The Verb Story

Chapter 1: Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

One day, little Sammy was reading a copy of the Prentice Hall Writing Coach. He opened up to a page and read from it “Action Verbs.” He read it like a fiend, and went to tell his friend what he had learned.

He said to his friend, Billy, “An action verb is a verb that tells what action someone or something is performing”

“Obviously,” Billy said in a plain tone.

“Here’s and example: ‘Jennifer pulled the rope.’ The verb ‘pulled’ explains what Jennifer is doing to the rope.”

“Great,” Billy said without really meaning to.

“It is! Also, a transitive verb is a verb that has a direct object!”

“Wow,” Billy said unenthusiastically.

“And an intransitive verb is a verb without a direct object!”

“Fabulous” Billy said in a dull monotone voice.

“For example, ‘Susan was an undercover spy.’ The verb is ‘was,’ and ‘spy’ is the direct object of ‘was,’ but I bet you already knew that.” Before Billy could reply, Sammy continued, “So, because there is a direct object, the verb ‘was’ is a transitive verb.”

“O-k-a-y,” Billy said slowly as he exhaled.

“Now for an example in intransitive verbs,” Sammy continued completely oblivious to Billy’s boredom. “‘Paul cried into his pillow.’ ‘Cried’ is the verb and since ‘pillow’ follows the preposition ‘into,’ it is the object of a preposition rather that a direct object. Therefore, there is no direct object, making ‘cried’ an intransitive verb.

After Sammy had left, Billy remarked, “That kid ain’t right in the head.”