手把手教你学口语11

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is to be aware of how some verbs in English, transitive verbs, require an object.

Not using an object after a transitive verb is a common mistake made by learners of English. For example, although in Chinese, you can say, “我喜欢”or “我不喜欢”without mentioning what you are talking about, in English, “like” requires an object. So you can’t say, “I like.” or “I don’t like.” You must say, “I like it.” or “I like them.” “I like her.” “I like you.” “I like Taiwan.” or “I don’t like it.” “I don’t like them.” “I don’t like him.” “I don’t like singing at KTVs.” You must use an object after “like” because it is a transitive verb. Another common word which is misused¹ is “want”. “want” is also a transitive verb and must be followed by an object. You cannot ask “do you want” as in the Chinese “你要不要？”“你要吗？”You must ask “Do you want some?” if you are asking about something uncountable like coffee or tea. “Do you want it?” if you are asking about a singular countable² object like the last piece of pizza. “Do you want them?” if you are asking about plural³ countable objects such as some books. And “Do you want to?” or “Do you want to do it?” if you are asking about doing something like going to a movie or going to a concert. The two verbs “like” and “want” are the two most commonly misused transitive verbs as in “I like” or “I want”. Be careful to complete the meaning of these transitive verbs by adding an object. And when using a pronoun, be careful to choose the proper pronoun. In English, certain verbs are used only transitively, some are used only intransitively, and some are used at times transitively and at other times intransitively.

Today’s tip is to pay special attention when learning verbs, to learn whether or not the verb is transitive, and not to neglect adding an object if it is. This has been today’s daily tips on learning English. Tune⁴ in tomorrow for another tip.

1 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 countable   

adj.可数的，可以计算的

参考例句：

• The word "person" is a countable noun.person这个词是个可数名词。
• Countable nouns have singular and plural forms.可数名词有单数和复数之分。

3 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。