Gram-Monst addresses intransitive verbs.

I do not see transitive verbs addressed specifically.

Did I miss them?

This mental block hurts my foreign language studies.

The difference seems unclear.

A comparison/contrast example please

GDZ

Both are covered under Intransitive Verbs.

Briefly:

Transitive verbs take a direct object.
Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object.

The easiest way to tell which is which is to simply work out whether you need anything else after the verb.

If I simply state 'I cut', you'll ask me 'What did you cut?' You're asking me to provide the 'direct object'. I can't use 'I cut' without adding it. For example: 'I cut MY HAIR'. Therefore 'cut' is a transitive verb.

If I state 'I yawned', it makes no sense for you to ask me 'What did you yawn'. Therefore 'yawn' is an intransitive verb.

There are some verbs that can be transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used. In other words they make sense whether or not you have to ask the 'What?' question.

'I walked.' Transitive verb.
'I walked the dog.' Intransitive verb.

Hi everyone,

I wonder about the case of Intransitive Verb + prep + Object.
ex: We proceeded with our work.
He insisted on the freshest products...
In the book Toeic Icon, "proceed with, insist on" are grouped in Intransitive Verbs, though they "look like Transitive verbs in form, but they are strictly intransitive in nature". Now I'm confused. What is intransitive nature??

I did research the words on Oxford dictionary, and they are still labeled with "No object". I really don't understand why aren't they grouped in Transitive verbs, because they have Object?

Can anyone please help me explain this case? Thanks very much for your help.

Your confusion arises from the fact that the objects in your examples are not the direct objects of the verbs "proceed" and "insist", but the objects of the prepositions; there is a fundamental and important distinction to be made. You can't 'proceed' something, or 'insist' something.

PaulM

Thanks very much, but I'm still confused. How to know that they are the direct objects of the Verbs or the prepositions?

For example, in the case of "go", "go to/past/over" + Noun, I can understand that these prepositions indicate the directions, and therefore "go" is intransitive. However, "proceed" and "insist" seem to go with only one fixed preposition. furthermore, I think we can ask "What did he insist on?", then "freshest products" is the object of Verb phrase "insist on"?

Hi Zoe,

The simple answer is that if the noun follows a preposition, then the verb is intransitive, but if it follows a verb, then the verb is transitive.

In the case of "proceed" and "insist", it is true that these verbs select certain preps. "Proceed" selects "with" and "to", and "insist" selects "on". But that's not important here. What is important to remember is that a noun can only be the object of one word (a verb or a prep), never two.

In your example, "What did he insist on"?, the answer is "He insisted ON the freshest products", NOT "He insisted freshest products". Can you see the difference?

PaulM

Hi Paul,

Consider that they are intransitive Verbs, then, can they be turned into Passive Voice? As I know, Intransitive Verbs can't be turned into Passive Voice as they don't have objects. However, I still find the example of passive Voice for these Verbs.

ex:
- the Royal Navy is referred to as the Senior Service. (from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/refer)

Hi Zoe

"Refer" is indeed an intransitive verb when it means 'mention' or 'allude to', but it's one of those verbs that selects a specified preposition and is thus called a 'prepositional verb'. In such cases, a construction called a prepositional passive is often possible. Consider:

*"Ed referred his book". ~ *"His book referred by Ed".
"Ed referred to his book". ~ "His book was referred to by Ed".

* = ungrammatical

So your example is fine:

"Most people refer to the Royal Navy as the senior service". (active clause)
"The Royal Navy is referred to as the Senior Service by most people". (passive clause)


PaulM