Definition of Transitive Verbs

Transitivity is a grammatical concept that may seem confusing at first glance. Once you understand the basic test for a transitive verb, the concept is really quite simple. Understanding grammatical ideas like verb transitivity can help you read and write more effectively in your everyday life.
The term "transitivity" in grammar refers to how many objects a verb must take in a given context to be meaningful. Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on context. For example, "The chef cracked" is not a meaningful sentence, because the verb does not have an object. However, both "The plate cracked," and "The chef cracked the plate" are meaningful, grammatically correct sentences.
A verb is called intransitive if it can stand alone without a direct object. Some examples of common intransitive verbs are "fall," "laugh," "sleep" and "happen." These verbs are always intransitive, because they cannot appear with a direct object. Some verbs change transitivity depending on context. As in the above example, "The plate cracked" uses an intransitive form of the verb "cracked," since it does not require an object to be meaningful.
A transitive verb requires a direct object to be grammatically correct. Some common transitive verbs are "want," "fear," "use" and "hit." These verbs nearly always require an object when they are used in a sentence.
The easiest way to check the transitivity of a verb in a particular sentence is to ask, "Verb what?" For example, upon reading "The chef cracked the plate," you could ask "Cracked what?" The answer would be "the plate." If you can answer the question, "Verb what?" then the verb is transitive. Consider, "The plate cracked." Cracked what? There is no answer, so "cracked" in this context is intransitive.
Be careful: for a verb to be called transitive, it must have a direct object. An indirect object, such as the object of a prepositional phrase, does not make a verb transitive. For example, "Sally comes to the library." The library may seem to be the object of the verb at first glance. However, there is no answer to the question "Comes what?" so the verb cannot be transitive.
It is possible for verbs to take both direct and indirect objects; these verbs are called ditransitive. For example, the verb "give." "Sally gives Jim the book." "Book" is the direct object, and answers the question "Gives what?" Jim is the indirect object, since it is the object of the implied preposition "to." If a verb has a direct object, then it is transitive regardless of whether or not an indirect object is present.

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