English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009

Zero-complement verbs
10 Simple Verb Complements
Part 2 Verb Phrases

Verbs that take no complement are called intransitive verbs. (All zero-complement verbs are action verbs. Linking verbs are always used with a single complement.) Here are some examples of sentences with intransitive verbs:

The old cow died.

My knee hurts.

The kids are sleeping.

Most of the time we use intransitive verbs with various kinds of optional adverb expressions. For example:

The old cow finally died during the night.

My knee hurts whenever it rains.

The kids are sleeping at my cousin’s house tonight.

It is important to realize that these adverb expressions are not part of the complement. In other words, these verbs do not require these adverb expressions for the sentences to be grammatical.

Exercise 10.1

The verbs in the following sentences are in italics. If the verb is intransitive, write vi above it. If it is transitive, write vt above it. If the verb is intransitive, confirm your answer by deleting all the material that follows the verb.

1. The window broke with a loud crash.

2. The kids broke the window playing baseball.

3. The cheese sandwich finally melted in the toaster oven.

4. The leaky faucet dripped all night long.

5. The candidates for city council spoke at the meeting.

6. The football team was practicing on the athletic field.

7. My ears rang for several days after the accident.

8. The head of our company will retire at the end of next year.

9. The thin cardboard tore when I tried to bend it.

10. Only votes cast before the deadline counted in the election.

11. The committee counted the ballots.

12. Their application succeeded despite all of our misgivings.

13. Real wages have declined over the past decade.

14. The kids laughed uproariously at the cartoons.

15. The spilled milk spread slowly across the floor.