For verbs with the general meaning to “destroy” or to “create” (see ): If there is no voice opposition, the NP which has the semantic role of agent (the one who creates or destroys) will be identified as the subject and the NP which has the semantic role of patient (what is created or destroyed) will be identified as the direct object
Standardized
With verbs with the general meaning ‘destroy’ or ‘create’, agents will be subject and patients direct object in basic (active) constructions.
Keywords
verb, transitivity, subject, direct object, agent, patient
See also Comrie 1978, mentioned in Kozinsky 1995: 152. The same observation has been made a thousand times before and after. The implication is that in ergative constructions these verbs also have agent as subject and patient as object, rather than the other way around, as has sometimes been argued.
):
See also Comrie 1978, mentioned in Kozinsky 1995: 152. The same observation has been made a thousand times before and after. The implication is that in ergative constructions these verbs also have agent as subject and patient as object, rather than the other way around, as has sometimes been argued.