman Long Jaafar, kg Boyan 34000 Taiping, Perak Darul Ridzuan. 017-5913234 3 February 2012 Human Resource Manager TELEKOM MALAYSIA SDN BHD Menara TM, Jalan Pantai Baharu 50672 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to apply on the advertisement in the internet with the link www.jobfinder.com dated 2 February 2012 regarding the post as an Assistant Telecommunication s Engineer at your company. I graduated from Multimedia College Northern Region in November 2011 with a Diploma in Engineering (Telecommunication). I did my industrial training at the Taiping s Telekom Malaysia Complex in July 2011 for three months. Enclose is my Curriculum Vitae. Your consideration is greatly appreciated. Yours Sincerely,

(MOHAMAD ANUAR BIN MD ROZALI)

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