Question

How do you differentiate a linking verb, a transitive verb and an intransitive verb? I am having trouble in determining the difference.

Answer 1

Hint: A verb is a word that describes an action being taken place in a sentence by a subject. In simpler words, a verb is an action word. Example: Mary ran all the way to her school. In the given sentence, the verb ‘ran’ describes the action by Mary. We will see the difference between the different types of verbs.

Complete answer:
Let us see the difference between linking verb, transitive verb and intransitive verb by discussing briefly about them.
Linking verbs have no object. They simply link two parts. They link the subject to a noun or an adjective. Example:- Simon is a pilot. Linking verbs makes no sense if they are alone. They need a subject to add meaning to them. Example:- be.

Transitive verbs are the verbs that have an object. Their action is transferred from the subject to the object. Transitive verbs can be both active or passive. Some transitive verbs have one object, while some have two objects. Example:- He kicked the ball.

Intransitive verbs are without an object. Their action is not transferred from the subject to something else.
Example:- She cried.
                   He fainted.
                   Our car broke down.
Intransitive verbs make sense even when they are alone.
Example:- ran.

Note:All verbs in a sentence have a subject that is, the person or thing that "does" the action. The real difference between linking, intransitive and transitive verbs lies in the fact that whether or not they have an object that is, the person or thing that "gets" the action.