THE VERB
VERBS may be _transitive_ or _intransitive_.
A verb is transitive when it needs an object to complete its meaning;
that is, when the action passes over (Latin, _transire_, to pass over)
from the subject or doer to the object or receiver; as,
He _hit_ the ball.
A verb is intransitive when it needs no object to complete its meaning;
as,
The crowd _cheered_.
Some intransitive verbs require a predicate noun or pronoun in the
nominative case, or an adjective, to complete their meaning. They are
the verbs _be_, _become_, _appear_, _seem_, _feel_, _taste_, _look_,
_smell_; as,
_Adjective_: The berries taste _sour_.
_Noun_: John is my _brother_.
_Pronoun_: It is _I_.
Such verbs are sometimes called _copulatives_.
=Exercise 98=
Tell whether each verb in the following sentences is transitive or
intransitive and whether it is followed by a noun or a pronoun in the
nominative or the objective case or by a complementary adjective.