Thanks Dick and Craig--great answers as always. You guys and ATEG continue to be a great resource! John On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > John,**** > > For fairly extensive coverage of this, see Halliday and Matthiessen, > An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 3rd edition, roughly pages > 287-290. **** > > This is probably a frame of reference not shared by many on the list. > But Halliday distinguishes between transitive/intransitive pairs (The > tourist hunted the lion, the tourist hunted) and non-ergative/ergative > pairs (Mary cooked the rice for two hours/ The rice cooked for two hours. ) > **** > > I agree with Dick that “the tomatoes grew” would be intransitive > because the tomatoes are growing of their own volition, which is not true > of the rice.**** > > The nail tore the cloth/ The cloth tore. I spilled the milk/ The milk > spilled. The sun dried up the fields/ The fields dried up. I broke the > mirror/ The mirror broke into a hundred pieces. These are > non-ergative/ergative pairs. ** ** > > In each case, the one indispensable element is called the *medium*. > In these non-ergative/ergative pairs, the medium is capable of being object > or subject without the clause being passive. **** > > Halliday goes on to say that these are increasingly widespread in > English and part of a “complex process of semantic change” that, among > other things, tends to “emphasize the textual function” over the > “experiential.” That might just be a way of saying that we know full well > that clothes don’t tear and milk doesn’t spill and fields don’t dry up and > rice doesn’t cook of their own volition, but we can obscure agency when we > construct sentences about them. When we say “the tomatoes grew” > (intransitive) we are calling attention to the fact that tomatoes are > agents of their own growing. When we say “the rice cooked,” we are > attending to the rice while connoting that it is a medium, but not an > agent of its own change.**** > > I should say, again, that this is the view expressed within systemic > functional grammar. It probably makes more sense within that framework than > it would independently.**** > > ** ** > > Craig**** > > **** > > *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Dick Veit > *Sent:* Thursday, February 28, 2013 8:38 AM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: I'm Curious**** > > ** ** > > John, > > This is sometimes called the "passival," where the subject of certain > active verbs can be used in the progressive as a kind of passive. Other > examples:**** > > - The water is boiling. [i.e., being boiled]**** > - The cookies are baking.**** > - The laundry is soaking.**** > > The passival was formerly in general use (The house is building) but is > now restricted to a few verbs.**** > > I don't think "growing" is an example of this, since the verb has both > transitive and intransitive definitions. > > Dick**** > > On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 7:23 AM, John Crow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:**** > > What's up with the following pair of sentences?**** > > 1. The Smiths are selling their furniture.**** > 2. The plants are selling like hotcakes.**** > > > - #1 is obviously a standard present progressive SVO. Is #2 just an > intransitive form of "to sell"? **** > - Are there other examples like this or is this idiosyncratic to > "sell"?**** > > Just thought of another possible candidate:**** > > - John is growing cauliflower.**** > - The cauliflower is growing bigger every day.**** > > Thanks,**** > > John**** > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" **** > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ **** > > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" **** > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ ** ** > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select > "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/