Verbs can be divided into two categories, transitive and intransitive, depending on whether or not they take an object. Transitive verbs are followed by direct objects; intransitive verbs are not.
Transitive verbs: contain, verify, assess
Intransitive verbs: sneeze, die, capitulate
Passive voice is possible only with transitive verbs.
Many verbs are transitive in some uses and intransitive in others. If you are not sure whether a verb you are using may be may be transitive and intransitive, consult a dictionary.
The student guessed correctly.
The student guessed the answer correctly.
Be aware of common transitive/intransitive verb pairs such as raise/rise in which the verbs sound similar but one requires an object and the other cannot take an object.
In the Malthusian model of unrestrained growth, the linear growth function
rises the population growth upward.
[Rises is an intransitive verb and cannot take an object.]
In the Malthusian model of unrestrained growth, the linear growth function
rises.
In the Malthusian model of unrestrained growth, the linear growth function
raises the population growth.
--James Gleick, Chaos
