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Lev Landau Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Is Sink a transitve verb or an intransitive one?
Hi everybody,
My dictionary says that sink (meaning getting worse) is an intransitive verb and gives the example:
He sinks into deep despair.
However, it also says that 'an intransitive verb has a subject but no object' and 'a transitive verb must have an object'.
I'm very confused because isn't 'deep despair' an object in the example? Is 'sink' intransitive or transitive?
Can someone clear this up for me please?
Thank you very much.
My dictionary says that sink (meaning getting worse) is an intransitive verb and gives the example:
He sinks into deep despair.
However, it also says that 'an intransitive verb has a subject but no object' and 'a transitive verb must have an object'.
I'm very confused because isn't 'deep despair' an object in the example? Is 'sink' intransitive or transitive?
Can someone clear this up for me please?
Thank you very much.
Top answer
"deep despair" is not the object of "sinks" because of the intervening preposition "into". Transitive use of "sink" (in a different meaning) would be "Most evenings he sinks five beers".
- "deep despair" is not the object of "sinks" because of the intervening preposition "into".
- Transitive use of "sink" (in a different meaning) would be "Most evenings he sinks five beers".
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1 Answers
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"deep despair" is not the object of "sinks" because of the intervening preposition "into". Transitive use of "sink" (in a different meaning) would be "Most evenings he sinks five beers".
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