Explanation
Intransitive Verbs express the action that is taken by something or somebody upon itself; without any object. Intransitive Verbs doesn’t need an object to take action, unlike in Transitive Verbs where an object is required. Intransitive Verbs are not complemented by an Object.
Go through the sentences given below-
> He smiled.
> Rocky cried loud.
> My dog ran.
> I was sleeping.
> He is talking.
> The plane is flying.
> The car is moving.
> The deer jumped.
The verbs in the above sentences- smiled, cried, ran, sleeping, talking, flying, moving and jumped are all the actions which the Subjects (He, Rocky, My dog etc) have taken upon themselves; but not on any other object as is the case with Transitive Verbs.
It can thus be said that the Intransitive Verbs don’t need an Object to complement them.
An Intransitive Verb is the Verb that doesn’t take a Direct Object to complement itself. The most important characteristics of a Intransitive Verbs are, firstly- it is an action verb expressing self achievable activities (walking, sleeping, flying etc) and secondly, it doesn’t need an Direct Object to take action upon; unlike the Transitive Verbs.
In an Intransitive Verb sentence there is no Object which receives the action; while it may be continued with a phrase or words. Such words or phrases only answer the question, How?
Go through the below sentences-
In the sentence the verb- ‘slept’ is Intransitive as it doesn’t act upon an object, but upon the Subject itself. Though, it is followed by a phrase-‘very well’, it only tells us how the sleep was.
‘The car’ is the subject; ‘moved’ is the Intransitive Verb and ‘fast’ is an adverb (adverb of manner)
Below given is a list of commonly used Intransitive Verbs followed by Example Sentences-
Arrive, sleep, walk, talk, collapse, fly, swim, go, inquire, knock, revolt, laugh, look, lie, last, fallen, out, sneeze, proved, rise, voted, subside, recede, ache, deteriorating, improving, departed, demonstrated, increased, decreased, quickly, slowly, disappear, emerge, remain, respond, stay etc.
Some More Example Sentences
Below we will go through some more example sentences having Intransitive Verbs. The Verbs may be complimented by an adverb or a phrase but they do not have a Direct Object; that is, the Subject takes the action of the verb upon itself.
All the above sentences don’t have a Direct Object and the action is taken by the subject upon itself. Therefore, the verbs are Intransitive.
Some Verbs can be Transitive as well as Intransitive, depending on the situation. For some statements these verbs may require an object and for some situations they don’t. Go through the below sentences-
Following is the list of the verbs that can be used both as Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs-
Agree, run, walk, stand, collide, cheered, visited, tripped, sang etc.
We will go through Example sentences using the above Verbs as both Transitive and Intransitive.
True or False Exercises/Worksheet/Activities on Intransitive Verbs with Answers:
State whether the given statements are True or False and verify your answer with the answer provided in the end of the exercise.
1) Intransitive Verbs are opposite of Transitive Verbs. (Ex- sit, stand; sleep, awake etc)
2) Intransitive Verbs don’t require a Direct Object to take the action.
3) Intransitive verbs express the self action taken by the Subject.
4) Some Intransitive Verbs can be used as Transitive Verbs, depending on the situation.
5) For the phrase- “He moved”. Choose the correct statement.
6) In the statement – “He moved the chair”; choose the correct statement
7) Intransitive Verbs are non action verbs.
8)’Walk’ can be used both as Transitive and Intransitive verb
9) Every Transitive verb can be used as Intransitive Verb and vice versa.
10) In the sentence- ‘Oliver drove fast’
a)’ drove’ is Intransitive
Answers- 1)b, 2)a, 3)a, 4)a, 5)a, 6)a,b, 7)b, 8)a, 9)b, 10)a
MCQ Exercises/Worksheets/Activities on Transitive Verbs with Answers:
Choose the correct answer from the choices given with every question. Read the question and the sentences given carefully and choose the correct options. It should be kept in mind that the Intransitive Verbs are always Action Verbs and don’t refer to any object. Check your Answers with the answers provided in the end of the exercise.
1) In the sentence –‘He cried for hours’
2) In the statement- ‘Audience laughed loudly’
3) In the statement ‘The prediction proved false’
4) In the statement- ‘The man called the police’
5) In the sentence- ‘Oliver is reading’
6) ‘He is sleeping’
7) In the sentence- ‘The teacher is teaching’.
