Collins Cobuild English Grammar (71 page)

tug (at)

twiddle (with)

verbs of movement

3.58
    Many of the verbs that can take an object or a prepositional phrase are verbs, such as
wander
and
cross
, that describe physical movement. The preposition is one that indicates place, and so allows you to emphasize the physical position of the subject in relation to the object.

He
wandered the halls of the Art Institute
.
He
wandered through the streets of New York
.
I
crossed the Mississippi
.
The car
had crossed over the river
to Long Island.
We
climbed the mountain
.
I
climbed up the tree
.

Here is a list of verbs that describe movement, and examples of the prepositions that can follow them:

chase (after)

climb (up)

cross (over)

jump (over)

leap (over)

reach (across)

roam (over)

roam (through)

run (across)

skirt (round)

walk (through)

wander (through)

Changing your focus by changing the subject:
I opened the door
,
The door opened

3.59
    Some verbs allow you to describe an action from the point of view of the performer of the action or from the point of view of something that is affected by the action. This means that the same verb can be used with an object, or without an object, and without the original performer being mentioned.

In the first example below,
the door
is the object of the verb
opened
, but in the second example
the door
is the subject of
opened
and there is no mention of who opened the door.

I opened
the door
and peered into the room.
Suddenly
the door
opened.
An explosion shook
the rooms
.
The whole room
shook.

Note that the object of the transitive verb, which is the subject of the intransitive verb, usually refers to a thing, not a person.

Verbs that can have the same thing as their object, when transitive, or their subject, when intransitive, are called
ergative verbs
. There are several hundred ergative verbs in regular use in current English.

changes

3.60
    Many ergative verbs describe events that involve a change from one state to another.

He
was slowing
his pace.
She was aware that the aircraft’s taxiing pace
had slowed
.
I
shattered
the glass.
Wine bottles
had shattered
all over the pavement.
They
have closed
the town’s only pub.
The street markets
have closed
.
The firm
has changed
its name.
Over the next few months their work pattern
changed
.
The driver
stopped
the car.
A big car
stopped
.

3.61
    Here is a list of ergative verbs that describe events involving a change of some kind:

age

begin

bend

bleach

break

burn

burst

change

close

continue

crack

darken

decrease

diminish

disperse

double

drown

dry

empty

end

fade

finish

grow

improve

increase

open

quicken

rot

shatter

shrink

shut

slow

split

spread

start

stick

stop

stretch

tear

thicken

widen

worsen

food, movement, vehicles

3.62
    There are many other ergative verbs that relate specifically to certain areas of meaning. For example, some relate to food and cooking, others describe physical movement, and others involve a vehicle as the object of the transitive verb or the subject of the intransitive verb.

I’
ve boiled
an egg.
The porridge
is boiling
.
I’
m cooking
spaghetti.
The rice
is cooking
.
The birds
turned
their heads sharply at the sound.
Vorster’s head
turned
.
She
rested
her head on his shoulder.
Her head
rested
on the edge of the table.
She
had crashed
the car twice.
Pollock’s car
crashed
into a clump of trees.

3.63
    Here is a list of verbs relating to food, physical movement, and vehicles:

bake

boil

cook

defrost

fry

melt

roast

simmer

thicken

~

balance

drop

move

rest

rock

shake

spin

stand

steady

swing

turn

~

back

crash

drive

fly

park

reverse

run

sail

restrictions on ergative subjects

3.64
    Note that some verbs are used ergatively with one or two nouns only. For example, you can say
He fired a gun
or
The gun fired
. You can also say
He fired a bullet
, but you would not normally say
The bullet fired
.

I
rang
the bell.
The bell
rang
.
A car
was sounding
its horn.
A horn
sounded
in the night.
He
had caught
his sleeve on a splinter of wood.
The hat
caught
on a bolt and tore.

3.65
    Here is a list of verbs that can be used ergatively with the noun, or type of noun, that is given:

catch (an article of clothing)

fire (a gun, rifle, pistol)

play (music)

ring (a bell, the alarm)

show (an emotion such as fear, anger)

sound (a horn, the alarm)

ergative verbs that need extra information

3.66
    There are a few ergative verbs that usually have an adverb or some other phrase or clause when they are used intransitively. This is because you choose this structure when you want to emphasize how something behaves when affected in some way, and so the person who does the action is not important.

I like the new Range Rover. It
handles beautifully
.
Wool
washes well
if you treat it carefully.

Here is a list of ergative verbs that are usually followed by some extra information when they are used intransitively:

clean

freeze

handle

mark

polish

sell

stain

wash

comparison of passive and ergative use

3.67
    Note that ergative verbs perform a similar function to the
passive
because they allow you to avoid mentioning who or what does the action. For example, you could say
Jane froze a lot of peas from the garden
. If you were not interested in who froze them but in what she froze, you could say
A lot of peas were frozen
, using the passive. If you were interested in how they froze, you could say,
The peas from the garden froze really well
, making use of the fact that the verb is ergative.

For information about the
passive
, see
9.8
to
9.24
.

Verbs that involve people affecting each other with the same action:
John and Mary argued