The document discusses transitive and intransitive verbs. It provides examples of verbs that are always transitive like "give" and "take", always intransitive like "laugh" and "sleep", and can be either transitive or intransitive depending on the sentence like "study". It notes that while "talk" is only intransitive and cannot have a direct object, "speak" can be either transitive or intransitive. When a verb has a direct object, "speak" rather than "talk" should be used.

1. A very important point they don’t
teach enough about!

2. A transitive verb has an object:
Give the book to your
neighbor.

3. An intransitive verb has no
object:
It’s rude to laugh at people

4. Some verbs are always transitive:
Give
Take
Put
Buy
Say

5. Some verbs are always
intransitive:
Laugh
Sleep
Live
Die
Talk
Listen

6. Some verbs can be transitive or
intransitive, depending on the
sentence:
I’m studying English (transitive).
I don’t have time to study.
(intransitive)

7. **Talk English
We say “speak English,” not “talk
English” because talk is an intransitive
verb and it doesn’t have an object.

8. You can say:
The baby is learning to talk.
She’s talking too loud.
I need to talk to the boss.
(A prepositional phrase is not an object
for the verb.)

9. “Speak” can be transitive or
intransitive.
I can speak Chinese (transitive).
Please don’t speak to me
(intransitive).

10. speak (intransitive) = talk
Speak to me = Talk to me
Don’t speak so loud = Don’t talk so
loud.

11. However, if there is an object, you
have to use “speak” and not “talk”
because can only be intransitive
and speak can be transitive:
I’m learning to speak English.
I can’t speak Chinese.