Re: Neutral meaning of the particle "O"



mirror wrote:
On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 14:16:17 -0800, Dan Rempel
<drempel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

What is your definition of transitivity?


In English: A verb that takes an object without being separated
from that object by a preposition. By definition, this object is
ragarded as a "direct object." Transitivity names this
relationship, but it does not define it -- a verb that directly
bumps against an object (no preposition involved) is what defines
it.

I think it would help clarify your arguments if you used more commonly
accepted definitions for some of these terms. To the best of my
knowledge transitivity refers to the number of objects a verb takes,
without regard to the type of object. A direct object is a noun phrase
that has a particular grammatical relationship to a predicate (I don't
think objects of prepositions are referred to as "direct objects), and
so on. I've been trying to follow this thread, but I'm still really
unclear on exactly what you're trying to say, although my innate 馬鹿-
ness may have something to do with that.

Dan
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Schneider Scam
    ... linked verb (Did you see who ate the cake?). ... A direct object, on the ... preposition. ...
    (misc.transport.trucking)
  • Re: Toady toady
    ... It's the letter, not the manager, that was given, so it's not really the verb belonging to the subject. ... There isn't actually an object for "was kissed" - the verb in that instance is in the passive, so can't take a direct object. ... And it's a pity that floozie of a secretary wasn't governed by a bit of moral rectitude instead of just a preposition. ...
    (uk.media.radio.archers)
  • Re: OT: Ambiguity in natural languages (was Re: scalar context vs. list context)
    ... placement of indirect objects; they can come before or after a direct object, depending on the whim or style of the author. ... This, of course, raises the question of why such variations on double-object constructions are illegal in English, but not in German... ... If this was all about subcategorisation, the preposition would be used in both cases. ...
    (comp.lang.perl.misc)
  • Re: "Been" as a perfect of "go"
    ... for usages of auxiliaries in idiomatic constructions, ... "be" is the only verb in English that is ALWAYS ... The oddity is the use of "to", a preposition often expressing ... Like a lot of idioms, the meaning is not simple, though ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Neutral meaning of the particle "O"
    ... A verb that takes an object without being separated ... from that object by a preposition. ... knowledge transitivity refers to the number of objects a verb takes, ... although it is a syntactic feature of transitivity in English. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)