If you added a direct object to the sentence, such as “Michael smiled me,” it doesn’t make sense. In this sentence, smiled only describes what Michael did. In general, intransitive verbs only describe something the subject of the sentence does, but not something that happens to someone or something else. Intransitive verbs are action verbs that don't act upon another noun or pronoun in the sentence. These action verbs are transitive verbs because they directly affect things and people around them. In each of the sentences above, the verbs are immediately followed by a direct object that receives the action. Ellie married a guy with a black belt in karate.Why did your grandmother call my house? (What did she call?).Jonathan chose me to be his best friend.John is the direct object of the sentence and is the person being poked.īelow are additional examples of transitive verbs in action. In this sentence, poked is a transitive verb that transfers the action of poking directly to John. The direct object answers the question “What?” or “Who?” to the verb in the sentence. These verbs are coupled with a direct object, or the thing that is acted upon.

Transitive verbs are action verbs that show what the subject is doing to another object. Too many linking verbs instead of action verbs can make your writing sound boring. The action verbs make the sentences more interesting to read because the subjects are doing something specific. In the first sentences, the linking verbs connect the subjects with the rest of the sentence, but the subjects don’t actually perform an action. Ron and his girlfriend hugged affectionately.The kids smelled the cookies baking in the kitchen.I frowned at my appearance in the mirror.For example, compare the pairs of sentences below. As you can see, action and linking verbs have unique purposes. This is fundamentally different from linking verbs, also known as helping verbs, which establish a connection between words.

As their name suggests, action verbs create drama and movement in a sentence by showing what the subject is doing.

Actio verbs