What does 'transitive' mean?

Answer 1

A transitive verb is an action or linking verb that has a complement.

Dictionaries consider all linking verbs transitive. An action verb which is transitive has a direct object. The action is being done to something or someone.

In most dictionaries the abbreviation v.t. means "verb, transitive."

Most verbs can be both intransitive and transitive depending on the sentence.

Intransitive: He runs around the block daily. (There is no direct object.) Transitive: He runs a large corporation. (The verb runs has a direct object, corporation.)

Answer

A transitive verb is one that takes an object. A verb that doesn't have an object is intransitive. Some verbs are transitive, some are intransitive, and some can be either one, depending on how they're used.

For example: "The boy spent all afternoon digging. When he was done he'd dug a hole half way to China."

The verb in the first sentence, "digging," is intransitive. It has no object because the sentence doesn't tell you what was being dug. In the second sentence, the verb "dug," is transitive, because it has an object. What did the boy dig? He dug a hole. "Hole" is the object.