質問: Does it make sense to talk about サ変名詞 as being 自動詞 or 他動詞? If so, surely some are 他動詞: 車{くるま}を運転{うんてん}する。 日本語{にほんご}を勉強{べんきょう}する。 庭{にわ}を散歩{さんぽ}する。 But, what about 自動詞? Perhaps this posting of mine from awhile ago describes 自動詞としてのサ変名詞 (but maybe not)? More likely, I have insufficient vocab knowledge to think of even one. And, in a broader context, I am interested in if, in a transitive sentence (regardless of if it is サ変名詞 or not), with a specified direct object, must "を" always be the final 助詞{じょし}? thank you.
回答: Yes, it makes sense to talk about the transitivity of verbal noun plus する constructions. I would simply link you to the introduction of *The Light Verb Construction in Japanese: The Role of the Verbal Noun*, but I suppose it's better if I repeat some of the examples here. All of the following examples are taken from page 8: First, intransitive verbal noun + する constructions: 1. 到着する *arrive* 2. 誕生する *be born* 3. 死亡する *die* Second, transitive verbal noun + する constructions: 1. 警告する *warn* 2. 破壊する *destroy* 3. 攻撃する *attack* Third, verbal noun + する constructions which can be either transitive or intransitive: 1. 移動する *move* 2. 破損する *damage / be damaged* 3. 紛失する *lose* 4. 縮小する *shrink / become shrunken* 5. 終了する *finish* 6. 増加する *increase* No, を arguments don't need to be final; they can be scrambled out of their basic position. Because most constituents in a Japanese sentence are marked (e.g. with case markers like を or postpositions of some kind), sentence order is relatively free, although certain orders may differ in emphasis, and the order isn't *entirely* free. If you want details about sentence order, I suggest you ask a separate question about it.