Questions tagged [transitive-verbs]
Questions about verbs that require an object; they are not complete without a direct object.
143
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Does using a preposition phrase instead of a direct object change the transitivity of a verb?
A textbook I'm using to refresh some basic grammar states that indirect objects can be identified by it's answering of questions such as 'to whom', 'to what' etc. (fair enough) and they always come ...
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"Greenland may not be as "green" as the name suggests". Is the second "as" a comparative conjunction although there is no object after "suggest"?
In the sentence below,
Greenland may not be as "green" as the name suggests.
The verb "suggest" should preceed an object as it is a transitive verb, but in the sentence, there is ...
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Would the verb in this sentence be used transitively or intransitively? [closed]
In the following sentence is "painted" being used transitively or intransitively?
The sunset painted the sky with a tapestry of fiery colors.
I asked ChatGPT about this and it gives ...
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Is the sentence "The story that excites." grammatical and usable? [closed]
Technically "excite" is a transitive verb and therefore should be followed by an object. However, I have seen other examples following similar structures as such:
The little engine that ...
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1
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Using a noun as a transitive verb in the sense of "to turn into"
This bit of made up slang from a tweet made me wonder what the proper grammarist's name is for the type of off-the-cuff concoction. What is meant here is "to turn into a Gollum type person" ...
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What is the meaning of ‘ broke’ here? [closed]
What is the meaning of ‘broken‘ in this phrase
‘but all he could learn was that Mr Abel had himself broken the intelligence to his mother,’
While he was thus engaged, Kit made some anxious inquiries ...
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Is "create new" not pleonastic?
I wonder why the verb "create" is often followed by the word "new". Does "create" not imply "new"? When I read (in programming languages, for example) "...
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Monotransitive verbs that take an indirect object
I have read (see [1] and [2]) that verbs can only take an indirect object if they also take a direct object. That is, all verbs which take an indirect object are ditransitive. However, consider the ...
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Are "go into," "come into," and "get into" transitive?
As the subject says. Note the following sentences:
"I got into a taxi."
"He came into the room."
"We went into the store."
For some reason, I have always been under the ...
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Is a verb transitive when used only with an indirect object? [closed]
I am learning about indirect objects and transitivity in French, but I believe that my question is also valid in English. Therefore, I'd like to sort this out in English.
If a verb is used only with ...
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Can the auxiliary verb do/does/did replace a transitive verb?
In Ariana Grande's song off the table there's the verse:
Will I ever love somebody like the way I did you?
Can we use the auxiliary verb to replace a transitive verb like "love"? For ...
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Being drawn to something?
I know that I can say "I was drawn to someone," but can I also say "I was drawn to something by X"?
I want to imply how I came across a topic that later became a serious project ...
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"introduce to" takes an indirect object?
Quirk's A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (p.1209) lists "introduce to" among ditransitive verbs that take an indirect object and a prepositional object (the latter serving as ...
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Verbs that can be used as both passive and active in the same form - how to determine if a verb is a such one? [duplicate]
Some English verbs can be used in the same form in both active and passive meaning.
E.g.:
(active) I change the world - (passive) the world changes (i.e is being changed).
(active) I open the door - (...
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Is there an English transitive verb meaning "to make someone/something valuable"?
I'm thinking something along the lines of "imbue" or "instill", but neither of those words work perfectly unless you append "with value".
Ideally this would be a word ...
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Just 'carry' for 'carry weapons' and just 'lift' instead of 'lift weights'. What linguistic phenomenon is it?
There are English verbs that can be used without an object while meaning a certain object. E.g.
Carry = carry weapons
Lift = lift weights
Use = use drugs
Possibly, ‘investigate’ (an incident, a crime,...
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Forgot in this sentence: Transitive or Intransitive?
"Today is Friday, but Adae forgot."
Hi everyone, so I encountered this sentence in a writing book . I believe "forgot" in this context is intransitive since there is no object in ...
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Transitive and Intransitive verbs: is 'eat' transitive in 'Don't eat much'?
I do know the definition of transitive and intransitive verbs. But I have a doubt with respect to a specific example which is as follows:
Don't eat much.
I want to know whether in this sentence, the ...
2
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1
answer
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Passive Voice with intransitive verbs?
With a sentence like, "He sat on the couch," is sat still being used as an intransitive verb since, in general, prepositional phrases cannot act as direct objects? To me, the prepositional ...
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Does a direct object always follow the transitive verb?
I am confused as to whether direct objects always follow the transitive verb. When I searched for an explanation online, it always says that direct objects always come after the transitive verb. I can'...
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Indicate vs Indicates
My question is whether indicate or indicates should be used in the following sentence:
The test ids ARB1 and ARB2 indicate(s) that two different samples were used, rather than representing different ...
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TO and FOR after transitive Verb
In the below two sentences, how intend(verb) has been used? Transitively or Intransitively?
Dictionary is saying that it is used as a transitive verb. But my question is there are TO and FOR after the ...
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"Specialize" as a transitive verb and an antonym for "generalize"
In mathematical writing, I would like to find a transitive verb that means to "apply a general theory to a special case in order to get a theory for this special case". In other words, it ...
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Are the infinitives that follow catenative verbs considered object?
I am confused to find objects of catenative verbs , for example i was looking for the verb refuse and it's transitive and intransitive when i found some examples from oxford dictionary but still not ...
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Can I use a pure transitive verb as an Intransitive Verb?
Please let me know, whether my following sentences are correct or not?
Electrons are generated across the channel.
Electrons generate across the channel.
