Phrasesb. Smoke rises.
c. Harrison confessed.
d. Everyone in the room laughed.
In English, a large number of verbs can be either transitive or intransitive,
sometimes with a considerable difference of meaning:
(68) a. The fire smoked.
b. Shelley smoked. (Ambiguous)
c. Shelley smoked the salmon.
Thus whether such verbs are transitive or intransitive can only be deter-
mined by their use in an actual clause. One simple test is that an intransitive
verb can potentially end a complete clause, as in (67).
Two structures require not one but two phrases to follow the verb. The
indirect object construction, e.g., (66c), typically calls for a direct object
also. Verbs that enter into such constructions are said to be bitransitive or
ditransitive. The object complement construction (e.g., (66d)) requires a
direct object preceding the complement. We deal in more detail with these
constructions in our chapter on Basic Clause Patterns.
Verbs with objects may imply end products and/or bounded activities:
(69) a. He built a workbench.
b. He builds workbenches.
(69a) implies that a workbench came into being as a result of the build-
ing; it also views the workbench building event as having an end point,
namely the completion of the workbench. (69b) is in the simple present
tense and represents multiple, discrete, workbench building events, as the
plural, workbenches, makes clear. In this respect, it is like a punctual verb,
such as cough, punch, or kick.
Verbs without objects often imply no natural end-point. Compare (70a)
with (70b):
(70) a. She ran.
b. She ran a marathon.
(70a) implies no particular end to the running; in fact, it is compatible with
and she’s still running. (70b), on the other hand, looks at the marathon-running
as a single event with a natural completion, namely, the end of the marathon.