Transitive versus Intransitive Verbs

All verbs in English follow one or both of the patterns [VERB + OBJECT] or [VERB + ZERO OBJECT].  The two patterns describe the functioning of “transitive” and “intransitive” verbs respectively.  That is, a transitive verb follows the pattern [VERB + OBJECT], and an intransitive verb follows the pattern [VERB + ZERO OBJECT].  Let’s look at the difference between these two patterns.

The terms “transitive” and “intransitive” refer to how verbs are able to operate in a sentence.  If someone were to say “I like very much,” most speakers of English would feel that the sentence was missing something.  They might think, “Huh?—like WHAT very much??”  That is because, unconsciously, English speakers know that the verb “like” operates transitively and requires some kind of object to follow it.

In the dictionary, all verb senses are marked as either “transitive” or “intransitive.” Some verbs have only transitive meanings and some have only intransitive meanings, but a great many verbs have both types.  When we call a verb in a particular meaning “transitive,” we mean that it is always followed by a specifically stated direct object.  (In the sentence “I’m buying a car,” the word “car” is the “direct object.”  It is the thing that is being bought.)  On the other hand, a sense of a verb that is labeled “intransitive” is never followed by a stated object.

Let’s look at a simple word like “eat.”  When “eat” is called a transitive verb, it is always followed by something that is its grammatical 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 some kind of answer—even if the answer is just “nothing.”  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 in a perfectly correct intransitive way.  There is nothing following the verb to tell us what this person is eating.  Of course, in reality, he has to be eating something if he’s actually eating, but the verb “eat” can be used in this intransitive way 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.

It should be noted that, although an intransitive verb is not followed in a sentence by a direct object, an intransitive verb can be followed by other types of words and phrases. It is very common, for example, for an intransitive verb to be followed by a prepositional phrase or by an adverb or adverbial phrase, as can be seen in some of the examples below.

She hesitated for a moment.

They skate beautifully together.

The baby was sleeping when we got home.

He agreed with me.

Her father yelled at us.

The wind blew hard.

The spark plugs fired.

The water is running.

The population grew.

While the above examples show verbs working intransitively, many of these same verbs, with a change in meaning, can be used transitively:

Let’s look at the verb “eat” again.  The actual meaning of the word in the sentence “I’m eating toast” is basically the same as in the sentence “I’m eating.”  That is, there is some activity with food going on in somebody’s mouth.  However, the focus is different.  The transitive sentence is focused fairly equally on both the action of eating and on what is being eaten--the toast.  The intransitive sentence is focused only on the action and ignores whatever it is that is actually being consumed.  The intransitive sentence answers questions like “What are you doing?” or “Are you busy?”  The transitive sentence is more likely to be the answer to questions like “What are you eating?” or “Why do I hear crunching?”

Noting whether a verb follows a transitive pattern [VERB + OBJECT] or an intransitive pattern [VERB + ZERO OBJECT] can be especially important for learners so that they may avoid making errors by 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 are often quite different in meaning from transitive senses, and, even if the meaning of the verb itself is essentially the same (“eat” and “eat”), the focus of the whole sentence using a verb intransitively is different from the focus of the sentence when the same verb is used transitively.  When we show in the dictionary that an essentially transitive verb can be used intransitively (or vice versa), we are making it explicit that this change in focus is possible.  If there are no intransitive senses included in the dictionary entry for a verb, it means that the verb is not used in that way, and, similarly, if there are no transitive senses, it means that the verb is not used transitively. Compare the following examples of the same verb used transitively and intransitively:

I only eat toast in the mornings, so I’m pretty hungry by lunchtime.  (transitive)
I was eating when he called, so I told him I’d call him back.  (intransitive)

The wind was blowing the leaves across the yard.  (transitive)
The wind was blowing, and it started to rain.  (intransitive)

The boss worked the employees hard.  (transitive)
The boss worked until midnight.       (intransitive)

I baked bread last weekend.  (transitive)
I baked all afternoon.             (intransitive)

Finally, it should be noted that, although it’s common practice to speak of “transitive verbs” and “intransitive verbs,” it may actually be more appropriate to speak only of transitive and intransitive senses of individual verbs.  As stated earlier, a great many verbs have both transitive and intransitive senses.  And verbs that have historically been used only transitively can develop new, intransitive senses and vice versa.  Verbs are not inherently of a transitive type or an intransitive type.  Rather, they have tendencies to be used in certain ways for certain meanings.