Linking, Intransitive and Transitive Verbs

A verb is a word that denotes an action performed or a state of being. A verb is an essential part of any complete sentence. Any sentence cannot be completed without using verbs (at least one). 

A linking verb acts as an equality symbol (=) between the subject and the object in a sentence, which in most cases means that the subject itself is or becomes the object. In other cases, the object describes some quality of the subject.

Some examples of linking verbs are given below:

• Justin is my brother. (Justin = brother)

• Joe’s palm was warm. (palm = warm)

• My best friend was named the favorite to win. (friend = favorite)

A transitive verb, on the other hand, is a verb that has an object on which the action is being performed. Some examples of a transitive verb are given below:

• Father watered the garden.

• Who owns this bike?

• The cops saw the thieves before they left the building.

Intransitive verbs don’t have any objection. They are self-sufficient to describe the action or state of the subject. Some examples of the intransitive verbs are given below:

• We walked for days. ("for days" is a prepositional phrase)

• The children shouted loudly ("loudly" is an adverb)

• The meeting is on time for once. ("on time" and "for once" are prepositional phrases)

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Linking Verbs

Linking verbs establish the relationship between the subject and the remaining part of the sentence. They link the subject to the subject’s complement which may be its equivalent, quality or its replacement keyword. The linking verb which is most frequently used is “to be”.

Examples of Linking Verbs

• The sky seems clear.

"clear" describes the agent or subject "sky" however it doesn’t tell us about an action performed by the main subject, i.e., “the sky”.

• He is an engineer of industrial equipment.

Although the keyword “engineer” describes the ‘what’ of the sentence, the verb does not describe any action performed by the subject towards the object; “engineer”. Instead, it is denoting a state of being. Hence, we must not consider this as an example of a transitive verb as it links the subject (he) with his state of being (engineer).

It is, however, a very meaningful question to ask ‘what if the keyword that follows the verb gives the answer of ‘what’ in the sentence and also the verb is not the linking verb?’ Well in that condition, obviously it would be considered as a transitive verb, not a linking verb.

Let’s have a look at some of such examples to have a better hold over the concept:

• He plays the guitar as he sings.

• The boy plays well. (Now, in this example, “well” describes or complements the quality of the “boy”. Hence, “plays” links the agent; ‘boy’ to its quality; ‘well’.)

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

The detailed explanation of transitive and intransitive verbs are as follows with examples.

1. Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs are the verbs that (can) take objects. This means these verbs carry an action performed by the subject against an object. In other words, we can say, they tell us what our agent termed ‘the subject’ does to some other thing termed ‘the object’.

Eg. 

• He bought a new car.

• She comes to school every day.

• My aunt will cook food for dinner.

It is interesting to note that the transitive verbs may take the form of any tense.

Transitive verbs list of some common transitive verbs is given below: 

• Draw

• Create

• Cook

• Manufacture

• Destroy

• Synthesize

• Repair

• Play

• Prepare

Note that some of these verbs are not strictly used as transitive verbs only. Still, they fall under this category.

2. Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs are those which do not require an object to transfer or transit the action of the subject towards it. Such verbs are used to describe those actions which are not performed by an agent on some object.

Eg.

• Sophie cried.

Here, the intransitive verb "cried" is an action that is self-sufficient and doesn’t require any distinct immediate object to be performed.

Similarly,

• He moved away a little.

In the above statement, “He moved”, but ‘he’ did not move "something". Hence, there is no object in this sentence.

However, there are some verbs that can act as both transitive and intransitive verbs depending on the conditions they are used under.

Let’s look at some examples of such verbs:

• Noah dances. (intransitive)

• Jasmine dances the polka. (transitive)

From the above discussion, we can deduce a simple transitive or intransitive finder rule; ‘A verb will be called transitive if it can have an object on which the action is being performed, otherwise, it is considered to be intransitive’

Till now we have a good idea of transitive, linking, intransitive verbs. We also saw some transitive verb and intransitive verbs examples.

Types of Transitive Verb

Transitive verbs are of two types which are as follows:

1. Monotransitive Verb

The monotransitive verb is a verb that links the action of a subject to a single object only. That is the action is initiated by the subject and is terminated at a single object. Let’s try to understand this with some examples of monotransitive verbs given below:

• Jack kicked the football.

• Nancy baked a cake.

In each of the above examples, as you can see, there is a subject that performs an action completely on a single object. There are not more than one object in these sentences. While the situation of ditransitive verbs is different.

2. Ditransitive Verb

Ditransitive verbs are those which define an action performed by the subject on two distinct objects simultaneously. Let’s have a look at some examples to get a better understanding of ditransitive verbs:

• Shyam gave him a pen

• The Principal awarded him the certificate.

In both the examples above, the action is completely defined after mentioning two distinct objects in each case.

Did you Know?

• Some transitive verbs are often used intransitively. Still, these verbs (alone) fall under the category of transitive verbs. It is because transitivity is defined by the question ‘whether the verb can take action from a subject to an object?’. However, it is not necessary that they always carry action to some object wherever they are used.

Conclusion

Transitive verbs can be understood by the meaning of the word from which it is derived,i.e., ‘Transition’ (or transit). The word; transit means ‘to move’ or ‘to carry something from one place (or state) to another. Similarly, a transitive verb carries an action initiated by the subject towards the object. Intransitive verbs, however, are those verbs that describe the event or action completely without pointing towards any kind of object directly. Linking verbs simply link the subject to its quality or complement. It does not actually carry some action from the subject to the object. After reading the full article we would clearly understand the concept of transitive, linking, intransitive verbs.