2. ii
University of Niš
FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
English department
MA studies
Systemic Functional Grammar
PSEUDO-INTRANSITIVES IN TEFL
(TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE)
Mentor Student
Tatjana Paunović, PhD Vladimir Nikolić, 69
Niš, 2014
3. iii
Unfortunately, I never had a significant opportunity to
express my gratitude to my beloved grandmother for
everything she had done for me.
In Memoriam - Dragoslava Nikolić (1929-2014)
4. iv
CONTENT
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………1
1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………….…....3
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.....................................................................................6
2.1. DEFINING TERMS.................................................................................................6
2.1.1. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS………………….…….6
2.1.2. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR……………………………..6
2.1.3. PSEUDO-INTRANSITIVES....................................................................8
2.2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH......................................................................................12
2.3. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS IN THE ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL CURRICULUM……………………………………………………………….…..18
3. PRESENT STUDY.............................................................................................................22
3.1. THE RESULTS......................................................................................................23
3.1.1. WORK......................................................................................................26
3.1.2. DRIVE......................................................................................................30
3.1.3. GO...........................................................................................................33
3.1.4. EAT..........................................................................................................38
3.1.5. RUN.........................................................................................................41
3.1.6. BREAK.....................................................................................................46
3.1.7. FIND........................................................................................................50
3.1.8. DISAGREE..............................................................................................54
3.1.9. READ.......................................................................................................56
3.1.10. NOMINATE...........................................................................................60
3.1.11 WAKE UP...............................................................................................63
3.1.12. TURN DOWN........................................................................................66
3.1.13. ARRIVE..................................................................................................69
5. v
3.2. THE SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF SAMPLE ANALYSIS......................72
3.3. THE RESULTS OF SENTENCES WITH PSEUDO-INTRANSITIVES.............76
4. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................77
4.1. LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH...............................................................79
4.2. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS..................................................................................79
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................81
APPENDIX...............................................................................................................................84
6. 1
Abstract
The research aims to explore several questions related to pseudo-intransitive verbs in
English. First, it examines whether, and to what extent, students that learn English as L2 can
recognize and use pseudo-intransitives in sentences in the English language. It investigates
whether students are familiar with the grammar properties of transitive and intransitive
verbs, as well as, if they make a clear difference between transitive and intransitive verbs.
Also, it explores if students know which verbs can be used transitively and which
intransitively. Finally, the research focuses on those verbs that can be used as both – in which
case students are tested on whether they are capable of recognizing pseudo-intransitives.
The theoretical background for conveying this research was provided by Systemic
Functional Grammar, which, unlike traditional grammar, recognizes pseudo-intransitive
verbs. Pseudo-intransitives are often present in everyday written and spoken form of the
English language, however, despite this fact, these verbs are neither being lectured nor
learned in elementary and high schools in Serbia. In this respect, it could be said that
traditional grammar approach is still mostly and widely applied one in elementary and high
schools in Serbia. There are no data of any research which included pseudo-intransitives in
English in Serbia. On the other hand, there are researches which included these verbs as the
topic of an investigation, as well as, the comparisons of pseudo-intransitives in English to
similar grammatical structures in other languages. These studies are presented in the
theoretical part of the paper.
The goal of this paper is, first of all, to present these verbs, and then, to emphasize
that knowing pseudo-intransitives and properties of their usage reflects on the level of
grammar knowledge and composing a sentence that is grammatically correct. The initial
assumption of this research is that students who attend third grade of high school are capable
of determining pseudo-intransitive verbs regarding that they learnt transitive and intransitive
verbs in elementary school. For this purpose, it was necessarily to briefly examine teaching
methods that are used in introducing and presenting transitive and intransitive verbs
according to the curriculum of elementary schools in Serbia. This brief analysis includes the
way transitive and intransitive verbs are introduced, taught, learnt and exercised in
elementary schools in Serbia.