8) In the sentence-‘The rain subsided’.
9) In the sentence-‘The storm disappeared’.
10) ‘She looked happy’
Answers- 1)a, 2)b,c, 3)b, 4)b, 5)b, 6)a, 7)b, 8)a, 9)b, 10)b
Transitive And Intransitive Verbs MCQ Exercises/Worksheets/Activities With Answers:
Determine whether the verbs in the following sentences are Transitive or Intransitive.
1) My teacher told me to listen.
2) Let us call him for the picnic.
3) She walked for a mile.
4) He received the courier today.
5) The plane landed safely.
6) He is going to give her some money.
7) In the sentence in question no 6
8) She has travelled a lot since her transfer.
9) Immediately the meeting was called off.
10) His behavior confused her.
11) Let him play football.
12) She baked a delicious cake.
13) Will you lend me some money?
14) She walked to school.
15) She walked the dog to school.
16) He reads a book every weekend.
17) Batsman hit the ball.
18) The boys left.
19) The boys left the door opened.
20) The watchman screamed.
21) Low temperature freezes water.
22) Water freezes in low temperature.
23) The rider stopped the horse.
24) The horse stopped suddenly.
25) She should sing the song.
26) He should walk frequently.
27) The children are playing cricket.
28) The ships are sailing in the water.
29) The pilot flew a big airplane.
30) The earthquake collapsed the building.
31) The building collapsed due to earthquake.
Answers– 1)a, 2)a, 3)b, 4)a, 5)b, 6)a, 7)a,b, 8)b, 9)b, 10)a, 11)a, 12)a, 13)a, 14)b, 15)a, 16)a, 17)a, 18)b, 19)a, 20)b, 21)a, 22)b, 23)a, 24)b, 25)a, 26)b, 27)a, 28)b, 29)a, 30)a, 31)b
1) ‘me’ is the direct object; ‘told’ is the Transitive Verb.
2) ‘him’ is the Direct Object; ‘call’ is the Transitive Verb.
3) There is no Direct Object, so ‘walked’ is the Intransitive Verb.
4) ‘Courier’ is the direct Object so ‘received’ is the Transitive Verb.
5) There is no Direct Object and the verb is performed by the Subject itself; so ‘landed’ is Intransitive Verb.
6) ‘Money’ is the Direct Object so ‘give’ is the Transitive Verb.
7) The verb ’give’ is acted upon the direct Object i.e. money and ‘her’ is the Indirect Object.
8) There is no Direct Object so ‘travelled’ is Intransitive Verb.
9) ‘called off’ is Intransitive verb as there is no Direct Object.
10) ‘Her’ is the Direct Object and ‘confused’ is the Transitive Verb.
11) ‘Play’ is the Transitive Verb because ‘football’ is the Direct Object.
12) ‘Baked’ is the Transitive Verb and ‘cake’ is the direct Object
13) ‘Lend’ is Transitive Verb and ‘me’ is the Direct Object.
14) Since there is no Direct Object, ‘walked’ is Intransitive Verb.
15) Since ‘dog’ is the Direct Object so ‘walked’ becomes Transitive Verb.
16) Read- Transitive Verb; Book- Direct Object.
17) Hit- Transitive Verb, Ball- Direct Object.
18) Boys- Intransitive Verb as there is no Direct Object.
19) Left- Transitive Verb; the door- direct Object.
20) Screamed- Intransitive Verb.
21) ‘Water’ is the Direct subject and ‘Freezes’ is Transitive Verb.
22) The verb is being acted upon the subject itself- water. No direct subject; therefore, ‘freezes’ becomes Intransitive Verb’.
23) ‘Stopped’- Transitive Verb; ‘Horse’- Direct Object.
24) Intransitive Verb- Stopped.
25) Transitive Verb- sing, Direct Object- song.
26) Intransitive Verb- walk.
27) Transitive Verb- playing; Direct Object- cricket.
28) Intransitive Verb- sailing.
29) Transitive Verb- flew; Direct Object- big airplane.
30) Transitive Verb- collapsed; Direct Object- the building.
31) Intransitive Verb- collapsed.
Related Information:
Verb
Regular Verb
Irregular Verb
Subject-Verb Agreement
Modal Auxiliary Verbs
Transitive Verbs
Nonfinite Verb
Finite Verb
Stative Verb
Dynamic Verb
Auxiliary Verb
Lexical Verb