A verb is transitive when it needs an object to complete its meaning; that is, when the action passes over (Latin, transire, to pass over) from the subject or doer to the object or receiver; as,
He hit the ball.
A verb is intransitive when it needs no object to complete its meaning; as,
The crowd cheered.
Some intransitive verbs require a predicate noun or pronoun in the nominative case, or an adjective, to complete their meaning. They are the verbs be, become, appear, seem, feel, taste, look, smell; as,
| Adjective: The berries taste sour. |
| Noun: John is my brother. |
| Pronoun: It is I. |
Such verbs are sometimes called copulatives.
Exercise 98
Tell whether each verb in the following sentences is transitive or intransitive and whether it is followed by a noun or a pronoun in the nominative or the objective case or by a complementary adjective.
1. Primitive people have left traces of very early commercial relations.