In compliance with our objective, we conducted a survey, by means of a test
distributed to third year students of “Bora Stanković“ high school in Niš. The test results
were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The aim of these analyses was testing their
overall knowledge of transitive and intransitive verbs with the emphasis on whether the
students are capable of determining and using pseudo-intransitive verbs in a sentence in the
English language. The test results showed that most respondents successfully recognized
pseudo-intransitives but that they had much more difficulties in using these verbs while
composing their own sentences.
Key words: Systemic Functional Grammar, pseudo-intransitives, transitive and intransitive
verbs, EFL teaching
7. 2
Apstrakt
Ovo istraživanje ima za cilj da utvrdi da li, i u kojoj meri, učenici koji pohađaju
engleski kao strani jezik mogu da prepoznaju i upotrebe pseudo-neprelazne glagole u
rečenicama na engleskom jeziku. Istraživanje ispituje da li su učenici dovoljno dobro
upoznati sa gramatičkim svojstvima prelaznih i neprelaznih glagola, i da li prave jasnu
razliku između prelaznih i neprelaznih glagola, zatim, da li znaju koji se glagoli mogu korsiti
kao neprelazni, a koji kao prelazni glagoli, a koji kao jedno i drugo – čime se ispituje da li
mogu da prepoznaju pseudo-neprelazne glagole.
Teorijski okvir za ovo istraživanje pružila je sistematsko-funkcionalna gramatika. SFG
se za razliku od tradicionalne gramatike, koja se još uvek najšire uči i predaje u osnovnim i
srednjim školama u Srbiji, bavi pseudo-neprelaznim glagolima. Ovi glagoli su često prisutni u
svakodnevnom pisanom i govornom obliku engleskog jezika, međutim i pored te činjenice oni
se ne predaju i ne uče u osnovnim i srednjim školama u Srbiji. Nema podataka o sličnim
istraživanjima koja su uključivala pseudo-neprelazne glagole u engleskom jeziku u Srbiji.
Postoje istraživanja koja su se bavila temom pseudo-neprelaznih glagola i poređenjem ovih
glagola u engleskom sa sličnim gramatičkim strukturama u drugim jezicima. Ove studije
predstavljane su u teorijskom delu rada.
Ovaj rad ima za cilj da najpre prezentuje ove glagole, zatim da istakne da se
poznavanje pseudo-neprelaznih glagola i dobro vladanje ovim glagolima odražava na nivo
gramatičkog znanja i građenja rečenice koja je gramatički ispravna. Osnovna pretpostavka
ovog istraživanja je da učenici koji pohađaju treću godinu srednje škole u Srbiji mogu da
prepoznaju pseudo-neprelazne glagole obzirom na to da su prelazne i neprelazne glagole
učili još u osnovnoj školi. Uzimajući to u obzir, bilo je neophodno ukratko ispitati nastavne
metode pri uvođenju i učenju prelaznih i neprelaznih glagola prema nastavnom planu
osnovnih škola u Srbiji. Ova kratka analiza obuhvata način na koji se prelazni i neprelazni
glagoli prezentuju, uče i vežbaju tokom pohađanja osnovne škole u Srbiji.
U skladu sa ovim ciljevima, izvršeno je istraživanje uz pomoć testa koji je podeljen
đacima koji pohađaju treću godinu srednje škole - gimanzije ,,Bora Stanković“ u Nišu.
Rezultati testa su obrađeni putem kvantitativne i kvalitativne analize. Cilj ovih analiza je bio
da se ispita njihovo vladanje prelaznim i neprelaznim glagolima sa naglaskom na to da li
mogu da prepoznaju i upotrebe pseudo-neprelazne glagole u rečenici na engleskom jeziku.
Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da su ispitanici uglavnom uspešno prepoznali pseudo-
neprelane glagole, a mnogo više problema imali sa upotrebom ovih glagola u samostalnim
rečenicama.
Ključne reči: sistematsko funkcionalna gramatika, pseudo-neprelazni glagoli, prelazni i
neprelazni glagoli, nastava na engleskom jeziku koji se uči kao strani jezik
8. 3
I INTRODUCTION
“The grammarian’s dream is (and must be, such is
the nature of grammar) of constant territorial expansion.
