Argument Structure and Thematic Structure PDF

**[MIDTERM TOPICS - LEC]** **[THE ARGUMENT STRUCTURE AND THEMATIC STRUCTURE]** The semantic structure of the sentence is essential for the understanding of the relations between the constituents of the simple sentence. Every predicate requires a certain number of constituents to form a meaningful...

**[MIDTERM TOPICS - LEC]** **[THE ARGUMENT STRUCTURE AND THEMATIC STRUCTURE]** The semantic structure of the sentence is essential for the understanding of the relations between the constituents of the simple sentence. Every predicate requires a certain number of constituents to form a meaningful sentence. The obligatory constituents are called **arguments**, the optional ones are known as **adjuncts**: \[NP The little boy\] imitates \[NP his father\] \[PP in the kitchen\]. obligatory constituent obligatory constituent optional constituent The **predicate** *imitate* takes two obligatory constituents, i.e., two arguments (*the little boy*) and (*his father*) and an optional constituent (*in the kitchen*). The arguments are the **participants** minimally involved in the activity or state expressed by the predicate. \[NP The little boy\] imitates \[NP his father\] \[PP in the kitchen\]. Predicates that require two arguments are called **two-place predicates**. The two arguments are realized by the subject NP and the Object NP respectively. Thus, the transitive verbs, like *imitate*, in traditional syntax correspond to the two-place predicates, the ditransitive verbs (*give*) to **the three-place predicates,** the intransitive verbs (*sneeze*) to the **one-place predicates**: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- As a consequence, every predicate has its **argument structure** that determines which elements of the sentence are obligatory. If a speaker knows the meaning of a verb, he will also know how many participants are involved in the action denoted by the verb, and hence how many arguments the verb takes. In addition to the arguments of a verb, a sentence may also contain **optional constituents** (*in the kitchen*) functioning as **adjuncts**, i.e., constituents that provide additional information with respect to manner, place, time, cause, etc. The subject is referred to as the **external argument** (i.e., the argument which is outside the VP), while the objects, which are inside the VP are called **internal arguments**: John \[VP gave his sister a book\]. Su IO DO The Subject NP, *John,* which is outside the VP, is an external argument while the NP *his sister* and the NP *a book* are internal arguments of the verb *give* because they are inside the VP. **The thematic structure** Let us consider the argument structure of the verb *kill*: kill: verb 1 2 NP NP The argument structure of the verb *kill* shows that this verb takes two arguments in order to form a simple meaningful sentence such as: The lion killed the deer. In the action of killing two participants are minimally involved: one that performs the act of killing and one that suffers the aggression. The two argument NPs in the sentence (*the lion, the deer*) are intuitively felt to stand in a different semantic relationship with the verb. The argument-NP *the lion*, in subject position, refers to the AGENT of the action of killing, while the argument-NP *the deer*, in Direct Object position, expresses the PATIENT of the activity. The semantic relationships between verbs and their arguments are referred to as **thematic roles**. The main types of thematic roles distinguished by linguists are: Some linguists amalgamate the roles PATIENT and THEME under the role of THEME. The representation of the thematic structure of a verb is given in the form of a **thematic grid** (written between angled brackets \<... \>). Thus, the thematic grids for the verbs *give* and *send* will be: give \< AGENT, THEME, BENEFICIARY/ GOAL\> send \ An easy way to identify AGENT-NP is to check whether adverbs denoting volition or intention, such as: *willingly, deliberately, intentionally* can be inserted in the sentence: a\. Tim deliberately rolled the ball towards the fence. b\. \*The ball deliberately rolled towards the fence. Since the adverb *deliberately* can be inserted in sentence (a), *Tim* is the real performer of the action, the AGENT in the thematic grid of the verb *roll*. On the other hand, the adverb *deliberately* cannot be inserted in sentence (b). The argument *the ball* has the thematic role of PATIENT (or THEME) in both examples. **[SYNTACTIC PROPERTIES OF AUXILIARY VERBS (NICE)]** The auxiliary verbs HAVE and BE take part in the syntactic processes of negation, inversion, coda and emphasis, hence the acronym NICE. **1.Negation**. In negative sentences the negative marker *not* is inserted after the auxiliary HAVE or BE: You **have not** seen Mary You **are not** writing a letter. When the negator *not* occurs in its contracted form *n't*, it is attached to the auxiliary with which it forms a single phonological unit: You **haven't** seen Mary. You **aren't** writing a letter. It