Talk:Intransitive verb

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[edit] Countering Systemic Bias

This page is written entirely based on English. A lot of things could and should be said about intransitive verbs in many other languages. For example:

See Countering Systemic Bias. --Pablo D. Flores 22:28, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "run"

"Run" isn't a very good example. in the past it probably was, but you can "run a program," in which the program is the direct object (not sure about "run the bases," since it's an idiom, probably still intransitive in the sense of "run [around] the bases."). I'm removing it. — ዮም | (Yom) | Talk • contribs • Ethiopia 01:13, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

"To be" is a copular verb and thus probably not a good example either. The problem is that in English many verbs are ambitransitive (both trans and intrans). "Run" is intransitive in most cases, and it can also be correctly described as intransitive in a non-exclusive way. Moreover, it's an interesting example because it's a volitional intransitive verb (unlike "sleep" and "die"). This distinction is significant, if maybe not in English (see Active-stative language). What about "swim"? —Pablo D. Flores (Talk) 17:38, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I knew that it being copular would be a problem, but I couldn't think of an intransitive verb that never is not intransitive at the moment, and I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the sentence by reducing the examples. Swim is a good one, though. Good idea. I'll replace to be with that now. — ዮም | (Yom) | Talk • contribs • Ethiopia 18:33, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
The verb "swim" can be either transitive or intransitive. It is misleading to say that swim is an intransitive verb in English, since it is also transitive. Source: Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary. I'm looking for some intransitive-only examples in addition to die and sleep. I'm inclined to remove "swim" from the statement that it is an intranstive verb. Is there a reason for it being there?
Kiwi brad 19:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
"Swim" certainly goes under the ambitransitive category. You can swim laps, swim lengths, etc. I think "complain" is a good one, so I'll change it to that. --210.55.99.90 22:51, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Examples in context

I'd have appreciated some exapmples used in context. The article begins with a definition and some examples: "In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that does have a subject and does not have an object. In more technical terms, an intransitive verb has only one argument (its subject), and hence has a valency of one. For example, in English, the verbs die, condescend and swim, are intransitive." But that technical definition did not really help, the examples not in context didn't help, and the rest of the article seemed to address sub-issues rather than the main topic. Can anybody help with this? Please let me know if I have used this page wrongly - I'm new. "Pij" 01:48, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. It's easy to give lots of examples, but hard to make the examples useful. I'll see what I can do. And yes, that's an appropriate use of this page; thanks. :-) —RuakhTALK 14:19, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Maybe we could make the proposed examples parallel Transitive verb. Thank you, --LRG 17:51, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

I think a very good example of incorrect intransitive usage is found in many computer manuals today which read, "The xxx screen displays." The word "display" cannot be used in this way and therefore one would need to write, "The xxx screen is displayed'.Digib —Preceding unsigned comment added by Digib (talk • contribs) 09:23, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Is "blew" in "he blew into it" transitive or intransitive? 89.241.230.43 (talk) 22:37, 30 April 2008 (UTC)