In reply to:

According to a quick search I performed, transitive verbs must have a direct object. It is not optional.

I think this puts it backwards. We don't start with a transitive verb and say it must have an object. We start with a verb which has an object, and therefore we say it is transitive.

I looked up transitive in the Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, and found this:

Some verb are virtually always transitive (e.g. bury, deny, distract).



Bingley


Bingley