Action Verb

An action verb expresses an activity that a person or thing can do. For example:

• Konah eats cake.
  (Eating is something Konah can do.)
• The leopard chased the antelope in the jungle.
  (Chasing is something the leopard can do.)

Compare those verbs with these:

• Konah likes cake.
  (To like is not an activity, it’s a state.)
• The leopard is hungry.
  (To be is not an activity, it’s a state.)

Transitive Verb

A transitive verb acts on something (i.e., it has a direct object). For example:

• I saw the dog.
  (Here, the direct object is the dog.)
• Konah ate the pie.
  (The direct object is the pie.)
• The postman will give Sarah the letter.
  (The direct object is the letter.)

The direct object of a transitive verb can be found by finding the verb and asking “what?”. For example:

• saw what? (answer: the dog)
• ate what? (answer: the pie)
• will give what? (answer: the letter)

Intransitive Verb

An intransitive verb does not act on anything (i.e., there is no direct object). For example:

The rain fell.
My throat hurts.
The cat sneezed.