He would like to turn the whole of linguistic form into
grammar, hoping to show that lexis can be defined as
most delicate grammar”.1
Pseudo-intransitives are relatively new scientific field that belongs to Systemic
Functional Grammar. The term is precisely defined but there is little data relevant to the
subject that can be found in literature and the World Wide Web. The paper aims to explore
existing data about pseudo-intransitive and raise the level of knowledge about these verbs
among EFL students.
Eminent linguists who included pseudo-intransitives in their researches, beside
M.A.K. Halliday, are: Angela Downing, Philip Locke, Cliff Goddard, Gordon H. Tucker,
Diane D. Bornstein, Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen, Clare Painter, John Newman, Peter H.
Matthews, etc. Comparison of pseudo-intransitives in English as a foreign language to
grammatical properties in their mother tongue was conveyed by Iraqi linguist Murtadha J.
Bakir and Japanese linguist Fusa Katada. This paper indicates that pseudo-intransitives are
very important in the process of grammar learning and better understanding of grammatical
rules of a language. Learning pseudo-intransitives implies prior knowledge of transitive and
intransitive verbs. These verbs are introduced on mother tongue form in the sixth grade of
elementary schools in Serbia, but only a year later these verbs are introduced in English form.
Regarding that pseudo-intransitives are similar to transitive and intransitive verbs, learning
pseudo-intransitives is not hard if one knows transitive and intransitive verbs very well. A
segment that is very important for the research is to determine if students that attend third
grade of high schools in Serbia are capable of determining and using transitive and
intransitive verbs. The argument that supports the decision to examine the inclusion and
progress of transitive and intransitive verbs in the curriculum is that the level of knowledge
and usage of pseudo-intransitive verbs much depends from the quality of presenting teaching,
learning and exercising methods of transitive and intransitive verbs. Therefore, a part of the
research includes methods of presenting, learning and exercising transitive and intransitive
verbs primarily in mother tongue, i.e. in Serbian, in the sixth grade and afterwards in English
in the seventh grade of elementary schools in Serbia. The analysis includes curriculum for the
sixth and the seventh grade of elementary schools in Serbia. Lexicon is very important in the
process of learning a language because it shows if a student have mastered previous teaching
material, as well as student’s mastery of the language in general.
Primary motive for conveying the research is to examine whether the students that
learn English as a foreign language, to whom transitive and intransitive verbs were introduced
1
Michael Halliday: Categories of the theory of grammar, Oxford University Press, 1961.
9. 4
years ago, are capable of recognizing pseudo-intransitives in given sentences. Pseudo-
intransitives are not a part of traditional grammar, but a part of Systemic Functional Grammar
(SFG). The basis of SFG was set by eminent linguist, a British-born Australian, Michael
Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (M.A.K. Halliday). These verbs were labeled in literature also
as ambitransitive and labile. In fact, ambitransitive verbs are defined as verbs that can be
intransitive or transitive without requiring a morphological change, i.e. the same verb may or
may not be followed by a direct object. The prefix pseudo is of Greek origin. As the meaning
of the prefix tells itself, it’s about false intransitive verbs, i.e. it’s about verbs that are
transitive but they behave in a sentence as if they are intransitive. For example: the verb to
read is intrinsically transitive, but can also be pseudo-intransitive. The difference between
usage of this verb as transitive and pseudo-intransitive is clearly perceptible in the following
sentences: Susan reads; Susan reads a book. There are not a lot of pseudo-intransitive verbs.
The following verbs are well-known pseudo-intransitives: break, eat, cook, read, steal,
translate, wash, tan, close/shut, fasten, kick and lock.