Electrons generate an electric field across ...
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0
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Prepositional phrasal verbs in passive voice
I wanted to clarify the question of prepositional phrasal verbs for myself.
I have faced a tricky sentence, and I would like to discover if I can change the location of the preposition 'at'. If not, I ...
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1
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Confusing incorrect question in my grammar book
The workers _________ $1,000 to plant the trees in the garden.
A) paid
B) to pay
C) paying
D) were paid
Can you tell me which answer is right and explain why?
If here is not the right place for ...
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Can I use a noun clause introduced by "that" as the direct object of "curse"?
I wrote the following sentence "She cursed that only leaving could cure her." I am aware it sounds odd; I am purely interested in whether it is grammatical. I was told that it is not because "curse" ...
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The object of a transitive verb
I was simply wondering if the object of a transitive verb can come before the verb?
As in
"Good luck," the man said to John.
Is "good luck" the object of "say" here?
Thank you in advance!
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Using a transitive verb at the end of a sentence
Is it ever appropriate to use a transitive verb at the end of a sentence? Specifically, the sentence that I'm considering is one that ends in "... [someone] will update [a thing] as changes in [other ...
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How did "itch" come to be used to mean "scratch" as in "I had to itch my leg"?
None of the regular sources list itch as a transitive verb meaning to scratch. Yet I hear it used that way in American English all the time. One of the British mods of this site says the usage occurs ...
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'She looked incredible. Then she looked at me'
Am I correct in saying that the verb 'looked' is intransitive in the first phrase, transitive in the second phrase? Is there a name for this type of rhetorical technique playing on the two senses of ...
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What part of speech is this "clean" word in the sentence?
To start off with, let me come clean, the Java logging ecosystem is messy.
This sentence is quoted from Setting up logging second
paragraph. Is the word clean an adverb? Or come is a transitive
verb?...
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When to bemoan and when to moan
I've tried looking this up and I've read somewhat unhelpful advice like "to bemoan something is to moan about something".
I am mostly aware when one feels correct, and when one does not, but I'm not ...
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"Say" and "said" as transitive and intransitive verbs
I have an interesting question. Is "say" a transitive verb in the case of direct/reported speech? I understand that it can be a transitive verb in cases like "She said the phrase." or "She says the ...
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Can I use "innovate" as a transitive verb? [closed]
For example, is it OK to say: "We're innovating our device"?
Or would I have to say something like "We're innovating in order to change our device"?
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Does a transitive verb always require a direct object?
If a verb is only listed in the dictionary as a transitive verb, can it be correctly used without a direct object, i.e. as an intransitive verb? We can use the verb "force" as an example, which is ...
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The gerund and its complementation
In what cases does the gerund stemming from a transitive verb take the direct object of that verb and when is a prepositional complement used?
For example:
Brown's deft painting of his daughter is ...
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“provide X to someone” vs “provide X for someone”
I am confused by the different explanations in the following two dictionaries.
Macmillan says “provide A to B”, while The Free Dictionary says it is wrong and tells us not to say “provide A to B”, ...
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"impute" as an intransitive verb
I came across a sentence in a Wikipedia article that went like this (MEMRI stands for Middle East Media Research Institute):
In 2006, Finkelstein accused MEMRI of editing a television interview he ...
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"receive" is to "send" what "???" is to "scatter"
I am looking for a word in English that is a synonym for receive but is specific for the process of another scattering something to many rather than just sending individually.
If one entity sends ...
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How to use "allow to do something" without mentioning a person?
Instead of the probably correct structure:
Our software XYZ allows the user to resize and modify PNG images.
I'm looking for a way to do it without specifying a person (or people):
Our software ...
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Is "start" used with "fire" as a transitive or an intransitive verb?
Should I say The fire is reported to have started by accident. or The fire is reported to have been started by accident.
P.S:Someone told me to use the former because "by accident" implies that no ...
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Transitive verbs without direct objects [closed]
My linguistics teacher said the sentence "She put the book on the table." is wrong without 'on the table' part. I disagree with him.
Isn't in a sense transitive verbs also intransitive when you speak ...
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Literary devices and sentence structure in Matthew 7:1 (KJV)
I am a student who is looking for help on a specific portion of my discussion. I have been asked the following questions with respect to this KJV verse:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
-- ...
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Is “bescumber” transitive or intransitive?
Behold!
Did my lawn mower bescumber my neighbor's fence (transitive), or did it bescumber on my neighbor's fence (intransitive)?
Or should I switch to passive voice and say my neighbor's fence was ...
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Verb transitivity in sentences with dummy subjects or with prepositions that look like dummy subjects
Suppose we put in play the rule that lay is used transitively and lies is used intransitively. How do you analyze constructions such as –
Where the responsibility (lies/lay) has yet to be ...
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Mnemotechnic approach to identifying transitive vs verb-adjective constructs
I'm no linguist, grammarian and not even an english speaker, please bear with me. I'm looking for a quick way to identify transitive vs intransitive constructs, for example, in the sentence
"the ...
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Is there a non-prepositional (i.e. more active) verb that captures "X is diminished by Y" where Y is the object of the verb?
I'll give two examples to try to clarify what kind of word I'm looking for.
"The water diminishes the fire. The fire is diminished by the water."
The water and the fire are set against each other, so ...
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recent use of "to debrief" in AE as an intransitive verb but no dictionary says it can?
The online OED defines to debrief as follows
transitive
to obtain information from
Examples
Leonov and Belyaev..will stay at the space station for several days to be debriefed (1965)
The online ...
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