Grammarians also classify verbs as transitive and intransitive:
Transitive verbs require an object; for example, “The jar contains …” is an incomplete thought that leaves the reader wondering what the jar contains … jam, beets, lightning bugs?
Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, don’t take a direct object; for example, in the sentence “Everyone laughed.” the word laughed is intransitive. Now, if everyone laughed off the practical joke, the verb would be transitive.
Most verbs can function as either transitive or intransitive depending on the context:
Transitive: The accountant balanced the books.
Intransitive: The account balanced.
USAGE TIDBIT
To find out whether a verb is transitive or intransitive or both, look it up in a dictionary. Dictionaries typically group meanings and tag each group as v.i. (verb intransitive) and v.t. (verb transitive) or used with an object and used without an object.