Can you figure out the difference between the
verbs (broke, cried) in the above sentences? I'm
not talking about the meaning, I'm talking about
the grammar. In other words, how are these
two verbs grammatically different?
We should notice that the first verb, broke, has
another word after it. The second verb, cried,
does not have another word after it. Generally
speaking, we can say that all verbs in English
can be divided into two groups--those that must
have a word (or words) after them and words
that do not have to have any word after them.
This rule is simplified right now, but we will
learn more later. For now, let's just focus on the
simple ideas.
Let's look at the two different kinds of verbs.
Transitive Verbs 及物動詞
My sister broke the window.(及物)
In the first sentence, the word that comes after
the verb, window, is the object of the verb. We
say that window is the object because it
receives the action of the verb. All objects of
verbs receive the action of the verb.
Here are some more examples of transitive
verbs with their objects: 及物動詞範例
o I sold some books.
o I took the bus.
o I bought a radio.
o I understood her question.
o I wrote a letter.
只要動詞後面有一個接受動作的受詞,這
個動詞就是及物動詞
When a verb has an object that receives the
action of the verb, we say that the verb
is transitive. Transitive verbs are more common
on the TOEFL than intransitive verbs, but many
students get confused about intransitive verbs.
Let's look at the other kind of verb now.
Intransitive Verbs
不及物動詞
My father cried.
We can see in this sentence that there is no
word after cried. In other words, there
is no object for the word, so there is no noun to
receive the action of the word. Think about
it--what could we say?
My father cried something. Is there a noun that
we could use after cried? We could probably
think of one or two nouns, like tears, or
even, good-bye, but normally, we do not use
the verb cry with an object.
不及物動詞後面沒有接任合接受動作的受詞
In this case we say that this verb is intransitive
because it does not have an object after it.
Here are some more examples of intransitive
verbs: 不及物動詞範例
o I slept.
o I coughed.
o The glass fell.
o My cat ran.
o The sun rose.
We should notice that in each case, the subject
is doing the action of the verb
and nothing receives the action.
Common Test Prep Points
It is extremely important to be able to
understand whether a verb is transitive or
intransitive.
For many verbs in class, if your teacher thinks
that the verb is hard to understand, we will ask
something like this:
T: Do we cry or do we cry something?
Then, the student should respond something
like this:
S: Just cry.
In this case, we would say that cry is
intransitive.
BE CAREFUL!!
One reason that understanding this point is so
important is that it is very easy to become
confused about whether a verb is transitive or
intransitive. Consider the following example:
I went to the store yesterday.
Is went transitive or intransitive?
Many people, including native speakers, will tell
you that went is transitive since we have many
words after went. However:
To say that went is transitive would be
a BIG mistake!!
So, what are all those other words after went?
Well, first of all, to the store is a prepositional
phrase(介係詞片語). Second, yesterday is an
adverb(副詞).
One more thing: just to make life easier, instead
of saying transitive and intransitive all the time,
we will say vi (since that's what most
dictionaries say) if the verb is intransitive
and vt (again, since that's what most
dictionaries say) if the verb is transitive.
Trust Test Magic: This is extremely important!!
We will do some exercises on this point a little
bit later.
Summary of Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
There are some important exceptions to these
rules and we will talk about them later.
However, for now, we have enough information
to do some practice.
Practice Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
This exercise is relatively simple--just decide
whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. In
this case, write the answer choice that is
more common. Finally, you will notice that
several words have been repeated. This is
because I want you to remember these words
since they are the most common on the TOEFL
and they cause the most problems for students.