The research aims to conclude if students in high schools are capable of determining
which verbs are pseudo-intransitives.2
If the results would be positive, the conclusion would
be that students that attend third grade of high schools in Serbia are qualified to learn and
exercise pseudo-intransitives and that would indicate that these verbs should be included in
the curriculum of learning English as a foreign language in elementary and high schools in
Serbia. Literature about pseudo-intransitives that was studied in detail for the purpose of this
research supports this idea. Educationally speaking, the inclusion of pseudo-intransitives in
the curriculum of elementary and high schools would result in increasing comprehension
about grammar properties and it would contribute to the overall knowledge in the area of
grammar.
The conclusion would be that those who learnt and mastered transitive and intransitive
verbs could easily identify pseudo-intransitives if they are informed that pseudo-intransitives
are actually intrinsically transitive verbs that are not followed by an object in a sentence.
Taking this into account, we conducted a survey that examines capability of students that
attend the third grade of high schools in Serbia to identify pseudo-intransitives in given
sentences. The survey was designed especially for this research under the supervision of the
mentor. The test aims to examine students’ ability to recognize and use transitive and
intransitive verbs in a sentence, and finally, their capability of determining pseudo-intransitive
verbs. The results of the test would indicate on defects in some of these segments that occur
during teaching if incorrect answers prevail on the test, or on the contrary, if the correct
answers predominate on the test it would indicate that these verbs can easily be introduced
into curriculum of high schools in Serbia.
Knowing transitive and intransitive verbs reflects mastery of grammatical properties
and methods of constructing a sentence which is grammatically correct, the exploration could
indicate on omissions and mistakes in the process of teaching transitive and intransitive verbs
if incorrect answers on the test overcome correct ones, i.e. if students didn’t master transitive
2
Considering that these students haven't learnt pseudo-intransitives, they were asked to determine if a verb that
is intransitive in a sentence can be transitive as well, and vice versa.
10. 5
and intransitive verbs, or on the other hand, it would enhance the former methods of teaching
these verbs if students in general would solve the test successfully. Regarding that third year
high school students in Serbia have been learning and exercising transitive and intransitive
verbs for years, students are expected to give correct answers and to solve the test
successfully.
This paper emphasis the importance of pseudo-intransitives because although these
verbs are present in everyday speech and when dealing with grammar, they are not present in
the curriculum for learning English as a foreign language in elementary and high schools in
Serbia. The research is based on the material taken from literature that is relevant to pseudo-
intransitives in the English language with a review on methods of introducing, teaching and
exercising transitive and intransitive verbs in the Serbian language in elementary schools in
Serbia.
“If a substance seems complex,
this is because the grammar is complex -
it has to be, to do all the things we make it
to do for us. It does no service to anyone
in the long run if we pretend that semiosis
– the making and understanding of
meaning – is a simpler matter than it
really is.”3
3
Halliday, M. A. K. and Matthiessen, Christian: An Introduction to Functional Grammar: third edition, Hodder
Arnold, 2004, p. 5
11. 6
II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. DEFINING TERMS
2.1.1. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS
According to the traditional grammar, verbs are classified into two groups – transitive
and intransitive. Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive depends on if the verb is followed
by a direct object in a sentence. In other words, transitive verbs are the verbs that are
accompanied by a direct object in a sentence while intransitive verbs are the verbs that are not
followed by an object in a sentence. For example:
The class starts. intransitive construction
The teacher starts the class. transitive construction
Intransitive verbs express an action that happens by itself and the passive form is
impossible. Compare: “The earthquake happened on July 26, 1963 in Skopje” with “The
earthquake was happened* on July 26, 1963 in Skopje”.
Transitive and intransitive verbs are introduced in mother tongue, i.e. in Serbian, in the
sixth grade curriculum of elementary schools in Serbia. They are introduced in the English
language, which is learned as L2, in the seventh grade.4
These verbs are clearly defined in traditional grammar and the difference between
these two classes of verbs is highly visible and noticeable. But the researches that are done
within SFG concluded that there are verbs that do not strictly belong to one of these two
classes of verbs, but that there are verbs that can be used both transitively and intransitively,
or more precisely, verbs that are intrinsically transitive but can function intransitively as well,
i.e. pseudo-intransitives. Pseudo-intransitives will be discussed further in the research.
