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Cavid Hummatov Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

confusion about transitive/intransitive verbs

By the definitions of tedious grammar books we know that transitive form requires subject+verb+object and you have to have an answer to the question What/Whom in order to identify whether there's object or not. In contrast, intransitive includes subject and verb. So let's take a look at the sentences which are the causes of my confusion

1.I want to become famous = I(subject)+ want(verb) + to become famous(object) ,What do I want? I want to become famous

2.He wants a chance ( could be divided into same construction)

so why is the first one accepted as intransitive while second considered as transitive?

Could you please illuminate me and give me an easy tips or show me the proper way of thinking in order to distinguish it easily?
  

Top answer

It is a matter of opinion (or definition) whether "want" in "I want to become famous" is considered transitive or not. com/dictionary/english/want , they say "when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive". I do not personally agree with this approach.

— GPY

  • It is a matter of opinion (or definition) whether "want" in "I want to become famous" is considered transitive or not.
  • com/dictionary/english/want , they say "when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive".
  • I do not personally agree with this approach.
  • I do not intuitively feel that "to become famous" and "a chance" perform the same grammatical role in your sentences.
  • Verbs that can be followed by another verb, like "want" in "want to (do something)", are also called "catenative verbs".
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39 Answers
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It is a matter of opinion (or definition) whether "want" in "I want to become famous" is considered transitive or not. For example, if you look at http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/want , they say "when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive". I do not personally agree
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Based on the Collins' definition, this usage of verbs also should be acceptable then " I try to be famous", "I expect to see her" . From what aspect exactly do you feel that they're not the same? I also feel like that but to be honest when grammar meddles into the matter I mostly end up stuckin in the confusion. Because there's nothing to say that either of two option doesn't fit the grammatical
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Cavid Hummatov confusion about transitive/intransitive verbs
Transitive verbs take noun phrases as complements. Intransitive verbs do not.
Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively. 'want' is one of them.
So you could say that it's really the usage of a verb that's transitive or not — not the verb itself.
But then if all
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Cavid HummatovI want to become famous
This is my parsing of that:

I - a subject;
want to become - a predicator (linking verb);
famous - a subject complement (adjectival one).

If my parsing holds water, then, in my opinion, "to become", a complement (not an object) of the verb "want", qualifies the whole verb phrase "want to become" as
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CalifJima chance is a noun phrase; to become famous is not.
This is not clear cut, since infinitive phrases can function as nouns. It is possible to argue that "to become famous" functions as a noun phrase in "I want to become famous", and is the object of "want" (though, as I mentioned, I don't intuitively see it that way).

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AnonymousThis is my parsing of that:I - a subject;want to become - a predicator (linking verb);famous - a subject complement (adjectival one).If my parsing holds water, then, in my opinion, "to become", a complement (not an object) of the verb "want", qualifies the whole verb phrase "want to become" as a linking verb.
Possibly different people use different te
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GPYThis is not clear cut, since infinitive phrases can function as nouns.
In most of the recent (i.e., since the 1980s) approaches to grammar, "functions as" absolutely does not count. In these methodologies, linguistic entities must actually be a noun, an adjective, etc. Words do not acquire their categories from context unless absolutely nece
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CalifJimTo say that an infinitive is a noun because an infinitive can be a complement of "want" and a noun can be a complement of "want" is to say that men are monkeys because men are mortal and monkeys are mortal. You may as well say that when "want" takes a noun phrase direct object, the noun phrase is functioning as an infinitive.
No, that is not true, beca
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GPYIt is widely accepted that ...
Well, maybe it shouldn't be because it's not really logical.
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CalifJimWell, maybe it shouldn't be because it's not really logical.
I don't actually agree with this. In cases like "To err is human", say. I don't see how else it can be considered.
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