is also possible to combine the pronominal subject with the contracted form of the auxiliary, while the negator remains in its full form: You**'re not** ready. **2.Inversion**. The auxiliary verbs HAVE or BE are inverted with the subject in *yes-no* questions, *wh*-questions and tag questions: **3.Coda**. When repetition of the VP must be avoided, the auxiliary verbs HAVE and BE are preserved in reduced coordinate clauses: Bethy has danced, and Sandy has \[VP ~~danced\]~~, too. Bethy has danced, and Sandy **has**, too. Bethy was dancing, and Sandy was \[VP ~~dancing\]~~, too. Bethy was dancing, and Sandy **was**, too. As shown in these examples, ellipsis of the Verb Phrase is possible only after an auxiliary verb. Furthermore, the insertion of *so* in affirmative sentences or *neither* in negative sentences triggers inversion between the subject and the auxiliary: Bethy has danced, and so has Sandy. Bethy was dancing, and so was Sandy. Bethy has not danced, and neither has Sandy. Bethy was not dancing, and neither was Sandy. **4.Emphasis**. In emphatic statements, there is stress on the auxiliary verbs HAVE and BE (stress on words is marked by capital letters): My boss thinks I haven't finished my work, but I HAVE finished it. My mom thought I wasn't studying hard, but I WAS studying hard. The NICE properties of the auxiliary DO --------------------------------------- DO is an auxiliary verb that helps or 'supports' certain syntactic processes on the lexical verb when there is no already available auxiliary in the sentence, i.e., when the lexical verb is in the present simple or past simple tense. DO- support is required in: negation, inversion, coda and emphasis. **1.Negation**. The negative sentence can be derived from the affirmative one, by inserting the auxiliary DO and the negator *not*: I like your new hat. I **do not** like your new hat. The auxiliary DO and the contracted form *n't* can combine to form a single phonological unit *don't*: I **don't** like your new hat. Negative imperatives also require DO*-*support: **Don't** worry! **Don't** move! **2.Inversion**. The auxiliary DO is inserted in pre-subject position in *yes-no* You like my new hat. **Do** you like my new hat? What **do** you like? You like my new hat, **don't** you? Note that in *wh*-questions addressed to the subject, there is no DO-insertion: Who likes my new hat? **3.Coda** involves ellipsis of repeated material. When repetition must be avoided, the auxiliary verb DO replaces a repeated complement (usually a VP), as in the following structures: a.In short answers to *yes-no* questions, DO stands for the whole predicate: Do you like my new hat? Yes, I \[VP ~~like your new hat\]~~. Do you like my new hat? Yes, I **do**. b.The auxiliary DO replaces repeated material in coordinate structures introduced by *and so*, *and neither*. Consider an example that illustrates ellipsis in coordination of affirmative clauses with repeated material: \[I arrived late\] and \[my friend \[VP ~~arrived late\]~~, too\]. (VP-ellipsis) \[I arrived late\] **and \[**my friend **did**, too\].(*do*-insertion) \[I arrived late\] **and \[so did** my friend\].(inversion) After deletion of the repeated VP (*arrived late*), the auxiliary DO is inserted in the position left empty by the deleted VP. The insertion of the adverb *so* in clause initial position triggers the inversion of the auxiliary DO with the subject. Ellipsis can also occur in coordination of two negative clauses with repeated material: \[He didn't like coffee\] and \[his wife didn't \[VP ~~like coffee\]~~, either\]. \[He didn't like coffee\] and \[his wife didn't, either\]. (VP ellipsis) \[He didn't like coffee\] **and \[neither did** his wife\]. (inversion) After deletion of the repeated VP (*like coffee*), the negator *not* combines with *either* to produce the negative counterpart *neither*. The insertion of *neither* in clause initial position triggers the inversion between the auxiliary DID and the subject. c.DO is inserted to avoid repetition of a VP in comparative clauses introduced by the conjunction *than*: Mary works harder \[than her sister \[VP ~~works\]~~\]. Mary works harder \[than her sister **does\]**. **4.Emphasis**. The auxiliary DO is used as a means of **emphasizing** a statement in the following contexts: a.DO emphasizes a positive statement, often introduced by the coordinating conjunction *but*, in contrast with a preceding negative one: My teacher thinks I didn't study for my test, but I studied. (negative statement) (positive statement) My teacher thinks I didn't study for my test, but I **DID** study. (negative statement) (positive statement) The capital letters indicate that the auxiliary verb is stressed. In negative emphatic polarity the stress is placed on the negative element: You're wrong. I **DID** NOT move it. (emphatic negative) b.The emphatic auxiliary DO co-occurs with a negative expression such as the adverb *never:* c.DO appears in the main clause when it stands in contrast with a preceding concessive clause: d.DO co-occurs with emphatic