Transitive/Intransitive Verbs

Verbs which are always transitive:

Dedicated Transitive Verbs
admire give owe
afford greet pick
allow have prefer
blame hit prove
bring inform put
buy interest question
contain lend remind
cost let rent
cut like rob
deny love select
enjoy make send
examine mean show
excuse name take
fetch need teach
fix offer want
get omit wrap

Example sentences with transitive verbs.

Remember: Transitive verbs are followed by an object.

Examples:

  • She always likes him.
  • He could only lend me a dollar.
  • The whole family kept money under the mattress.
  • The palmist taught me to read palms. 
  • The professor wrote an encyclopedia on astrology. 

Verbs that are always intransitive:

Dedicated Intransitive Verbs
abound faint rain
ache fall remain
agree gallop respond
appear go rise
arrive hesitate sit
become laugh sleep
bloom lie* smile
come linger sneeze
cough live stand
cry look swim
dance occur talk
die pause thrive
exist pray yawn

 * lie (lied), lie (lay/lain)

Example sentences with intransitive verbs.

Intransitive verbs do not take an object. Instead of an object, the verbs are typically followed by a phrase as the following examples show.

Examples:

  • His back garden abounds with weeds.

    (Weeds is not an object; with weeds is a prepositional phrase.)

  • They arrive at the airport as the sun rises.  .

    (At the airport is a prepositional phrase. The two verbs arrive and rises do not need to have an object.)

  • While the parents are praying, the baby is crying.

    (No need for an object.)

  • I yawned and then he yawned.

    (No need for an object.)

Verbs that are transitive/intransitive:

Both Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
answer help read
ask hurry refuse
begin jump see
borrow know sell
choose leave sing
climb marry tell
dance meet touch
eat obey walk
enter pay wash
fail play watch
fill promise win
grow pull write

Example sentences showing same verbs that can be transitive and intransitive.   

Examples:

  • She left the house early. (Transitive)
  • She left early. (Intransitive) 
  • He borrowed some money from his mother.(Transitive)
  • He borrowed heavily from his father. (Intransitive)
  • My mother passed me in the hallway without looking at me. (Transitive)
  • All of us looked up as an UFO passed overhead. (Intransitive) 
  • The parents sold the house to their son. (Transitive)
  • Their pet monkey was sold cheap to a friend. (Intransitive)
  • He told us a few short stories. (Transitive)
  • You need to eat less, or you might put on weight—you never can tell. (Intransitive)
  • She walked three puppies once a day. (Transitive)
  • She walked into the wrong office in the office building. (Intransitive)