Page 49 - Grammar Glow - 6

In these sentences—

1. The action of kicked passes on from the boy to the football.

2. The action of hired passes on from He to the taxi.
3. The action of called passes on from I to the barber.

The words—boy, He, I —are doers of actions, i.e. they are subjects.

The words—football, taxi, barber—are nouns to whom the actions of the subjects pass on. Each
of them is called the object.

The words—kicked, hired, called—are all verbs. Each of them shows an action that passes on from
its subject to its object. Such verbs are called transitive verbs.

Ditransitive Verbs

A ditransitive verb takes two objects—one a person and the other a thing.

But there are verbs that may take two objects each.
Study the following sentences carefully.

1. He gave her a gold ring.

2. The father asked me a question.

3. My aunt sent me a present.
4. The President gave me an award.

Each sentence has a transitive verb which is followed by two objects. One of these objects is

a person while the other is a thing. Such verbs are called ditransitive verbs.

Remember

(a) The object that is a thing is the direct object of its verb.
(b) The object that is a person is the indirect object.

Verbs of Incomplete Predication

The verbs whether transitive and intransitive do not give complete thoughts unless they take their
complements. These complements are nouns or adjectives normally.
Study the following sentences carefully.

A. 1. Her parents named her Mary. Transitive verbs with
2. The voters elected him Prime Minister. incomplete predicates

B. 1. They look angry. Intransitive verbs with
2. The weather is hot. incomplete predicates
All the above words in italics are complements. If any of them is changed, the sense of the sentence

will remain incomplete even if an object is already there. The verb in each sentence has been

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