Transitive verbs—those that can directly pick up a noun and stick it to a sentence—can appear as phrases, specifically as infinitive phrases (to win the game) or as present-participial phrases (winning the game). Well, notice that even in phrase form, the transitive verb can have an object, which is a noun (or a pronoun).
An example should remind you of this function of the noun:
4. Objects of Verbal Phrases
Here’s our sentence again:
The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.
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