When the servers arrived, Jack gave them the information on today's specials. He talked enthusiastically about the fresh berries: "They look fantastic! I want to serve them with shortcake."

1. In the above passage, "talked" is an example of a(n):
a)transitive verb and has no direct object
b)transitive verb and has a direct object
c)intransitive verb and has no direct object
d)intransitive verb and has a direct object

My answer is "c". I believe you can say "He talked." and that would be a complete sentence. I also believe that no direct object is present in the sentence. "He" is the subject, "talked" is the verb, but what receives the action?

Second question:

How many prepositional phrases are in the above passage?

I believe there are three:
1)on today's specials
2)about the fresh berries
3)with shortcake

I think these are prepositional phrases because "on", "about" and "with" are prepositions.

But I'm starting to wonder if "When the servers arrived" is also a prepositional phrase. Is "When" a preposition?

Your answers are right.

When is never a preposition. Check a dictionary to find a word's parts of speech.

In the given passage, the word "talked" is an example of a transitive verb and has a direct object.

To determine the type of verb, we need to see if the verb requires a direct object to complete its meaning. In this case, "talked" is an action that Jack performed, and the direct object receiving the action is the information (on today's specials) that he gave. So, "talked" is a transitive verb because it requires a direct object.

To answer your second question, there are actually four prepositional phrases in the passage:

1) "on today's specials" - "on" is the preposition, and "today's specials" is the object of the preposition.
2) "about the fresh berries" - "about" is the preposition, and "the fresh berries" is the object of the preposition.
3) "with shortcake" - "with" is the preposition, and "shortcake" is the object of the preposition.

And yes, "When the servers arrived" is also a prepositional phrase. However, "When" is not a preposition but rather a subordinating conjunction introducing a subordinate clause that functions as an adverbial phrase of time. It tells us when Jack gave the information to the servers. So, "When the servers arrived" is not counted as a prepositional phrase in this case.

So, the correct answer would be that there are three prepositional phrases in the passage.

In the sentence "He talked enthusiastically about the fresh berries," "talked" is a transitive verb and has a direct object. The verb "talked" is the action being performed, and "enthusiastically" modifies how it was done. The direct object is "about the fresh berries," which is the phrase that follows the verb and receives the action.

Regarding the number of prepositional phrases in the passage, you are correct. There are three prepositional phrases:
1) "on today's specials" - "on" is the preposition and "today's specials" is the object of the preposition.
2) "about the fresh berries" - "about" is the preposition and "the fresh berries" is the object of the preposition.
3) "with shortcake" - "with" is the preposition and "shortcake" is the object of the preposition.

The phrase "When the servers arrived" is not a prepositional phrase. "When" is a subordinating conjunction in this case, introducing the dependent clause "When the servers arrived."