How do you know whether a verb is transitive or intransitive?

The network canceled the show.

Is "canceled" transitive or intransitive? And if so, why?

1 Answer
Daniel L.
Mar 7, 2018

See explanation.

Explanation:

A verb is transitive when it has an object (i.e. a thing or person to whom something is done). That also means, it is possible to transform a sentence into Passive Voice.

So in the given example the verb is transitive.

The word show is the direct object. The sentence can be transformed to Passive Voice like that:

The show was cancelled by the network.

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