When you’re writing, it’s important to understand the different grammatical roles that a word can play.
You probably know the different parts of speech—nouns, verbs, prepositions, and so on—but each of those is a category of its own and has its own subcategories.
For instance, there are many types of verbs, and one of those types is called the transitive verb.
A transitive verb is an action verb whose action is received by a direct object.
Read on to learn how to identify a transitive verb and what some examples look like in writing.
A transitive verb is an action verb that requires someone or something to receive that action (a direct object).
Take a look at the following examples of transitive verbs:
In this case, “fixed” is the transitive verb, and “the broken radio” is the object being fixed (the direct object).
In this case, “reads” is the transitive verb, and “the newspaper” is the object being read.
In this case, “bit” is the transitive verb, and “me” is the person being bitten.
The most common structure of a sentence with a transitive verb is:
Subject + action verb + direct object
The word “transitive” comes from the idea that the action must transition through the verb to an object in order to complete its meaning.
For example, “Gabrielle fixed” is not a complete sentence, and doesn’t make sense on its own. You need to add in the direct object to finish the sentence: “Gabrielle fixed the broken radio.”
Action verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. There are two methods you can use to figure out which type of verb you’re dealing with.
The simplest way to identify a transitive word is to see if you can find a direct object in the sentence.
A direct object is something or someone who receives the action being performed.
When you see an action verb, ask yourself, “What’s the object receiving this action?”
If the action is done to something or someone, you’re looking at a transitive verb.
For example, “Jeremy kicked the soccer ball.” Here, the kick is being received by the soccer ball, so you know the verb is transitive.
An intransitive verb, on the other hand, doesn’t have a direct object. Consider the sentence “Jeremy laughed.”
The verb is “laughed”, and there’s no object in the sentence that needs to receive the action.
Don’t be fooled if there are other words after the verb—they aren’t necessarily a direct object.
For example, you could say “Jeremy laughed merrily”, which places an extra word after “laughed”.
But the word “merrily” is an adverb that tells us more about the verb, not a direct object that receives the action.
Another trick you can use is to try to imagine the verb in a passive form (Direct Object + “was” + Transitive Verb).
Transitive verbs can have a passive form, while intransitive verbs cannot.
Here are some examples of transitive verbs in the passive form, which sound logical and correct:
For contrast, here are some examples of intransitive verbs in the passive form, which sound rather nonsensical:
The passive voice places the reader's focus on the object rather than the action. This means it takes longer for the reader to understand who or what is completing the action.
If you can, convert your passive transitive verbs to active ones to make your writing more engaging.
ProWritingAid will highlight passive transitive verbs in your writing and suggest active rephrasings.
Try the passive voice check with a free ProWritingAid account.
There are verbs that can be transitive or intransitive, depending on whether the sentence has a direct object or not.
Here are some examples of verbs that can work either way:
Verb: “to play”
Verb: “to walk”
Intransitive: “Can you walk toward me?”
Verb: “to eat”
Verb: “to run”
Let’s take a look at some transitive verbs in famous literary passages.
“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars."
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."
– Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
"I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
– Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
"Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies."
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“I gave my whole heart up, for him to hold.”
– Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
“Time, which sees all things, has found you out.”
– Sophocles, Oedipus the King
"If you tell the truth you do not need a good memory!"
– Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
"I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen."
– Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Now you know what transitive verbs are, you'll spot them everywhere. You can use them in everything from essays, creative writing, and emails to everyday speech to bring your writing to life.
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