It's almost a holiday, so I figured we'd take it easy on the grammar lesson this week. Here's a silly video that talks about basic grammar mistakes people make all the time, especially on the Internet. One of my personal pet peeves is saying literally too often and in the wrong context. This video covers that and has a "Princess Bride" reference. What's not to love?
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Back with more on transitive and intransitive verbs.
Remember from last week: if a verb is transitive, it means that the verb carries action from the subject across to an object. (Subject + Action + Object) And a verb is either transitive or intransitive depending on how it's used in the sentence. A pattern for a sentence with an intransitive verb is: Action + Action (Subject + Verb) For example: Susan applied makeup. (Transitive) The milkshake melted. (Intransitive) In the first sentence, the subject is Susan, who is doing what? She's putting on makeup. So the pattern is: Subject + Verb + Direct Object, which makes the verb transitive. But in the second sentence, the pattern is Subject + Verb (milkshake + melted), which makes it intransitive. Tip: Whether a verb is regular or irregular has no effect on its being transitive or intransitive. Here's a little exercise, to see if this all makes sense. Think of a short sample sentence for each of the following verbs, and decide whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. See the answers in the post below. Tip: Some verbs are both. 1. built 2. grow 3. rise 4. buy 5. say 6. make 7. sleep 8. is 9. whistle 10. know We'll talk more next week on subjective complements. Here are the answers to the exercise above:
1. built (Transitive) 2. grow (Transitive or Intransitive) 3. rise (Intransitive) 4. buy (Transitive or Intransitive) 5. say (Transitive) 6. make (Transitive) 7. sleep (Intransitive except in "slept a good sleep.) 8. is (Intransitive) 9. whistle (Transitive or Intransitive) 10. know (Transitive or Intransitive) Finding the complement
To identify the complement do the following:
There are two types of complements: direct objects and subjective complements. Direct Objects In a sentence such as "Terry hit the jackpot," the verb hit carries the action across from the subject Terry, to its complement, jackpot. Because it receives the action, a word used as this kind of complement is a direct object. As used here, hit is called a transitive verb, from the Latin root trans- meaning across to an object. A transitive verb carries the action from the subject across to an object. You find the same sense of across in other words, such as transport, transfer and transatlantic. But not all verge race direct objects. Those that don't are intransitive verbs. The in- means they don't carry action to a complement. The pattern for a sentence with an intransitive verb is: Actor + Action (Subject + Verb) Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive depending on their used in a sentence. Consider the following: • Charlie burned the bacon. (transitive) The bonfire burned. (intransitive) • The soloist played the flute. (transitive) Chipmunks play. (intransitive) • The puppy burst the balloon. (transitive) The bubble burst. (intransitive) More on complements next week. |
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