adverbs (*definitely, positively, certainly*) in answers to *yes/ no* questions: e.An affirmative imperative does not allow DO*-*support unless it is emphatic. Emphatic imperatives occur especially in British English to express an entreaty: **[THE NICE PROPERTIES OF THE MODAL VERBS]** 1. In negative sentences, the negator *not* can attach to the modal, in an uncontracted or in a contracted form: 2. In interrogative sentences, inversion of the subject with the modal takes place in all types of questions (*yes-no* questions, non-subject *wh*-questions, tag questions), except for subject *wh*-questions: 3. Modal verbs appear in coordinate clauses introduced by *and so* (also known as 'coda' or coordinate *so*-clauses with ellipsis of the VP). The insertion of *so* triggers subject-modal inversion: 4. Emphatic affirmation is also possible with the emphatic modal *shall* Other modal verbs do not have a past form (*must, need, ought*). Such single form modals can be used in past contexts in reported speech as well: All these properties clearly show that modals have a non-lexical status, i.e., their syntactic behavior is different from that of lexical verbs. **[PERIPHRASTIC MODALS]** **Periphrastic modal verbs** (also known as semi-modal verbs, phrasal modal verbs) are very closely related to pure modals in terms of meaning, but do not share all their grammatical characteristics (Quirk et al 1985, Palmer 1987, Westney 1995): **modals** **periphrastics** ---------------------------- Periphrastic modal verbs have a suppletive role, that is they 'supply' the forms missing in the tense paradigm of the modal verbs: He can/could swim. He is/was able to swim. He will be able to swim. He has/had been able to swim. He will have been able to swim. He may come later. He is/was allowed to come later. He will be allowed to come later. The periphrastic modal: HAVE TO ------------------------------- HAVE TO, the periphrastic equivalent of the modal verb *must*, has the NICE properties. It is preferably used with *do*-support in interrogative and negative sentences: Contracted forms of *have to* are favored in informal English: The periphrastic modal *have to* without *do*-support is rarely used and it is felt to be somewhat old-fashioned: In a coda structure, the periphrastic *have to* can also occur with or without *do*- support: Emphatic affirmation can be expressed in two ways: either the verb carries the stress itself and then it does not take *do*-support or the periphrastic *have to* takes *do*-support, which marks the emphasis: Yes, I HAVE to carry them all over the place. Yes, I DO HAVE to carry them all over the place. He HAS to tell the truth. He DOES HAVE to tell the truth. Forms of the idiomatic modal *have got to* are also available, but they cannot occur with DO, because they are perfect forms of the verb *get*: The periphrastic modals: BE ABLE TO, BE ALLOWED TO -------------------------------------------------- The structure of these periphrastic equivalents, also known as semi-auxiliaries, is: **be + adjective/participle + to infinitive**. Examples are: *be able to, be allowed to, be supposed to, be obliged to* (see Westney 1995: 18). Due to the presence of the verb *be*, such periphrastics can be used in all syntactic configurations typical of modal verbs: Unlike modal verbs, the periphrastic modals may co-occur with other modals or other verbs: It should be noted that there is a difference between pure modals and periphrastic modals as far as the infinitive following them is concerned. Pure modal verbs are followed by a short infinitive, either active or passive: In contrast, periphrastic modals take a long infinitive in the active voice. The passive infinitive yields ungrammatical examples: Concerning the frequency of occurrence of modal verbs in English, the modals *can*, *will*, and *would* are extremely common, while at the other extreme, the modal *shall* is relatively rare. **[THE LINK VERB IN THE COPULATIVE PREDICATION]** The structure of the copulative predicate ----------------------------------------- A copulative predicate consists of a **copulative (link/ linking) verb** and a **predicative**. The Predicative may be adjectival or nominal: a. Mary is \[AP buxom\]. (*be* + AP) b. Mary is \[NP his fiancée\]. (*be* + NP) c. Mary is \[PP of his age\]. (*be* + PP) d. Mary's hobby is \[collecting stamps\]. (*be* + gerundial clause) e. Her dream is \[to marry my son\]. (*be* + infinitival clause) f. The trouble is \[that they are too young\]. (*be* + *that*-complement clause) **The adjectival predicative** is expressed by an Adjective Phrase, as in (a). **The nominal predicative** is realized by a Noun Phrase in (b), a Prepositional Phrase in (c) or a clause (gerundial clause, infinitival clause or *that*- complement clause) in (d, e, f). The link verb ------------- The first component of the copulative predication is the link verb, which fulfills certain functions in the predication: John **is** rude. John was/ will be/ has been/ had been/ is being rude. ----------------------------------------------------- The