Remembered for the iconic line “Show me the money!” is Jerry Maguire. Jerry Maguire is a drama film released in 1996, starring Tom Cruise. Let’s hear a conversation between the movie’s lead actress Renée Zellweger (Dorothy) and Tom Cruise.
Jerry: We live in a cynical world, a cynical world, and we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You… complete me. And I just had…
Dorothy: Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at hello. You had me at hello.
In the sentence “I love you. You complete me.” naturally, “I love” would immediately raise the question of whom, although it could refer to an object, interest usually leans towards people first. Following, the phrase “You complete” might seem odd without context. Such verbs prompt the need for subsequent clarification, answering who or what. Simply placing a noun after these verbs solves the English construction.
S + V + (Who + What) +
[Where + Why + How + When]
Just like this, there are verbs that, when followed by a noun form, automatically imply an action being done to something or someone, as seen in Susanna’s line from Rain Man, “He drives this car,” which simply conveys “That person drives this car.” In English grammar, these are called transitive verbs. As mentioned, if an object is needed, it’s a transitive verb; if not, it’s an intransitive verb.
Among transitive verbs, examples include ‘like,’ ‘love,’ and ‘hate.’ These verbs can take an object; in fact, they require an object to complete the sentence. Thus, transitive verbs simply take a noun form to create an object. The object becomes the focus of the verb, and conversely, verbs that require an accompanying object are called transitive verbs.
MR. BLONDE: Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite? (Reservoir Dogs 1992)
“Bark” is an intransitive verb describing an action on its own. In contrast, “bite” is a transitive verb meaning ‘to bite something.’ “Bark” expresses just the act of barking, complete in itself. However, “Bite” naturally raises the question, ‘bite what?’ Just by placing any word after “bite,” it becomes ‘to bite something.’
Dorothy: You go away or I – I’ll bite you myself! <THE WIZARD OF OZ, 1939>
In the case of transitive verbs, no extra effort is needed to create an object. Simply placing it right after the verb interprets it directly as ‘to do something to’ in Korean. It’s a basic concept but quite fascinating, isn’t it?
English is a language that does not require case particles like Korean. There’s no need to attach particles to nouns to form subjects. It’s simple, yet that simplicity adds complexity because, in English, the case of nouns is determined by their position, not by specific words.
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