Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Common Errors In English With Samuel Alimi

During a meeting on Friday, one of my online community members asked, “Sam, what is the difference between a ‘transitive’ and an ‘intransitive’ verb?” He further explained that he needed clarification for an upcoming English examination in order to qualify for a position at a specific establishment. Due to my busy schedule, I was unable to respond to his questions immediately, but I promised to message him with the answers when I return home.

The difference between ‘transitive’ and ‘intransitive’ verbs can be easily understood by carefully today’s article. According to Grammarly (2023), a transitive verb must transfer its action to something or someone, specifically an object, as the word ‘transitive’ implies ‘affecting something else’. A thorough explanation of these two types of verbs has been provided for all learners to grasp and avoid any unnecessary confusion.

Transitive Verbs
A transitive verb is a verb that directly takes an object. It should only be used when the action is being done to the object. For this type of verb, an object MUST be included. Without it, the sentence will be considered meaningless.

Consider the examples below:
The professor instructed his students to bring.
What exactly does the above sentence mean? Bring what? Where is the object? Does he mean that they should bring his laptops? These questions are important because this is a valid example of transitive verbs.

The man told?
What information did the man convey? Who did he inform? This is another example of a sentence that lacks clarity.

The baby likes.
When you read the above expression, you may begin to wonder, “What does the baby like?”.
The above sentences are rewritten below:
The professor instructed his students to bring their laptops.
The man told his wife to prepare Afang soup for him before he returns from work.
The baby likes biscuits.
Have you noticed the logic in these sentences? The reason is that the objects have been specified. Every verb in these sentences now has an object.

Intransitive Verbs
An intransitive verb does not require an object, unlike a transitive verb. It can be used without any difficulty for coherence and comprehension.

Examples:
Many students shouted.
Over seven children ran.
The old woman cried.
The lecturer slumped.
Ola and Bisola sang.
She died.

The key to fully understanding the classification of both verbs is to study how they are used. For further information, you can consult any authoritative dictionaries.

Owe
Some individuals ask questions like, “How much am I owing you?” It may sound correct, but it is actually incorrect in the English language. The reason is that ‘owe’ is a stative verb. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a stative verb is “a verb which generally expresses a state rather than an action or activity, not normally found in a continuous inflection.” Therefore, it is incorrect to use it in the present continuous form. In other words, do not use -ing with it!

Please say “How much do I owe you?”

Hear
‘Hear’ is also an example of a stative verb and should not be used in the present continuous form. I once discussed this extensively in the Peoples Daily Newspaper in 2023.
For example, “I am hearing you” is incorrect and should be “I can hear you.” Another correct usage is “I am all ears.”
Other examples of stative verbs include “understand”, “believe”, etc.
For instance, “The congregation are believing their pastor” is incorrect and should be “The congregation believe their pastor.” Simlarly, “The students are understanding phonetics” should be “The students understand phonetics.”

Using ‘so’ with a ‘comma’
A student once asked, “What is the deal with using the word ‘so’ with a comma?”
Answer: Using a comma before ‘so’ is necessary when connecting two complete sentences for proper punctuation. For example, “I wanted to travel to Lagos, so I called my mother for help.”

In this case, “I wanted to travel to Lagos” and “I called my mother for help” are two complete sentences connected by ‘so’, and the comma is used to separate them.

Assignment

Choose the correct answers to each of the following questions:
I ______ you. (a) am hearing (b)can hear (c) can heard
_________ are verbs that take objects directly. (a) Transitive verbs (b) Intransitive verbs (c) Regular verbs
Which of the following is not an example of stative verbs? (a) Teach (b) Understand (c) Believe
Kindly forward your answers to samueltolulopealimi@gmail.com or send an SMS to 07049203179.
Answers to last week’s questions: A, B, C
Names of those who answered the last questions correctly
Shaibu Hamza, Shukurat Adekola, Feyisayo Akorede, Caroline Praise, Adesina Sofiyat, Uchenna Eze, Eze Jeremiah, Rasheed Fatiu, Olive Alimi, Bolanle Olusola, Jerry Solomon, Bala Aminat, Bello Sulaimon, Adaeze Beauty, Philip Moses, Jeremiah Isaiah, Edward Israel and Solomon Moses.