Verb Classification

My sister broke the window .

My father cried.

Transitive intransitive

Transitive verb :Is the verb that is followed by a noun or pronoun that tells who or what Received the action of that verb. That noun or pronoun is called the Object.

Here are some more examples of transitive verbs with their objects:

I sold some books.I took the bus.I understood her question.I wrote a letter.

 

Intransitive verb:Are verbs that do not have objects. This means that the verb doesn't need more than the subject to fulfill the meaning.

Here are some more examples of intransitive verbs:

I slept.My cat ran.The sun rose.

•  

Hala is a nice girl

is = verbnice = adjectiveis = intransitive because it is followed by an adjective and not a noun 

• A ditransitive verb is a verb which takes a subject and two objects. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary.

Ditransitive verb.

Another definition, A ditransitive verb is a type of verb that requires both a direct object and an indirect object in the sentence with it in order for the meaning of the sentence to be complete. This type of verb is typically used when something is being given or exchanged between two or more parties, as the something is the direct object and the receiver is the indirect object EG: Ahmed gave the students an exam

An exam is the direct object, what he gave, and ’the students ' is the indirect object, the person he gave it to.

s

NP

N

Ahmed

VP

V{ditanstiv

e}

gave

NP

DET

the

N

Students

NP

DET

an

N

Exam

Tree diagram

This sentence can be also written

Ahmed gave an exam to the students

(to ) is a preposition in this example it has joined with NP the students to form PP. The PP here is function as io

What are some Common Ditransitive Verbs?• Ask• Tell• Offer• Buy• Show• Send• give

Others include assign, bet, bring, cost, do, feed, find, get, lend, owe, pass, pay, play (e.g., She played him a song), promise, serve (e.g., He served us dinner), teach, throw, wish, write.

Ditransitive verbs can be made passive:The passive forms of ditransitive verbs move one object into the subject position and leave the other in the original place. Usually, however, it is the indirect rather than the direct object that is moved.The students were given an exam by Ahmed.

Complex-transitive verb Another class of verb is the complex-transitive verb

Definition

A verb that requires both a direct object and another object or an object complement.  Complex transitive verbs have a direct object and a complement (a word or phrase that says something about the direct object.) They have painted their house purple. (complement)I will prove you wrong. 

The complement relates to the object, not the subject.The complement is therefore an OBJECT COMPLEMENT and the shorthand version is oC. 

Types: 

A further type takes both a nominal and a prepositional complement.Ex: Percy placed the penguin on the podium Other verbs take adjectival or adverbial complements.Ex: the judge looked mean.the pianist performed passionately.

Observations:  

Elena Kagan clerked for Thurgood Marshall and has long considered him a hero. When the Congress unanimously elected George Washington president, he accepted reluctantly.

Intensive Verbs We use intensive verbs to describe the subject. Intensive verbs are also called copular verbs, are usually followed by a noun or a noun phrase, an adjective or a prepositional phrase. Intensive means to focus on one thing; in this case, the subject. The words or phrases following an intensive verb work as the subject complement. This means they apply to the subject, not the verb.Examples:

“Rose is a student” – The focus of this sentence is Rose and what she is.“Tomas looks very young for his age” - The focus of this sentence is Tomas and what he looks like.

Prepositional verb Examples : against, , below, , beside, but (when it means except), by, down, , out, since, through, , toward, under, until, , within … etc .  

Prepositional verbs are a group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another word or words. Many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. This is a distinction between three types of multi-word verbs: prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs.

Prepositional verbs are made of:verb + prepositionBecause a preposition always has an object, all prepositional verbs have direct objects. Here are some examples of prepositional verbs:

Prepositional verbs cannot be separated. That means that we cannot put the direct object between the two parts. For example, we must say "look after the baby". We cannot say "look the baby after":