Grammar Talks 2-08 | Beginner | Transitive Verbs

Fruity Fans

Meg talks about eating right and the foods she loves to eat to keep herself healthy and fit.

Todd: So Meg, you look like a healthy person. Do you eat lots of fruits and vegetables?

Meg: I do eat lots of fruits and vegetables, especially fruit. I love to eat fruit because it's so sweet.

Todd: Yeah? What fruits do you like?

Meg: I love bananas because they're so healthy for you. And so usually, in the morning for breakfast, I'll have a banana. I also love blueberries. Blueberries are my favorite fruit. But sometimes, they're expensive so I can't often eat blueberries.

Todd: Oh, I agree. Blueberries are so good. I love blueberries in oatmeal.

Meg: That's a good idea. I love to have blueberries in muffins.

Todd: Oh, that's nice. Well, you bake. Do you bake blueberry muffins?

Meg: I do bake blueberry muffins, and also blueberry bread, blueberry pancakes, many blueberry things.

Todd: Wow. That's great. So are there any fruits you don't like?

Meg: I don't like kiwi actually because the flavor is okay but the fruits is too soft. So usually, I don't want to eat kiwi.

Todd: Oh well, I love kiwi. I love kiwi and bananas. It's very good.

Meg: Hmm, sounds okay but maybe I'll just have the banana.

Todd: So what about vegetables? Are you a person who eats lots of salad?

Meg: I don't eat a lot of salad but I do like to eat vegetables with my meals, usually lunch and dinner.

Todd: So you cook vegetables.

Meg: I cook vegetables or I eat vegetables fresh. For example, usually with my lunch, I'll cut up a cucumber, and put some salt or pepper on the cucumber and eat with my lunch.

Todd: Oh great. I love vegetable sticks, so I love carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, radish sticks. It's very good.

Meg: Do you like to dip vegetable sticks into any dressing?

Todd: I do but it's not healthy, right?

Meg: No.

Todd: But yeah, I love the dressing like the ranch dressing with carrot sticks or the ranch dressing with cucumber sticks. It's very nice.

Meg: Yeah. It's pretty delicious. But you're right. Not so healthy.

Todd: No. So what vegetables do you cook?

Meg: Sometimes I cook broccoli. I actually like to roast broccoli, which is when you put broccoli into the oven and cook it a few minutes. So it's really delicious. You can add some salt or seasonings and it's easy to make. You can cook some meat or rice while the broccoli is in the oven and then it's ready for your dinner.

Todd: That's great. Yeah. You see some vegetables like on a kebab that are roasted. I guess onions are roasted, peppers are roasted.

Meg: Right, right.

Todd: Do you roast other vegetables besides broccoli?

Meg: Sometimes tomatoes, and sometimes potatoes although, it's that a vegetable.

Todd: It is but it's not a very healthy vegetable.

Meg: So maybe I shouldn't eat potatoes.

Todd: I love potatoes though. So you roast vegetables, do you cook vegetables any other way? Do you boil vegetables or fry vegetables?

Meg: Sometimes I boil vegetables. For example, I like to boil carrots because they're soft and you can add some spices again to have some flavor when you eat carrots with your meal.

Todd: Yeah. Actually, I love carrots but I only like raw carrots.

Meg: Oh really?

Todd: And I hate cooked carrots.

Meg: Oh well, I'll try to remember that if ever you come over for dinner.

Todd: Yeah. Carrots sticks please.

Meg: Okay.

Transitive Verbs

Point 1: Transitive verbs are verbs that have an object -- a noun or pronoun -- after the verb.
  1. I bought some clothes online.
  2. I made pancakes for breakfast.
  3. He sold his car for 10 dollars.
  4. She speaks Italian fluently.
Point 2: Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not need an object.
  1. I work at a store downtown.
  2. I live in the city.
  3. I exercise every morning.
  4. I usually sleep three hours a night.
Point 3: Once the object is mentioned, the speaker usually uses a pronoun and not the noun.
  1. What did you buy at the mall?
  2. I bought a new sweater?
  3. Where did you buy it?
  4. I got it at the new shop by the cafe.
Point 4: We often use a general word after What when asking about the object of a sentence.
  1. What sports did you play as a kid?
  2. I played baseball.
  3. What movie did you watch last night?
  4. I watched the new Star Wars.
  5. What dishes can you cook?
  6. I can cook soup and stews.
Answer the following questions about the interview.