Verb Type?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

The decision involved high risk.

Is the Verb here intransitive or transitive?

2

Hi,

The verb ‘involve’ is a transitive verb since there is no preposition before the objective.

Justin

3

Justin, intransitive verbs don’t have any objects (not objectives). Please look at this example: The sun rises in the morning. So, involved is transitive because it’s followed by the object ‘high risk’.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, question-response: How soon can you finish taking inventory?[YSaerTTEW443543]

4

Hi Torsten,
Yes, your explanation is absolutely correct in terms of grammar. But what I tried to explain was that, for someone like me who didn’t study English grammar so hard, it is sometimes not so easy to distinguish an object from a complement, let alone transitive or intransitive verbs.

For example:

  1. Mom talked me to sleep.
  2. They talked about me.

Some people might mistakenly regard ‘me’ as an ‘object’ of the verb in the 2nd example and thereby mistakenly regard the verb as a transitive verb.
I’m not sure if there are any methods that we can use for identifying complements in sentences.

Justin

5

The question you have to ask yourself is what a particular word does in a sentence. In your sentence (1) ‘me’ is the object of the verb ‘talked’. You could say: She talked. In that sentence the verb has no object and is complete. If you said: He became king, the word ‘king’ is the noun complement because ‘became’ on its own isn’t complete. You have to complete the sentence with the word ‘king’. In sentence (2) we know by its form that ‘me’ is an object because we also know that ‘I’ is a subject but in sentence (2) ‘me’ is not the object of the verb but of the preposition ‘about’.

Alan

6

Alan/Beeesneees/Dozy,

  1. They talked(iv) about me.
  2. He became(tv) king(O).
    Are my observations correct?
    Note:
    tv = transitive verb
    iv = intransitive verb
    O = object
7

Could anyone help me?

8

I am still awaiting for answer.
Why I am finding so much difficulty to get answer?
Please help.
Thanks.

9

T_H_Lawrence,
Please help me.
Thanks.

10

Allifathima,

Over the last couple of years you have posted thousands of questions on these forums and in many cases demanded an answer when one didn’t come immediately. Probably your most loyal respondent has been Bev, who has patiently answered many of your questions. I feel you would get a far better response if you didn’t express your irritation while waiting for an answer.

11

Alan,
Sorry for expressing such words that you consider showing irritation.
I need your leaned guidance only.
Thanks.

12

Beeesneees,
Please pardon me if my words hurt you.
I am expecting your esteemed reply very soon.

  1. They talked(iv) about me.
  2. He became(tv) king(O).
    Are my observations correct?
    Note:
    tv = transitive verb
    iv = intransitive verb
    O = object
    Thanks.
13

Yes, you are right.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, question-response: How about catching a movie after work?[YSaerTTEW443543]

14

“He is a king.”
In this sentence ‘is’ is a linking verb.
“He became(lv) king(O).”
Could anyone claim that ‘became’ is a linking verb here?
Do you say that no linking verb can take object?
Please exemplify. Thanks.

15

According to Alan she is not right if you consider the following post. I also join Alan.

  1. They talked (tv) about me.
  2. He became(iv) king.

(‘Become’, like ‘Be’ is treated as a stative verb, so it is intransitive)

16

The sentence ‘he became’ doesn’t make sense so ‘become’ clearly is a transitive verb which requires an object.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, question-response: How many copies of the report do you need?[YSaerTTEW443543]

17

She becomes(lv) beautiful(adj).
He became(lv) king(n).
He is(lv) a king.
Are my observations correct or not?
Can a linking verb follow a noun or not?
Since I am confused, I request Beeesneees or Alan to explain so that my confusion gets cleared.
Thanks.