role of the copulative verb *be* as a part of the predicate is threefold: 1. to 'link' or connect the Subject to the Predicative; 2. to realize agreement with the Subject NP in person and number; 3. to indicate Tense and Aspect in the sentence. There are two types of copulative verbs: a. Semantically empty/ dummy: *be* b. Semantically poor verbs: *become, go, run, remain, lie, stand,* etc. A list of semantically poor linking verbs would also include: *appear (happy), become/ come (true), fall (sick), feel (annoyed), get (ready), go (sour), grow (tired), look (dejected), remain (uncertain), run (wild), seem (restless), smell* *(sweet), sound (surprised), taste (bitter), turn (sour),* etc. Obviously, the copular uses of these verbs must be distinguished from their intransitive uses: - sensory copulative verbs. Each sensory perception has a copulative verb associated with it that is usually followed by an adjective or a *like*- PP: - stative copulative verbs (*seem, appear, remain*) show that the subject is in a particular state, expressed by an adjective: - change of state copulative verbs (*become, turn, grow, get*) are followed by adjectives that express the result of the change. *Become* can be followed by a noun or an adjective: The link verb BE vs. The semantically poor link verbs ----------------------------------------------------- **Function.** The link verb BE is the prototypical copular verb. Just like the link verb BE, the semantically poor copulative verbs relate the subject-NP of the sentence to a predicative, which is the actual property assigner. **Semantically**, the link verb BE does not carry any substantive meaning at all. In contrast, the semantically poor copulative verbs preserve some of the substantive meaning of their fully lexical counterparts: Both the link verb BE and the semantically poor link verbs can carry aspectual information: **Morphologically**, just like the auxiliary BE, the link verb BE and the semantically poor link verbs allow all tense and aspect combinations: Auxiliary BE Link verb BE Semantically poor verbs **Syntactically**, the link verb BE behaves like an auxiliary verb, i.e., it has the NICE properties; it appears in negative and interrogative sentences, in coordinate *so*-clauses and in emphatic statements: Thus, the link verb BE is negated directly by the negator *not*, it takes part in inversion to form questions, it is inverted in coordinate *so*-clauses and it is stressed in emphatic affirmations. The difference between the auxiliary verbs and the link verb BE is that the auxiliary is followed by a VP, while the link verb BE takes a NP, AP or a clause (CP) functioning as predicative: Sam is \[VP driving a car\]. aux. BE Sam is \[AP brave\] Sam is \[NP a good driver\] The truth is \[CP that Sam is a good driver\]. cop. BE From a syntactic point of view, semantically poor link verbs behave like lexical verbs: Just like fully lexical verbs, semantically poor link verbs need DO-support to form negative and interrogative sentences, coda and emphatic affirmation. Unlike the link verb BE, semantically poor link can only combine with an AP or a NP, not with a clause: In terms of frequency, the link verb BE is the most common verb taking an adjectival complement. Other common link verbs are: *become, get, look* and *feel*. The Predicative The second component of the copulative predication is the predicative. The predicative is referentially dependent on the NP-Subject, to which it assigns an attribute or an identity: The identifying predicative is typically reversible, i.e., the Subject and the Predicative can change positions: -- -- -- -- -- -- Traditional grammarians often label this function **Subject Complement** (or subjective complement in Huddleston and Pullum (2005: chp. 4.4). The predicative imposes semantic restrictions on the subject: Jane is pretty. \*Jane is handsome. The subject of the sentence receives a theta-role from the predicative 'the state of being pretty' or 'the state of being handsome'. The predicative *pretty* can only combine with a \[+ human, +female\] NP-subject, while the predicative *handsome* requires a \[+ human; +male\] NP-subject. In the ungrammatical examples, the property denoted by the predicative cannot be assigned (attributed) to the entity denoted by the subject. **[THE ADJECTIVAL PREDICATIVE]** The adjectival predicative is expressed by an Adjectival Phrase: Thus, the adjectives that are used predicatively may be non-derived or derived: deverbal or denominal. Derived predicative adjectives may be: adjectives converted from present participles (*amazing*) or past participles (*disappointed*) or derived by suffixation from nouns (*hypocrite* -\> *hypocritical*) or verbs (*rely* -\> *reliable*). There are several predicative adjectives with obligatory preposition that are derived by suffixation from transitive verbs: DO PO The predicative adjective *regretful about something* is derived from the transitive verb *to regret* whose DO becomes PO in the copulative predication. Similar examples are: *forgetful about something, envious of something, hopeful of/about something, provocative of something,* etc. derived from the verbs: *to forget, to envy, to hope*, *to provoke*. These adjectives are more frequently used in formal style. There are certain adjectives in English that can only occur as predicatives and indicate a state or condition. They are prefixed by *a-* and may take a preposition: *ablaze, afraid, aghast, akin, ajar, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, askew, asleep, averse, awake,* etc. The man was **alive**. The town was **ablaze** \[PP with lights\]. He is **averse** \[PP to hard work\]. Such adjectives cannot be used as attributes (\**an alive man, \*an ablaze town*)*.