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Laughed is an intransitive verb. It has no direct object.

The crowd demonstrated outside the theatre.
The event happened at 6 o'clock.

Are demostrate/happened-intransitive verbs and why ?

What would be an example of 'demostrate' being used intransitively too.

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    "Laughed is an intransitive verb. It has no direct object." <== Er, consider: "He laughed a big, hearty, bellyful of a laugh". And in dictionaries there might be found stuff like: laugh one's head off, laugh someone out of court, laugh oneself silly, laugh something to scorn.
    – F.E.
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:15

2 Answers 2

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The crowd demonstrated outside the theatre.

This sentence has no direct object. "outside the theatre" is a prepositional phrase used as an adverb on "demonstrated" telling where. In this case, it is intransitive.

The event happened at 6 o'clock.

"happened" is intransitive as well, since there is no direct object. "at 6 o'clock" is a prepositional phrase used as an adverb on "event" telling when.

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Demonstrate can be transitive or intransitive. In the example you've given, it is intransitive. 'To demonstrate' (intran.), means to gather with others and take part in a protest or rally of some sort. You can also, however, demonstrate something (transitive).

For example:

Jill invented a completely new kind of mouse for the computer. She demonstrated how it works last Friday. It looks very easy to use!

John sells vacuum cleaners. He demonstrates them at the fair, and makes many sales.

The verb 'happened' is intransitive.

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