Transitivising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Converting a verb into a transitive form so that it can take a direct object
2. Altering a verb to allow it to accept a direct object and express a complete action on something
3. Changing an intransitive verb into one that requires and governs a direct object

Etymology: Transitivising is the British spelling of "transitivizing," the present participle of "transitivize," which means to make a verb transitive, or to give it a direct object. The verb is built from "transitive," which comes from Latin "transitivus," from "transire," "to go across" (from "trans," "across," plus "ire," "to go"). Latin grammarians used "transitivus" for verbs whose action passes over from a subject to an object, so the grammatical sense grew out of the literal idea of crossing over. The "-ize" ending, from Greek "-izein," is a common suffix for turning a noun or adjective into a verb, as in "modernize" or "familiarize." Attaching it to "transitive" produced "transitivize," a term that linguists use for the process of converting an intransitive verb into a transitive one, as when "walk" becomes "walk the dog." The "-ing" ending simply marks the participle.