* *Afraid, ashamed* and *awake* may take complement clauses: Another group of Predicative adjectives take an obligatory preposition: *fond of, conducive to, subject to, prone to, exempt from*, *tantamount to,* etc.: With the prepositional adjectives *glad of, content with*, etc., the PO can be replaced by a clause: **Subcategorization of predicative adjectives according to Subject selection** Predicative adjectives can be classified based on the sematic features of the subject they select. Consider the semantic features of subject-NP that is associated with each predicative adjective in the examples below: -- -- -- -- -- -- As we can notice, each predicative adjective can be combined with a certain subject-NP. Thus, four types of predicative adjectives can be distinguished. a.Predicative adjectives such as *polite* exclusively take a \[+human\] Subject: *amiable, frank, glad, humane, imaginative, impudent, ingenious, intelligent, sincere, sorry,* etc. Some of these adjectives are polar, that is they form antonymic pairs: *clever -- dull, careful -- careless, sincere -- hypocritical, talkative -- silent,* etc. b.Predicative adjectives that select an animate Subject, be it human or animal, include: *agile, attentive, eager, hungry, sleepy, tired, wicked, playful, alive, dead*, etc. c.Predicative adjectives that take a \[+concrete\] Subject include: adjectives expressing attributes, such as colour (*violet, purple, blue*, etc.), shape (*square, rectangular, triangular, round*, etc.) and polar ones (*big -- small, long -- short, thick -- thin, new -- old,* etc.) d.Predicative adjectives that select an abstract subject, which is frequently a sentential one, are: *hard, easy, difficult, simple, advisable, necessary, natural, doubtless, certain, likely*, etc. **[THE NOMINAL PREDICATIVE]** The Nominal Predicative may be expressed by a NP, a PP or a clause. Nominal predicatives realized by an indefinite NP such as: *a shame, a pity, no wonder, no doubt*, etc. express the speaker's attitude: Nominal predicatives expressed by a PP take an obligatory preposition, i.e., the preposition cannot be replaced by any other preposition. Often, nominal predicatives introduced by a preposition are parts of idioms: -- -- --------- (idiom) (idiom) (idiom) (idiom) -- -- --------- The nominal predicative expressed by a prepositional phrase is quite well represented in English particularly in the idiomatic area. The link verb BE followed by a NP is an extremely common pattern, BE + adjectival phrase is also very common, predicatives expressed by complement clauses are relatively rare. Overall, prepositional phrases are the least common type of predicative. **TYPES OF INTRANSITIVE VERBS: SIMPLE (PHRASAL, REFLEXIVE) AND COMPLEX** Intransitive predications minimally contain the Subject of the sentence and an intransitive verb: Intransitive verbs are of two types: simple and complex. **Simple intransitive** verbs require the presence of only one obligatory constituent in the sentence, the Subject. **Complex intransitive verbs** take, in addition to the Subject, a second obligatory constituent that may be a Prepositional Object or an Adverbial Modifier. Simple intransitive verbs ------------------------- **Syntactic configurations with intransitive verbs.** Simple intransitive verbs appear in structures with only one other obligatory constituent, the NP subject. The thematic roles typically assigned to the subject NP are: AGENT, PATIENT, EXPERIENCER: Intransitive verbs with a PATIENT subject are also known as **ergative verbs**. They have transitive counterparts with a causative meaning: The PATIENT Subject of an ergative verb corresponds to the PATIENT Direct Object of the transitive use of the same verb: However, intransitive verbs can also take optional constituents functioning as Adverbial Modifiers of various kinds: **Simple intransitive verbs + Particle** (also known as **Phrasal Verbs)** evince a high degree of idiomaticity and can be grouped based on the meaning of the particle: a.The Particles with the strongest meaning are the [locative] and [directional] ones, like *along, away, back, by, down, forth, forward, in, off, on, out, past, round, through, under, up,* etc.: [b.Aspectual] particles refer to the temporal dimension of the event, i.e., they indicate the beginning, the continuation or the ending of an