Grammatical pattern: VERB + OBJECT

All words that are verbs in English follow one or both of the patterns [VERB + OBJECT] or [VERB + ZERO OBJECT]. The majority of verbs in English are able to operate in the pattern that includes the grammatical object (i.e., [VERB + OBJECT]). These verbs, thousands of them, are marked in the dictionary as “transitive verbs.” A small, partial list of these verbs are shown below. Keep in mind that many of these same verbs can be used “intransitively,” that is, without an object following them.

Click here for a fuller discussion of transitive versus intransitive verbs.

See also the full discussion of the pattern VERB + OBJECT.

accept, accuse, add, admit, adopt , affect, afford, allow, announce, annoy, answer, appreciate, arrange, ask, attach, attend, bake, believe, blame, bring, buy, call, cancel, capture, carry, catch, cause, change, chase, choose, clean, close, collect, combine, compare, connect, contain, control, convince, count, cover, cut, damage, defend, deliver, demand, deny, describe, deserve, destroy, discover, drop, eat, enjoy, explain, fill, find, fix, follow, force, free, gather , get, give, have, invent, investigate, join, keep, kill, know, lack, lay, like, mix, need, obey, obtain, offer, open, operate, own, pay, permit, persuade, pick, plan, possess, pour, praise, prepare, present, preserve, prevent, produce, promise, pronounce, protect, prove, provide, pull, punish, push, put, read, realize, receive, recognize, remind, remove, rent, repair, repeat, represent, request, rescue, respect, rob, ruin, say, scold, sell, send, separate, serve, set, share, shove, show, slice, solve, sort, spend, steal, take, taste, teach, tell, throw, tie, touch, visit, want, warn, wash, waste, watch, wear, wrap, write