Examples of transitive verbs like earn that take an object and denote action, but not action really performed upon the object, are found in the following sentences.
(a) These deluded people visit fortune tellers in the hope of finding out what is to happen in the future.
(b) “He entered the street at the end opposite to the Holborn entrance.”—George Eliot.
(c) “As he approached the village, he met a number of people.”—Irving.
Action always suggests to us at first thought physical action, that accompanied by movement; but there are other kinds of action which may be told by transitive verbs.
1. Action of the mind, denoted by such verbs as believe, learn, think, remember; as, “To know anything that turns up is, in the infinity of knowledge, to know nothing.”—F. Harrison.
2. Action of the emotions, denoted by such verbs as hate, love, revere; as, “When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as he loved his life.”
3. Action of the senses, denoted by the verbs see, hear, feel, smell, taste; as, “To see a good man and hear his voice once a week would be reason enough for building churches and pulpits.”—Holmes.
Verbs of saying, like tell, remark, declare, exclaim, are followed by a direct object, usually a quotation or a noun clause telling just what was said; thus, “He cried in the bitterness of his soul that God had hid his face from him.”—Macaulay.
The verbs ask and teach are often followed by two direct objects, one of the person and the other of the thing; as, “Whoever will teach the people of New England the advantages of good food, fresh air, and sunshine, will renew the physical constitution of the race.”—J. F. Clarke. “Ask a great money-maker what he means to do with his money—he never knows.”—Ruskin.