activity. The same particles as above are used to suggest the [ingressive] (incipient) character of the event: The [durative] aspect is rendered by *on* and *away* which indicate the continuation of the event. Most verbs combine freely with the particle *on* (*to speak on, work on, walk on, eat on, read on,* etc.). *Away* is more limited contextually: The [terminative] (egressive) aspect is rendered by combinations of intransitive verbs with the particles: *out, away, through, off* and *up*: Reflexive verbs --------------- The intransitive verbs that take an obligatory or optional reflexive pronoun are called **reflexive verbs**. **Inherent reflexive verbs** are intransitive verbs that occur with an obligatory reflexive pronoun (see Levin 1993: 107). Such verbs cannot be used in transitive configurations, i.e., they ordinarily lack Direct Objects: English has few inherent reflexive verbs and they are felt to be rather obsolete: *to bethink oneself, to behave oneself, to comport oneself, to compose oneself, perjure oneself,* etc. On the other hand, there are reflexive verbs in English with an optional reflexive pronoun: *to bathe, to shave, to shower, to dress, to wash,* etc. Such verbs may be used either as reflexives or as non-reflexives (transitive or intransitive): Reflexive verbs that occur in configurations with obligatory prepositions are called **prepositional reflexive verbs.** The following inherent reflexive verbs co-occur with a PP: *to absent oneself from something*, *to ingratiate oneself with somebody, to pride oneself on something, to busy oneself with something, to endear oneself to somebody,* etc.: There is a subclass of verbs with obligatory preposition that can appear either as prepositional reflexive verbs or as prepositional transitive verbs: There is another group of intransitive reflexive verbs that are followed by a preposition and a reflexive pronoun: *to come to oneself, (to do something), to fend for oneself*, etc. The group of reflexive verbs with a particle is illustrated by: *to burn oneself out, to dig oneself in* (of soldiers), *to brace oneself for something, to take oneself out, to tog oneself out/ up in sth.* etc. Complex intransitive verbs -------------------------- Complex intransitives are two-place predicates, that is they take a Subject as a left neighbor of the verb and a Prepositional Object or an Adverbial Modifier as a right neighbor. Complex intransitive verbs can be grouped into the following: Prepositional intransitives --------------------------- Such complex intransitive verbs take an obligatory preposition that introduces a PP functioning as PO: *to break into, to provide for, to cope with*: By passivization, the Object of the Preposition is moved to initial sentence position, while the Agentive Subject becomes a by-NP, which may be deleted: As a result, the preposition gets separated from its Object and remains attached to the verb, i.e., the preposition remains in situ. In sentences with prepositional intransitive verbs, emphasis on the PO may be obtained by topicalization, i.e., movement of the PO to pre-subject position: Prepositional phrasal intransitive verbs. ----------------------------------------- These are phrasal verbs that take a fixed preposition followed by its Object: *to do away with something, to come up with something, to put up with something, to look forward to something*, etc. These complex intransitive verbs occur in the pattern: **intransitive verb + particle + preposition**: Modern medicines have not done away \[PP with this disease\]. verb + particle + preposition I cannot put up \[PP with your behavior\] any longer. verb + particle + preposition By passivization, the Object of the Preposition becomes subject of the passive sentence, while the preposition remains in situ: Emphasis on the PO can be achieved by topicalization, i.e., by displacing the PO and moving it to pre-subject position: Intransitives with Indirect Object ---------------------------------- Such complex intransitive verbs take an obligatory IO marked by the preposition *to*: Semantically, these verbs belong to the groups of: eventive verbs (*happen to sb.*), verbs of seeming *(seem to sb., appear to sb.),* verbs of mental process *(occur to sb.),* verbs of perception *(sound, taste)*: Relational verbs that express possession (*belong to, pertain to*) or inferiority relations (*submit to sb./sth., yield/succumb to sth.)* also take a *to*-NP as an IO: Intransitives with two Prepositional Objects. --------------------------------------------- A first group includes verbs with an IO expressed by a \[+human\] NP and a PO (which indicates the topic, the cause or the purpose of the action): *to lecture to sb. on sth., to appeal to sb. for sth., to apologize to sb. for sth., to apply to sb. for sth., to speak to sb. about sth*., etc.: Another group includes verbs that take two POs: a first Object in a *with-*NP, indicating a human participant in the respective activity and a second Object, denoting the topic of conversation: *to argue with sb. about sth., to discuss with sb. about sth., to agree/disagree with sb. about sth.