Vexing Verbs

Vexing Verbs

Verbs don’t always play fair. They’re a huge, complicated pack of words, most of which conform to a set of rules and principles governing the different forms they take. But these rules aren’t always obvious, and—wouldn’t you know it—there are also lots of outliers, irregular verbs of one sort or another that require special handling and are slippery enough to cause problems for even the most careful speakers. In this chapter, we’ll study three topics at the root of most of the common errors made with verbs: transitive vs. intransitive verbs, tenses of certain notorious irregular verbs, and the subjunctive mood.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Here’s the low-down: Transitive verbs are verbs that take a direct object in order to complete their meanings. Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object. If these terms, “transitive” and “intransitive,” seem a little opaque at first, think of it this way: The transit in “transitive” refers to the idea of being con­veyed across something, as in a city’s transit system. Similarly, transitive verbs are those in which the action of the verb is being conveyed across from the subject to the direct object that is, from the person doing the acting to the person or thing on the receiving end of the action. (If the terms “subject” and “direct object” are confusing, take a little side trip back to the Grammar Review.) Take, for example, the sentence The cat ate the canary. Here the action of eating is being conveyed across from the subject, “cat,” to the direct object, “canary.” The cat was the one doing the eating, but his action of eating was worked upon, or received by, the unfortunate canary. Thus the sense of “transit” in this transitive use of the verb “ate.”

Many verbs can be either transitive or intransitive depend­ing on the way in which they’re used in a sentence. But some verbs are transitive through and through. The verb “to bring” is one of these. It requires a direct object to complete its mean­ing, to answer the question bring what? You wouldn’t have a meaningful sentence by saying, “he brings,” but add the direct object “trouble” and you’ve got yourself a real sentence: He brings trouble.
The verb “to weep,” on the other hand, can go either way. You can say, He weeps crocodile tears, where “tears” is the direct object—the things being wept. The presence of that di­rect object means that “weep” is functioning here as a transi­tive verb. However, you can also say, He weeps at weddings, and have no direct object—there’s nothing on the receiving end of his action of weeping. In that case, the verb is function­ing in an intransitive mode. See if you can pick out the transi­tive and intransitive verbs in these sentences:

Who will take the children?
(The verb here is “take.” Is there something on the receiving end of the action that rounds out its mean­ing? Yes—the direct object is “children.” So “take” is transitive.)

Who told you that?
(The verb is “told,” but its meaning isn’t complete—we need to know what was told. So the verb is transitive, and its direct object is “that.” For the record, “you” is an indi­rect object here.)

The train runs late every day.
(The verb “runs” is intransitive in this sentence. Although we hear something more about the way the train runs, namely that it is late every day, these words are not ob­jects. They aren’t on the receiving end of the action of running. They’re describing the manner in which the train runs. It’s possible for the verb “runs” to be used transi­tively as well: She runs a restaurant downtown. Here “restaurant” is a direct object.)

She is harboring a fugitive.
(The verb “harboring” is transitive; the direct object is “fugitive.”)

The diva was unbearably self-indulgent.
(The verb “was” is a linking verb, and thus is neither transitive or intransitive: It takes a complement rather than a direct object.)

Now that you’re getting the hang of this, let’s look at two common errors caused by the confusing use of transitive and intransitive verbs.