Question

Which sentence has an intransitive verb?

A- Many soldiers volunteered freely.

B- The general questioned the soldier.

C- The government sometimes drafted men into the army.

D- The army had many soldiers.

Answer 1

The answer is indeed letter A) Many soldiers volunteered freely.

Step-by-step explanation:

In grammar, an intransitive verb is the verb that does not have the property of transitivity. In other words, intransitive verbs are actions verbs that do not take a direct object. Let's remember that a direct object is the person or thing being acted upon, the recipient of the action described by the verb. Take a look at the examples below:

- I made the cake. --> What did I make? The cake. The cake is the direct object of the verb "made".

- I lied on the ground underneath the tree. --> What did I lie? It is impossible to answer, since the action of lying in this sentence does not affect an object.

That's what happens in letter A) Many soldiers volunteered freely. The verb "volunteer" in this sentence expresses an action that does not take an object. There is no one/nothing being volunteered by someone else. In sentence B, for example, we have a person questioning (subject) and another one being questioned (object), one person acting and the other receiving the action: the general and the soldier, respectively. The same happens in sentences C and D: the government/men; the army/soldiers. Sentence A is the only one that does not take a direct object.

Answer 2

The sentence that has an intransitive verb is A. Many soldiers volunteered freely.

An intransitive verb is one that is not followed by a direct object, meaning that there is not a thing or person that receives the action described by the verb. In this sentence, the verb volunteer is followed by an adverb of manner, and there is not a person or thing directly affected by the action.