2.1.2. SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
Pseudo-intransitives are not introduced in traditional grammar, but in Systemic
Functional Grammar. Before discussing about pseudo-intransitives, we need to briefly clarify
the definition of Systemic Functional Grammar.
The theory of Systemic Functional Grammar was originally formulated by M.A.K.
Halliday in the early 1960s. Before it was labeled as “systemic grammar”, the theory was
known as “scale and grammar category”. The fuller title is “Systemic Functional Grammar”,
but the abbreviation “SFG” is used for working purposes.5
4
Lompur Vesna: Srpski jezik 6, gramatika, Klett, 2010.
5
Morley, G. David: Syntax in Functional Grammar: An introduction to lexicogrammar in systemic linguistic,
Continuum, London and New York, 2000, p. 2 - 20
12. 7
M.A.K. Halliday based Systemic Functional Grammar by elaborating the works
created by his teacher J. R. Firth and the Prague school (a group of eminent linguists of the
early 20th
century). By exploring the purpose of a language, Halliday came to a conclusion
that text which is a product of written or oral communication refers to a language by means
that a person that speaks that language understands its message.6
The prior focus of Systemic
Functional Grammar is functional description and interpretation of a language, i.e. the usage
of a language. SFG provides useful interpretations of grammatical structures in terms of
different kinds of meaning, and has a well worked out model of language and context.7
Being
inspired by Louis Hjelmslev, Halliday sees text as a process that is defined as a part of system
of transitivity where: subject (noun) is described as participant – actor, agent and patient;
verb as process – action or state; prepositional phrase as circumstance – location; object
(noun) as participant - goal and patient; adjective as attribute – feature; etc.8
Therefore, according to the SFG terms, clauses that possess two participants - actor
and goal - are transitive clauses; and on the other hand, clauses that possess just one
participant - actor - are intransitive ones.9
Those clauses in which “someone does something“
and that are probed by asking “what did x do?“ are considered to be intransitive or middle. On
the contrary, clauses in which “someone does something and the doing involves another
entity“ are transitive. These clauses are probed by asking “what did x do to y?“10
In transitive
clauses, action is performed by an agent that acts deliberately being followed by a patient
who undergoes a change of state, or is affected in a precisely manner.
The verbs that are listed in dictionaries as transitive, such as: “decipher, depress,
stimulate”, are normally followed by direct object Complements (Cdo). Furthermore, verbs
labeled in the dictionary as intransitive tend to occur without an object Complement. There is
a problem if one tries to give a neat account of all this. The problem is that majority of verbs
in English (but not all) appear to be able to function both transitively and intransitively, or in
other words, with or without a Complement. For instance: in the following extract Cdo is
presented in italics in both a and b sentences:
a. […] some nerves stimulate an organ and others depress it;
b. […] some drugs stimulate while others depress.
(as we can see there is no Cdo in the sentence b.)11
6
Halliday M.A.K., Hasan, R.: Cohesion in English, Longman, London, 1976, Chapter 1; Halliday M.A.K:
Spoken and Written Language. Geelong, Vic: Deakin University Press, 1985.
