Appendix:English ergative verbs
An ergative verb in English is an intransitive verb with a passive meaning that alternates with a transitive verb with active meaning.
A normal transitive verb like destroy in active form takes an ACTOR (the doer of an action) subject and an UNDERGOER (the person/thing having something done to it) object:
- The man destroyed the car. (transitive, active)
- the man (subject) = ACTOR
- the car (object) = UNDERGOER
In the passive counterpart to this sentence, the UNDERGOER becomes the subject:
- The car was destroyed. (intransitive, passive)
- the car (subject) = UNDERGOER
An ergative verb can have a subject that is an UNDERGOER but without being in the passive form. This is the case with sink/sank/sunk.
- The man sank the boat. (transitive, active)
- the man (subject) = ACTOR
- the boat (object) = UNDERGOER
- The boat was sunk. (intransitive, passive)
- the boat (subject) = UNDERGOER
- The boat sank. (intransitive, active) ≈ ergative
- the boat (subject) = PATIENT
Many but not all English verbs can have ergative syntax. This list is not exhaustive.
Ergative verbs should be distinguished from middle verbs (Category:English middle verbs) which require the support of some adverbial (e.g. The baggage transfers easily but not *The baggage transfers.)