All Ears English Podcast
AEE 2636: Don’t Forget About Grammar! Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs
17 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2636. Don't forget about grammar, transitive versus intransitive verbs.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.
Chapter 2: How can you identify transitive versus intransitive verbs?
How do you know if a verb is transitive or intransitive? And more importantly, how can this affect connection? Learn all of this and more today.
If your English sounds correct, but not quite right, you're not alone. Sometimes it's not grammar. It's word choice, tone, timing. You might rely on safe phrases, not because you want to, but because nuance feels risky.
Chapter 3: What are common mistakes with transitive verbs in English?
But without nuance, it's harder to build connection. Our two-minute fluency quiz helps you see where your English is playing it safe and where it can grow by knowing your current English level. Are you a B1, B2, or C1 speaker? Find out now. Get your level at allearsenglish.com. slash fluency score. One more time. Go to allearsenglish.com slash f l u e n c y s c o r e.
Chapter 4: How does word choice affect communication in English?
Hey, Aubrey. How's it going today? I am great, Lindsay. How are you? Good, but I have a question. Are you forgetful? Are you a forgetful person, would you say?
I didn't used to be, but more and more I am. I'm not sure I've got some brain fog going on. The other day, this was funny. So I was out of town.
Chapter 5: What examples illustrate the use of transitive verbs?
I was in Sea Island, Georgia, which is a beautiful area of the south right on the coast just south of Savannah and they had a spa there at this resort and I was all ready I was planning to go to the pool sort of the hot tub and do like the steam room the sauna and I got all packed everything and it was sort of far the grounds were quite expansive and I had to walk
at least a half a mile to get to where I was going. Got all ready, got my locker, everything's ready. I realized I hadn't brought a swimsuit. I had forgotten to pack a swimsuit. And this is all public. Everything's public. So it's not, you know, you definitely would need, I would need a swimsuit for all of this. So I just had to pack it back up, go back to the room, get a swimsuit, walk back out.
So frustrating. You just need to have a sense of humor about these things, I think, right?
Because it's going to happen. What are you going to do?
Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.
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Chapter 6: How do intransitive verbs differ from transitive verbs?
Well, at least you were on vacation, so you had the time maybe a little extra time to do it.
That's true. Thank goodness. But it does have – often I'm forgetful when I don't have the time and things are – there are higher stakes and it can be extremely frustrating.
Totally. I took my dog out this morning and I put his gentle leader on his – it's not a muzzle. It looks like a muzzle, so people get confused, but it keeps him from pulling.
Chapter 7: What are ambitransitive verbs and how are they used?
Yeah.
It's just this thing that goes around his nose. That's why I can pull him back easy. But then I forgot to put his collar on. So if he ever got off, like he needs a collar so people know his name and that kind of thing.
Right.
You do not want to lose a pet without their collar. Oh, my gosh. No. Yeah. So we all do this. I think our listeners are going to resonate right away. They'll have their own stories. And this leads us into a great question for today from Kayo, one of our longtime students. Right. Yes.
She noticed something interesting about how we use the word forget today.
Do you want to read the question for us, Lindsay? All right. Hello, Aubrey and Lindsay. I was actually listening to the Allers English podcast for nearly two hours on my commute the other day. Awesome. It's amazing.
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Chapter 8: How can understanding grammar improve your English fluency?
I really appreciate you creating such awesome podcasts and it makes my day. Learning English as well as learning American history has been such an incredible experience for me. Well, thank you, Kayo. And we appreciate you as well as a member of our community. I know, right? Shout out to Kayo. She is awesome. And this is a great question.
So I'm a curious mind and it'd be fantastic if you could explain some of the transitive verbs. I recently learned that the verb discuss is not followed by about. So I looked up other transitive verbs and the verb forget was one that caught my attention as I frequently hear forget about it or I forgot about it. It might be an idiomatic expression, but this is the only exception
Is this the only exception or are there any transitive verbs that can be idiomatic that doesn't follow the grammar rules, right? Looking forward to talking with you. It's just fascinating for me to learn your language as well as culture. I really love the podcast episode about Native Americans and not saying reservation. And so on. All right. Good question, Kayo.
Yeah. And I love that shout out back to that episode. I thought that was really interesting. I learned a lot as well about American culture. And I love this, that students recognize this. It's not just about the language. It's also interesting cultural pieces that there's so much to learn. And I love that we are able to share all of that and that Kayo and listeners out there appreciate it.
Exactly. Exactly. And I love that Kyle is just observing and taking in the language and then asking good questions. So guys, if you have a good question, send it in to support at allersenglish.com. We want to feature your question on the show, especially if it's very specific like this one.
Exactly. And this is such a great observation. Kaio is spot on. Discuss is not followed by about, but forget can be. So why is that, Lindsay?
Oh, my gosh. Well, it's not an idiomatic expression, Aubrey. It's a grammar rule. Let's talk about it a little bit.
Yes. It all comes down to whether a verb is transitive, intransitive, or can be both. So we're going to break down each type of verb so that you can understand and use them correctly. And we'll discuss words like forget that can actually be both depending on how they're used in a sentence.
Okay, looking forward. This will be a heavy hitting grammar episode today. So we're looking forward to getting into it. But first, guys, go ahead and hit follow on the podcast. Or if you are a more of a YouTube person, you could be watching us on YouTube. Hit subscribe on our channel.
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