7
Jones, H. Rodney and Lock, Graham: Functional grammar in the EFL classroom, PALGRAVE
MACMILLAN, 2011, P. 7
8
Matthiessen, M. I. M. Christian, Painter, Clare: Working with Functional Grammar: A Workbook, Arnold, 1997
9
Lock, Graham: Functional English Grammar: An introduction for second language teachers, Cambridge
University Press, 1996, p. 74
10
Eggins, Suzanne: An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics: 2nd edition, Continuum, New York –
London, 2004, p. 216
11
Bloor, Thomas and Bloor, Meriel: The Functional Analysis of English: A Hallidayan Approach: second
edition, London: Distributed in United States of America by Oxford University Press Inc., New York, Arnold: A
member of the Hodder Headline Group, 2004, p. 50
13. 8
Transitive and intransitive verbs according to SFG terms in clauses are presented in
the table below12
:
Actor and Process [intransitive] Action optionally extended to a Goal [transitive]
the troops attacked the troops attacked the capital
the guerillas hunted the guerillas hunted the militia
Glen kicked Glen kicked the ball
Advantages of Systemic Functional Grammar over traditional grammar:
- it includes the better part of the scope of linguistic;
- processing of a content includes context of a content as well;
- reliably interpret connection between grammar and experience of reality;
- it simultaneously deals with different linguistic functions; etc.13
Systemic Functional Grammar expands the horizons in terms of grammar of the
English language that was not included in traditional grammar. This scientific field critically
explores and reviews previous data about grammar. Besides determining pseudo-intransitives,
that is the topic of this research, SFG has determined and expanded notions of many other
grammar properties in all fields within traditional grammar. The following subchapter
describes characteristics of pseudo-intransitives.
2.1.3. PSEUDO-INTRANSITIVES
Regarding that these verbs are not the part of traditional grammar and that the majority
of educated people do not know of existence of such verbs, this research explored all existing
definitions and properties about this class of verbs. The aim is to develop a crystal clear
picture about these verbs.
We will start from the term pseudo-intransitives itself. The prefix “pseudo“ in pseudo-
intransitives derives from the Greek language. The actual translation of the Greek word
(ψευδής) is “false, lying, untrue“. It is used to label something that is false, fraudulent, or
pretending to be what is not.
12
J. R. Martin, Cristian M.I.M Matthiessen, Painter Clare, Working with Functional Grammar, Arnold, London,
1997, p. 122
13
Halliday M.A.K., Hasan Ruqaiya: Language, context and text: a social semiotic perspective, Oxford
University Press, USA, 1989; Halliday M.A.K., Matthiessen Christian M.I.M.: Construing Experience through
Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition, Cassell, London, 1999.
14. 9
The term pseudo-intransitive verb implies to a verb that is regarded as transitive but is
actually intransitive because of a lack of a direct object in a sentence, or there is a presence of
a direct object in a sentence as the subject of the sentence. For example: Mariah cooks; These
apples cook well.14
Pseudo-Intransitive verbs allow for the omission of the object. For instance: From the
grammatical point of view, an indefinite object has been elided or deleted in pseudo-
intransitive construction such as “He was eating.“15
Pseudo-Intransitives can be involved in patterns generated by the rule: V Vt + Np.
Such a rule applies to verbs that can or must take an object. The following sentence illustrates
pseudo-intransitive verb to drive with an object: Edward drove the car. As any other pseudo-
intransitive verb, drive can be used either transitively or intransitively. The following sentence
pattern illustrates this verb used as pseudo-intranisitve in a sentence: Edward drives fast.16
Pseudo-Intransitive verbs are described as certain processes (drive, read, translate,
lock, break, wash, tan, fasten) which are intrinsically transitive. Actually these processes are
linked with affected subject. In such a construction they are construed as intransitive with an
affected subject. A pseudo-intransitive verb expresses the facility of a participant to undergo a
process. Let’s consider the following sentences given as examples (pseudo-intransitive verbs
are italicized).
Glass breaks easily.
This box doesn't shut; close; fasten; lock properly.
Colloquial language doesn't translate correctly.
Some synthetic fibres won't wash. Usually they dry-clean.
Fair skin doesn't tan quickly, it turns red.17
Pseudo-intransitives differ from other intransitives in the following ways:
These verbs express general property or propensity of the entity to undergo (or not
undergo) the process in question. Compare:
“Glass breaks easily.” with “The glass broke.”
(pseudo-intransitive construction) (this sentence pattern refers to a distinct event)
Pseudo-intransitives are usually in the present tense form.
There is the presence of a cause, but an agent can't be added in a by-phrase.
