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Questions tagged [transitive-verbs]

Questions about verbs that require an object; they are not complete without a direct object.

Transitive verbs are incomplete without a direct object. Some examples:

Wrong: The parents named.
Right: The parents named their baby Fred.

Wrong: The firemen rescued.
Right: The firemen rescued Fred.

Also see for information about verbs that do not take an object.

161 questions
11
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4 answers

"Help us grow this site"?

I've never liked the use of "to grow [x]" to mean "to make [x] bigger", rather than in the agricultural sense. Am I justified in this at all? (If so, can we make the SE team reword our social media banner?)
Rawling
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7
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3 answers

Is "update" transitive or intransitive?

According to many dictionaries including merriam-webster, update is a transitive verb. So I expect the following sentence (used in Firefox) to be incorrect: Please wait while Firefox is updating. I think Firefox is the object of this sentence and…
B Faley
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4
votes
1 answer

"Have at it" : what's the object of the transitive verb "have" here?

I intuitively understand the meaning of the phrase "have at it!", but I can't explain it to myself. I understand that "to have" in this sense requires an object to be valid, so why is it missing here yet it doesn't sound as weird as other objectless…
Louis Rhys
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2
votes
1 answer

Grammar about the transitive verb "confuse"

You know, "confuse" is a transitive verb. However, I found this sentence in the Longman Dictionary when looking up the word "tiresome". Do not confuse with tiring (=making you feel tired): It was a long, tiring day. Longman Online To my limited…
Pop Young
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2
votes
1 answer

Is there a non-prepositional (i.e. more active) verb that captures "X is diminished by Y" where Y is the object of the verb?

I'll give two examples to try to clarify what kind of word I'm looking for. "The water diminishes the fire. The fire is diminished by the water." The water and the fire are set against each other, so in a way they are both acting in opposition, and…
ttbo
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2
votes
2 answers

Transitive verbs have objects, Intransitive don't. I get it, but how does that help you when you are learning English?

I'm not asking this in an ignorant way, I'm merely asking how it helps.
Robbie Blair
  • 29
1
vote
3 answers

Monotransitive verbs that take an indirect object

I have read (see [1] and [2]) that verbs can only take an indirect object if they also take a direct object. That is, all verbs which take an indirect object are ditransitive. However, consider the following sentence. I shall provide you with what…
Eric
  • 706
1
vote
1 answer

"herald" as as intransitive verb?

The Lost Symbol, page 537, the author writes: "..., mankind will at last unearth the Word and herald in a wondrous new age of enlightenment." I checked the Cambridge dictionary and "herald" is a transitive verb. So, why is there a preposition after…
Tom Lee
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0
votes
1 answer

What is the meaning of ‘ broke’ here?

What is the meaning of ‘broken‘ in this phrase ‘but all he could learn was that Mr Abel had himself broken the intelligence to his mother,’ While he was thus engaged, Kit made some anxious inquiries about his employers, and whether they had…
user462270
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0
votes
1 answer

what is the meaning of " much less"?

"I could not afford a bicycle much less a car." I wanna know what does this word "much less " mean ?
Lily Andrew
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0
votes
1 answer

Transitive verb with 'as'

When I looked up the word hail in Longman Online Dictionary and Oxford Advanced Dictionary Online, I saw it has been marked as transitive verb. I also noticed by someone's note that a verb followed by a preposition is not be categorized as…
Khanh Tran
  • 299
-2
votes
2 answers

Is the sentence "The story that excites." grammatical and usable?

Technically "excite" is a transitive verb and therefore should be followed by an object. However, I have seen other examples following similar structures as such: The little engine that could. or The ties that bind. Could it be an idiomatic…
Lieselotte
  • 1
-3
votes
1 answer

"John mentors many people" -- mentors gets flagged (spelling?)

There are many people mentored by John. I want to say "John mentors many people", but the word "mentors" gets flagged by MS Word. I can't find an example of this form of mentor. I think I'll go ahead and ignore the flag. Comments?
dcromley
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