English Grammar Drills

150 Verb Phrases
transitive verb “goes across” to an object. In other words, a transitive verb controls or “takes” an
object. An intransitive verb does not control or take an object. For example, compare the following
sentences:
Transitive:
Intransitive:
The cat killed the birds.
The birds died.
The verb kill is a transitive verb that requires an object. That is, when we kill, we have to kill
something. Leaving off the object would make the transitive verb kill ungrammatical (in the way
that the verb is normally used):
X The cat killed.
The verb die is an intransitive verb that does not take an object. As this pair of examples shows,
transitive verbs typically describe what a subject is doing to an object (killing it in the case of our
example), while intransitive verbs typically describe what is happening to the subject (dying in
the case of our example).
When you look up a verb in the dictionary, you will notice a little vi or vt right after the
pronunciation guide and the origin of the word but before the definitions begin. vi means that
the verb is intransitive, and vt means that the verb is transitive. It is striking that most verbs can
be used both transitively and intransitively. If a verb is used both ways, the dictionary will give all
the definitions for the most common use first (either vi or vt) and then give a second set of definitions
associated with the other use.
This chapter and the next one are organized according to the number of complements that
verbs require. In this chapter we will address the verbs that take no complements at all (zerocomplement
verbs) and verbs that take only a single complement. The following chapter will
address verbs that take multiple complements.
Zero-complement verbs
Verbs that take no complement are called intransitive verbs. (All zero-complement verbs are
action verbs. Linking verbs are always used with a single complement.) Here are some examples
of sentences with intransitive verbs:
The old cow died.
My knee hurts.
The kids are sleeping.
Most of the time we use intransitive verbs with various kinds of optional adverb expressions.
For example: