Sunday 9 March 2014

A transitive verb


Tuesday, July 9, 2013


Was that a difficult question? Why nobody has bitten the bait?
A transitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which passes over from the doer or the subject to an object. (Transit means ‘pass over’)

E.g.
The child ate the chocolate.

In this sentence,  though it is the child which is eating, it is the chocolate that undergoes the process of eating. The action has passed over from the child to the chocolate. Hence it is a transitive verb. Transitive verbs usually take an object. Intransitive verbs do not take an object.
E.g.
The girls laughed merrily.
In this sentence, the action of laughing does not pass onto anyone else. It does not undergo any transit. Hence it is an intransitive verb.

In schools, this explanation is usually not given. Students are taught that transitive verbs take an object and intransitive verbs do not. That is also correct. I was impressed by the appropriateness of the name and wanted to share it with you.
Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.

E.g.
Birds fly high. ( intransitive)
We fly kites. ( transitive)


If we see a picture in which a historical hero rides a bicycle, it is a chronological inconsistency. What is it known as?

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