Brighter Grammar 1 - Margaret Macaulay 1987

Lesson Twelve. The object of a verb

If I said to you,

’The dog killed.

He killed yesterday,’ or ’This shopkeeper sells’, you would be puzzled. You would say, ’Go on. Finish the sentence. Tell us what the shopkeeper sells. Tell us what the dog killed. Those verbs sell and kill don’t make sense by themselves. You must put something after them to make sense.’

So I say,

’This shopkeeper ’The dog killed a rat.

sells bicycles.’  He killed it yesterday.’

’Oh yes,’ you say at once, ’that makes sense.’

The word bicycles is the object of the verb sell.

The words a rat and it are the objects of the verb kill.

The object of a verb is a noun or pronoun which tells us the person or thing that the action of the verb happened to. The object is the ’receiver’ of the action.

We found the subject of the sentence by saying the question word who? (or what?) before the verb (Lesson 11). We can find the object by saying the question word what? (or who(m)?) after the verb.

Who? / What? —> verb = subject

verb —> what? = object

To find the subject and object of this sentence: The shopkeeper sells bicycles.

Who -> sells?  = The shopkeeper (subject)

sells—> what? = bicycles (object)

Here are some more examples:

The rat bit the dog.

What —> bit?   = The rat (subject)

bit —> what?   = the dog (object)

The dog killed the rat.

What → killed? = The dog (subject)

killed —> what? = the rat (object)

Transitive Verbs

Verbs that have an object (some verbs don’t) are transitive verbs. ’Transitive’ comes from a Latin word that means ’going over’. The action of killing ’goes over’ from the dog to the rat. The action of selling ’goes over’ from the shopkeeper to the bicycles.

In the sentence The rat bit the dog, the action of biting goes from the rat to the dog. The rat is the ’doer’ of the action; the dog is the ’receiver’ of the action. In the sentence The dog killed the rat, the action of killing goes from the dog to the rat. The dog is the ’doer’ of the action; the rat is the ’receiver’ of the action. Both sentences have objects: the verbs bite and kill are transitive verbs.

Verbs that take objects are called transitive verbs.

Intransitive Verbs

But there are some verbs that don’t have objects, because sometimes the action doesn’t ’go over’ from one person or thing to another person or thing. Consider these sentences for example:

The dog growled.

The rat died.

The action of growling starts and ends with the dog. It doesn’t ’go over’ to anything else. The action of dying begins and ends with the rat.

If you say, growled what?, died what?, you can’t get a sensible answer. These verbs don’t have an object. They are intransitive verbs.

Verbs that don’t take objects are called intransitive verbs.

Exercises

A Pick out the objects in these sentences.

1 Cows eat grass.

2 Richard cut his finger.

3 The teacher taught his class.

4 John read a book.

5 Margaret sang a song.

6 The pupils read their books.

7 The policeman caught the thief.

8 Mr Brown bought a car.

9 The train left the station.

10 A supermarket sells tea.

11 We play football.

12 George ate an apple.

13 My mother cooked the dinner.

14 My sister opened the door.

15 The men have finished their work.

16 Eric Lee has scored a goal.

17 Henry is writing a letter.

18 Who rang the bell?

19 Have you seen my new bicycle? (The verb is have seen.)

20 Can you open this box?

В Pick out the subjects and the objects of the verbs in the following sentences. Remember the plan:

Who? / What? verb = subject

verb —> what? = object

Draw three columns and write the subject, verb and object of each sentence in the correct column. We have filled in the first sentence for you.

1 The medicine cured my headache.

2 The woodcutter lost his old axe.

3 The old gentleman saw a little boy.

4 The boy couldn’t read his book.

5 Henry wrote a letter.

6 That man has written a book.

7 The girls sang songs.

8 Henry has bought a football.

9 The woodcutter was cutting a piece of wood.

10 The Duke of Wellington wanted a farm.

11 The agent paid £30,000.

12 The Duke sent £10,000.

13 The farmer didn’t have money.

14 The farmer grows potatoes and corn.

15 Henry ate an apple and an orange.

16 The teacher marked all our exercises.

17 At the farm I saw some cows, sheep and horses.

18 The cows, sheep and horses ate a lot of grass.

19 The poor woodcutter saw a beautiful fairy.

20 In her hand she held a gold axe.

C Pick out the verbs in the following sentences. Put the transitive verbs in one column and the intransitive verbs in another column. We have done the first two verbs for you.

1 The little boy hurt his foot.

2 He cried bitterly.

3 The sun is shining.

4 The boys saw the football match.

5 Richard slept until nine o’clock.

6 Cotton grows in Egypt.

7 The children fed the animals.

8 The train started.

9 Birds fly.

10 George is working hard.

11 We live in Bridgetown.

12 The water is boiling.

13 Clouds are passing across the sky.

14 The boys like their lessons.

15 The butcher sells meat.

16 The farmer’s wife went to the dairy.

17 Wood burns easily.

18 The children are sitting still at their desks.

19 Please give me those flowers.

20 I will go to Hong Kong next week.

D Read this short story.

The joke

Sir William Thompson was very deaf, but he always pre­tended that he could hear everything. One evening he invited several friends to dinner. While they were sitting at the table, one of the friends told a funny story. Everyone laughed. William laughed very loudly too. Then he said, ’That was a very funny joke, but I know a funnier one. Would you like to hear it?’ They all said they would, so William began his story. When it ended, everyone laughed louder than before. William smiled happily. But he didn’t know the reason for their laughter. He had told the same story.

Ten of the verbs in that story are printed in italics. Draw four columns like this in your exercise book.

Write in column 2 each of the verbs in italics. Write the subject of each verb in column 1. Write the object (if there is one) in column 3. And in column 4 put T if the verb is transitive, or I if it is intransitive. We have filled in the columns for the first verb for you.

The complement

’That man is’ isn’t a complete sentence. It needs something to make it complete. Perhaps: ’That man is a detective.’ We say that detective is not an object of is. The man doesn't do anything to the detective. He is the detective: man = detective. We give a special name to words or phrases which complete a sentence after verbs like be, seem, become. They are complements.

E Complete these sentences by adding a complement.

Example: The teacher’s mother seems ... .

Answer: The teacher’s mother seems old.

1 Anne Carter is ... .

2 She was ..., but now she is ... .

3 Today is ..., and tomorrow will be ... .

4 That old lady feeds the birds. She seems ... .

5 Mary was ..., but she has become ... .

6 Is your brother________ ..., or is he ...?