Intransitive Verb - Unaccusative and Unergative Verbs

Unaccusative and Unergative Verbs

Especially in some languages, it makes sense to classify intransitive verbs as:

  • unaccusative when the subject is not an agent; that is, it does not actively initiate the action of the verb (e.g. "die", "fall").
  • unergative when they have an agent subject (e.g. "run", "talk", "resign").

This distinction may in some cases be reflected in the grammar, where for instance different auxiliary verbs may be used for the two categories.

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