Transitive versus Intransitive Verbs. Not as difficult as some people think. There are a few things worth noticing. First, just because something grammatically needs a direct object doesn't mean we actually use it. Second, many intransitives might look like transitives, as in She walked three hours .
Children can play catch , or they can just play .
Even sleep , given above as an intransitive, could become transitive if we said He slept the sleep of the righteous .