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transitive and intransitive phrasal
verbs in English verbs in English can be
divided into two main groups transitive
verbs and intransitive verbs to start
with we will look at transitive verbs
transitive verbs require an object to
complete their meaning imagine that I
say I need the sentence is incomplete
there is information that is missing you
are probably wondering you need what you
want more information
why is the sentence incomplete
because need is a transitive verb and a
transitive verb needs an object or
something after it to complete the
sentence
the object after a transitive verb can
be a noun or a pronoun
let's add the noun dictionary
the sentence becomes I need a dictionary
now the sentence is complete and we can
understand it
we added the object a dictionary after
the transitive verb
the order is subject plus transitive
verb plus object we can see that
transitive verbs need an object after
them
transitive phrasal verbs
the same rule applies to transitive
phrasal verbs which also require an
object
if someone says I'm looking for
you would automatically think looking
for what's or looking for whom
again this sentence is incomplete
because we need an object after this
transitive verb let's say that my keys
is the object that I'm looking for I am
looking for my keys now the sentence is
clear and makes sense we needed to add
an object after the transitive verb to
make the sentence complete
more examples of transitive phrasal
verbs and sentences he's looking for his
passport his passport is the object
should put on a jacket because it's cold
outside
can you turn off the light when you
leave the room please
now look at this sentence
please take off your shoes before
entering the house the object appears
after the transitive verb as we have
seen so far however sometimes the object
goes in the middle of the transitive
phrasal verb for example please take
your shoes off before entering the house
both sentences are correct with some
phrasal verbs you can put the object in
the middle but that is not always the
case we will see more about the position
of objects with phrasal verbs in another
lesson
now let's look at intransitive verbs
intransitive verbs cannot have a direct
object after them for example I smiled
here we cannot have an object after the
intransitive verb smile you cannot smile
something this is incorrect
subject is doing the action of the verb
and nothing receives the action
an intransitive verb does not pass the
action to an object
an intransitive verb expresses an action
that is complete in itself and it
doesn't need an object to receive the
action
intransitive phrasal verbs
the same rule applies to intransitive
phrasal verbs you cannot have an object
after an intransitive phrasal verb
my car broke down on the way to work
broke down is the past tense of to break
down break down means to stop working my
car broke down is another way of saying
my car stopped working
you cannot break down something break
down is an intransitive phrasal verb so
it does not pass the action onto an
object
some more example sentences with
intransitive phrasal verbs can you sit
down please
notice you cannot sit down something
I grew up in New Zealand grew up means
to be raised as a child
I get up at 7:00 every morning
what time do you think he is going to
show up here show up means up here
some phrasal verbs can be both
transitive and intransitive
for example the phrasal verb takeoff
takeoff can be transitive in one
sentence and intransitive in another
sentence
you need to be careful sometimes the
meaning of a phrasal verb changes
depending on whether it is transitive or
intransitive
let's look at the following example
when take off is transitive it means to
remove something
when take off his intransitive it means
to leave the ground and begin to fly
he took off his tie when he got home
he took off the past tense of take off
is transitive so it needs an object in
this case his tie since there is an
object after takeoff
we know the meaning can be to remove
something so he removed his tie when he
got home
the next example the plane will take off
in ten minutes
in this case takeoff is intransitive and
has a different meaning the meaning of
leaving the ground
you can see that here there are two
different meanings or uses of takeoff
also note that the same phrasal verb for
example takeoff can have more than one
meaning yes even seven or eight
different meanings
see our lesson about the different
meanings of the phrasal verb take off
for meanings other than the ones we have
already mentioned
a good dictionary will tell you whether
a verb is transitive or intransitive
next to the verb you will usually see an
abbreviation such as VT or TR which mean
it is a transitive verb or VI or int R
when it is an intransitive verb
I hope you found this lesson about
transitive and intransitive phrasal
verbs useful if you did click like and
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