English for the Eager Learners

Intransitive verb
Subject Verb
The world laughs.
The action verb ‘laughs’ stops with the action doer ‘world’ (subject).
There is no action receiver (object).
More Examples:
Linking verb
(Please see page 100.)
Lesson 2
Why is it first and foremost to classify a verb?
The answer is easily seen in the following examples:
intr. v.
1. He stopped to smoke. (= He walked no farther and stood there and smoked.)
tran. v.
2. He stopped smoking. (= He gave up smoking and smoked no more.)
In 1, the intransitive 'stopped' ends with the subject 'he', and 'to smoke' tells us why he
stopped. (Please see page 98.)
In 2, the transitive 'stopped' means 'quitted' and takes the noun (gerund) 'smoking' as its
object. (Please see page 90 for more explanations of gerunds.)
intr. v.
She turned, and dropped the ball. (= She went round and dropped the ball.)
tran. v.
She turned and dropped the ball. (= She turned the ball and dropped it.)
The linking verb ‘be’ (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, be) is used most frequently. It
links a noun or an adjective with the subject to make the meaning of a sentence complete.
Subject Complement
John is a doctor.
(noun) (linking v.) (noun)
Subject Complement
John is happy.
(noun) (linking v.) (adjective)
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