*, etc.: PO PO Intransitives with adverbial modifiers. Such complex intransitive verbs obligatorily take adverbial modifiers of various types: time, manner, place. The verbs *cost, weigh, owe*, (often treated erroneously as transitive), actually take quantifying adverbials that indicate price or weight. **[TYPES OF TRANSITIVE VERBS: SIMPLE AND COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS]** Monotransitive verbs -------------------- Types of monotransitive verbs classified by the Object they select. ------------------------------------------------------------------- a. **Transitive verbs with affected object** include monotransitives which indicate activities associated with affected objects: *break (a bowl, a window), brush (a hat, a coat), burn (paper, oil), carry (a box), catch (a ball, a train), clean (a room, a skirt), clear (a desk, the table), close/shut (a door), drive (a car), eat (vegetables), miss (a train, a target), move (the furniture), open (a shop), operate (a machine), read (a book), ring (a bell), wipe (the dust)*, etc. affected Object b. **Transitive verbs with effected/ resultative object** often take a PO to which they assign the role of the BENEFICIARY of the respective activity, expressed by a *for/to*-NP. The DO-referent indicates the result or the effect of the action denoted by the verb. They constructed a raft. \[+concrete\] The allies constructed a new strategy. \[+abstract\] They manufacture goods. \[+concrete\] They had manufactured the terrorist story. The noun functioning as Cognate Object is zero-related to the verb (for example, the noun *laugh* is converted or zero-derived from the verb *laugh*) and semantically, the noun spells-out the same event that the verb describes. The Cognate Object is taken by inherently intransitive verbs (i.e., verbs that ordinarily lack Direct Objects) which are reinterpreted as transitive verbs: *to smile a smile, to fly a flight, to grin a grin, to pray a prayer,* or by transitive verbs: *to scream a scream, to produce a product, to build a building, to give a gift*. For a semantic classification of verbs that select cognate objects, see Levin (1993: 95-98). The Cognate Object NP may take a definite, an indefinite or a possessive determiner (see Höche 2009: 209-213): -- -- -- -- -- -- Thus, monotransitive verbs with abstract DO may be subdivided into The \[-complementation\] verbs with abstract DO include: abrogate (a law), *accomplish (a task), achieve (a purpose), adopt (a method), control (prices), secure (conditions).* The \[+complementation\] type of verbs includes verbs of mental process, as well as verbs of linguistic communication: *admit, advise, announce, arrange, assert, assume, consider, doubt, estimate, expect, foresee, imagine, learn, prove, propose, realize, recollect, suppose, suggest, think*, etc. Semantic classes of monotransitive verbs ---------------------------------------- Based on the meaning they convey, monotransitive verbs are classified into three types: relational, psychological, and causative. **a.Relational verbs** express symmetric or asymmetric relations between their arguments. **Symmetric relations** are expressed by **reciprocal verbs** *(marry, divorce, embrace, kiss, meet, resemble,* etc.)*.* They allow the Subject and the Object to change positions: **b.Psychological verbs** convey emotions or states of mind of a human participant, that is why such verbs always take an EXPERIENCER in their Subject Experiencer verbs like: *love, admire, adore, despise, appreciate,* take a \[+human\] NP with the thematic role of EXPERIENCER in Subject position, and a THEME (of emotion) in Object position. Object Experiencer verbs like: *entertain, surprise, amaze, astonish, embarrass, bore, please,* etc., may be agentive (with an AGENT in Subject position), or non-agentive (with a THEME of emotion/ CAUSE in subject position). **[CAUSATIVE VERBS ]** **Causative verbs** are transitive verbs that express direct causation of an event *(cause, make, get)* or an event in which causation is implied: *kill* (*cause sb. to die), teach (cause sb. to learn)*, etc. Syntactically, causative constructions are all transitive, owing to the fact that causation implies two participants/roles: a causer and an affected or an effected (resulting) entity: Causative verbs are of three types: periphrastic, lexical and morphological. Periphrastic causatives. ------------------------ This group of verbs includes: *cause, determine, make, have, get,* which have a very general causative meaning. The verb *cause* is the most frequently used causative verb: a. The computerization of industry caused unemployment. b. The argument caused a sudden parting with his friends. Semantically, they render the idea of causation neutrally, with the exception of *have* and *get* which may have an additional tinge of compulsion or order: Lexical causatives. ------------------- intransitive  transitive ------------------------- (= cause sth. to fall) -- -- ------------------------ (= cause sth. to lie) (=cause sth. to rise) adjective  causative verb -------------------------- a. prefixation: **prefix + adjective stem**  **causative verb** b. suffixation: **adjective stem + suffix**  **causative verb** noun  causative verb --------------------- **Affixation** produces causative verbs by attaching prefixes or suffixes to noun stems: -- -- ---- -- --- -- \+   -- -- ---- -- --- -- Other examples are: Further examples are: Both derivational processes (prefixation and suffixation) yield causatives from adjective or from noun stems, such as: *acclimatize, deactivate, decentralize, demoralize, denaturalize, devitalize, enlighten, dishearten, invalidate,* etc.: prefix + adjective/noun stem + suffix  causative verb ------------------------------------------------------ As concerns productivity, morphological causatives are only mildly (quasi) productive today, with the exception of derivatives ending in *-ize (computerize).* Ditransitive verbs ------------------ Besides the typically two-place predicates, transitive verbs may also function as three-place predicates. Ditransitive verbs (*give, send, offer*) take a DO and an IO. Some of these verbs allow the DO to change positions with the IO. This property is called **the dative alternation**: In the **oblique object construction** (also called the **prepositional object construction**), the IO follows the DO and it is introduced by the preposition *to*, while in the double object construction the IO occurs immediately after the verb without a preposition. Ditransitive verbs with a *to*-Indirect Object indicate the transfer of an object to a Recipient and they fall into several classes: a. the 'bring' class: *bring, take, carry, hand, haul, pass, push*, etc. b. the 'give' class: *award, give, lease, lend, loan, pay, rent, sell,* etc. c. the 'send' class: *float, forward, push, roll, ship, throw, toss*, etc. d. the communication verbs: *radio, phone, read, write*, etc. e. the 'promise' class: *allot, assign, grant, guarantee, offer, permit,* etc. Other ditransitive verbs (*buy, cook, make*) take a DO and an IO with the thematic role of Beneficiary, which can change positions. This property is called **the benefactive alternation**: Ditransitive verbs with a *for*-Indirect Object denote actions undertaken by an Agent for the benefit of the Indirect Object referent. The thematic role corresponding to the IO is the Beneficiary: a. the 'make' class (also creative act verbs): *boil, cook, draw, knit, make, paint*, etc. b. the 'buy' class contains verbs denoting activities involving selection: c. verbs of artistic performance: *dance, play, recite, sing,* etc. d. the 'earn' class: *earn, gain, win*, etc. Not all ditransitive verbs allow the alternation of the objects. There are ditransitive verbs like *explain, recommend, prescribe, describe* that can only occur in the oblique object construction: Other ditransitive verbs like *spare, cost, envy* can only appear in the double object construction: Complex transitive verbs ------------------------ Complex transitive verbs take, in addition to a Direct Object, another obligatory constituent, functioning as Prepositional Object, Adverbial Modifier or Predicative. Transitive verbs with Prepositional Object ------------------------------------------ Verbs belonging to this group take a \[*+human*\] Subject-NP, a \[*+human*\] Direct Object-NP and a \[*+/-abstract*\] Prepositional Object-NP: *accuse sb. of sth., acquaint sb. with sth., advise sb. of/about sth., blame sb. for sth., bully sb. into sth., charge sb. with sth., congratulate sb. on/for sth., convince sb. of sth., discourage sb. from sth., inform sb. of/about sth., instruct sb. in sth., notify sb. of sth., remind sb. of sb., reproach sb. with sth., suspect sb. of sth., thank sb. for sth., warn sb. of/about sth.:* Semantically, most of these are verbs of communication; they denote inter- human relationships. Transitive verbs with Adverbial Modifier ---------------------------------------- Some motion verbs take a Direct Object and an Adverbial of Place. They indicate a change of position, caused by a movement performed by an Agent: There is a group of verbs, semantically specialized for denoting a decrease or an increase of the amount of substance (*empty, heap, load, pile, rob, stock, etc*.) that allow the Adverbial Modifier of Place to be promoted to Object position, while the former DO becomes PO, typically introduced by the preposition *of* or *with*: Transitive verbs with Predicative. ---------------------------------- Complex transitive verbs belonging to this class take an affected Direct Object followed by Predicative, which may be adjectival or nominal: With the causative verbs (*appoint, christen, designate, elect, name, nominate, etc.)*, the Predicative is nominal, denoting the name, the title, or the position acquired by the protagonist as a result of the naming: Since the phrase functioning as Predicative describes the result of the action named by the verb, such structures are also known as resultative constructions