What is an ergative verb? I need a simple-language answer with some examples.?

Question

I would be most grateful for your comprehensive answers on Ergative Verbs.

Answer 1

In linguistics, an ergative verb is a verb that can be either transitive or intransitive. In addition, its subject, when used as the intransitive, will correspond to its direct object when transitive.

Ergative verbs can be divided into several categories:

Verbs suggesting a change of state — break, burst, melt, tear
Verbs of cooking — bake, boil, cook, fry
Verbs of movement — move, shake, sweep, turn
Verbs involving vehicles — drive, fly, reverse, sail

Answer 2

Wikipedia has some good examples.

I just read the article, and I'll try to explain it.

There are "transitive verbs", verbs in which one subject (like "I") interacts with an object (such as "question") directly... An example: "I answered your question".

Then there are "intransitive verbs", in which the subject is doing some action, but not to any object... like a "passive verb" so to speak. "He died"

So I guess these Ergative Verbs are verbs that can be either transitive ("aggressive") or intransitive ("passive") depending on how they're used. And that Wikipedia article gives some good examples.

Er, I hope that helps, it probably didn't and I probably got something wrong but... hopefully it at least clears up a little bit of the fog surrounding your question.

Answer 3

It helps if you understand transitive and intransitive. Transitive(Tr) is a verb that has a direct object; intransitive (ITr) does not. He hit the dog - hit is Tr. He walked home - walked is ITr.

Now, an ergative verb is one where the object of a Tr verb can become the subject of an ITr verb without reversing the meaning. E.g. He broke the toy / The toy broke. She boiled the water / The water boiled. If you look at a non-ergative He bit the dog / The dog bit - you'll perhaps see the difference more clearly.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

1. A verb that can be used in a sentense with or without an object:

- She's cooking
-She's cooking the pasta
-He's driving
-He's driving his new car

2. The object can become the subject:

- She's cooking the pasta on the stove
-The pasta is cooking on the stove

In summary:

"Ergative verbs can be divided into several categories:

Verbs suggesting a change of state — break, burst, melt, tear
Verbs of cooking — bake, boil, cook, fry
Verbs of movement — move, shake, sweep, turn
Verbs involving vehicles — drive, fly, reverse, sail "

Check out the link for more details.

Answer 5

Wow. That's complex--I teach English and hadn't come across ergative verbs!

Here's a link that might help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative_verb

Answer 6

The butter melted......the butter actually didn't 'do' anything