transitive verbs

  • acknowledge

    • We acknowledged that we were unprepared for the winter.

  • admit

    • I admit that I have grey hair.

    • I admit that we have a strong team but we need additional people.

    • I admit that we have a strong team and we are hiring.

    • I admit that I have more work to finish today.


  • aggravate

    • My neighbors are aggravating me. (present continuous)

    • My team members aggravated me today because they created a bunch of problems.

  • approach

  • answer

    • I can answer your question directly but it's better if I explain to you the [problem|situation].

    • I had already answered your question earlier.

  • ask

    • I was asking my wife to prepare dinner when somebody knocked on the door. (past continuous)

    • I am asking you to help me finish the report. (present continuous)

  • avoid

    • We will avoid the traffic jam by using a [side, secondary] road.

  • beat

    • We have beaten the competition to the market by releasing our new XYZ product before them. (present perfect)

    • Our team beat the competition by using a new strategy. (simple past)

  • bend

  • bless

  • bother

  • break

    • My children had broken their toys on the floor.(past perfect)

    • Unfortunately, they had broken their promises to us and so we no longer called them our friends.

  • brush

  • build

  • cancel

    • I had already cancelled the meeting before you called. Can you reschedule it for me?


  • capture

  • carry

  • catch

  • change

  • chase

  • chastise

  • clean

  • collect

    • I have been collecting hats (for) all of my life.(present perf. cont)

  • comfort

  • contradict

  • convert

  • crack

  • dazzle

  • deceive

    • I have deceived my colleagues. They think I'm an ass, but in fact I'm a nice guy!(present perfect)

  • define

  • describe

  • destroy

  • discover

  • distinguish

    • You distinguish yourself as a very competent programmer. (simple present)

    • The world distinguishes us on our capabilities.

  • drag

  • dress

  • dunk

  • edify

  • embarrass

    • I got embarrassed when my father told my girlfriend stories about me when I was a little boy.

  • embrace

  • enable

  • encourage

    • I am encouraging him to continue doing a good job.

  • enlist

  • entertain

  • execute

    • I have already executed my plan for world domination! You can call me Emporer of the Planet!(present perfect)

  • fascinate

  • finish

  • flick

  • follow

  • forget

  • forgive

  • freeze

  • frighten

  • furnish

    • I can furnish the details of the contract later.

    • I already furnished my room. (past simple)

  • grab

  • grasp

  • grease

  • grip

  • handle

  • hang

  • head

  • help

  • highlight

  • honour

  • hurry

  • hurt

  • imitate

  • impress

  • indulge

  • insert

  • inspect

  • interest

  • interrupt

  • intimidate

  • involve

  • irritate

  • join

  • judge

  • keep

  • key

  • kill

  • kiss

  • knock

  • lag

  • lay

  • lead

  • lean

  • leave

  • lighten

  • limit

  • link

  • load

  • love

  • lower

  • maintain

  • marry

  • massage

  • melt

  • mock

  • munch

  • murder

  • notice

  • number

  • order

  • page

  • paralyze

  • persuade

  • petrify

  • pierce

  • place

  • please

  • poison

  • possess

  • prepare

  • promise

  • protect

  • punch

  • purchase

  • puzzle

  • question

  • quit

  • raise

  • reassure

  • recognise

  • refill

  • remind

  • remove

  • repel

  • research

  • retard

  • ring

  • run

  • satisfy

  • scold

  • select

  • slap

  • smell

  • soften

  • specify

  • spell

  • spit

  • spread

  • strike

  • surprise

  • swallow

  • switch

  • taste

  • teach

  • tickle

  • tighten

  • toast

  • toss

  • transform

  • try

  • turn

  • tweak

  • twist

  • understand

  • understimate

  • unload

  • unlock

  • untie

  • upgrade

  • use

  • vacate

  • videotape

  • vilify

  • viplate

  • wake

  • want

  • warm

  • warn

  • wash

  • watch

  • wear

  • weep

  • widen

  • win

  • wipe

  • wrack

  • wrap

  • wreck

  • accept

  • gather

  • offend