14
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com>
15
Goddard, Cliff: Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction: Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New
York, 2011, p. 439
16
Bornstein, D. Diane: An introduction to transformational grammar, University Press of America, 1984. P. 80
17
Downing, Angela and Locke, Philip: English Grammar: A University Course second edition, Routledge,
London and New York, 2006, p. 136
15. 10
Pseudo-intransitive verb is followed by negation, a modal (usually will/ won't) or an
adverb such as easily, well - any of which specify the tendency of the thing to undergo the
process or otherwise (not to undergo the process).
There is the absence of active or passive corresponding transitive construction, which
precisely expresses the same significance as these intransitives. For example, “Colloquial
language is translated badly.” implies to translators' lack of skill, rather than about
characteristic of colloquial language. The problem of just paraphrasing the pattern indicates
how truly distinct and valuable it is.
Note the differences in a variety of sentences describing an event:
Ben broke the glass. active
The glass was broken by Ed. be-passive
The glass got broken. get-passive
The glass was already broken. copular (state)
The glass broke. (anti-causative)
Glass breaks easily. (pseudo-intransitive)18
The verb to be functioning as intransitive with comparative that is pseudo:
The rain tub is much fuller after all the rain.19
In this sentence pattern fuller signifies “more content“ since the tub cannot be “fuller
than full“.
Pseudo-intransitive verbs are: break, eat, cook, drive, read, steal, translate, lock, sew,
wash, hammer, tan, write, fasten, breathe, smoke, etc.
Furthermore, let's compare, for instance, verbs to eat and to nibble. Although these
verbs describe similar actions, there are many differences between eating and nibbling. We
could say that eating is in some sense usual, daily and routine activity, whereas nibbling isn't.
For eating we can depict a prototypical inspiring scenario with the component “at many times
someone does something like this to something when it is like this...“, but this would not be
the case with nibbling because such a component wouldn't add up. The first phrase is
adaptable to change, for instance: “at some times“. Opposite from eating, nibbling implies to
refusing to get food inside their body by using the mouth, or requiring just “little bits“ of food
into the bodies, and probably not just as much into the body as into the mouth. At this point as
description is concerned, it is understood that nibbling includes “smaller“, shorter
18
Downing, Angela and Locke, Philip: English Grammar: A University Course second edition, Routledge,
London and New York, 2006, p. 136
19
Tucker, H. Gordon: The Lexicogrammar of Adjectives: A Systemic Functional Approach to Lexis, Cassell,
London and New York, 1998, p. 147
16. 11
movements; as well as that the teeth are actually salient. “Teeth“ are not mentioned so far in
the description part for eating, but teeth are a component when we refer to “parts of the
mouth“. On the other hand, nibbling can contain in the description “someone doing something
to this something for a short time with the teeth“ or “for some time, this someone's teeth are
touching this something, the teeth are moving at this time“; or similar. Actually, the image of
“mice“ is very much linked with nibbling. The verb is often interpreted with involvement of
mice or even “small animals of one kind“. For instance: “at many times mice (or small
animals of one kind) eat something in this way.“ Such constructions are called pseudo-
intransitive and there's a truly corresponding motive for this nomenclature. While explicit
object is missing, the property of eating alludes some affected “stuff“. We comprehend by
hearing a sentence “He was eating.“ that he was eating something. However, the depiction of
the “understood“ indefinite object is actually limited because it is something that has to be
eaten (i.e. food). If there is still some inconsistencies imagine that typical transitive eat can be
extended to include eating of non-canonical materials. For instance, a sentence such as this:
“Oh my God, the baby's eating grass.” is totally admissible, but the same situation could not
be depicted just as: The baby was eating. The generalization appears to be that the pseudo-
intransitive usage of eat is adaptable only for prototypical situations of eating. In such cases,
we can conclude that eat in the pseudo-intransitive construction has a little different content
from its significance in the typical transitive form when it clearly refers to its meaning and its
relation to an actual object. In addition, eat can occur in a sentence without being followed by
an object regardless it is intrinsically transitive verb.20
Pseudo-intransitive verbs are prone to be more flexible than transitive verbs. Let's
compare different sentence constructions that involve transitive verb to use with alike that
involve pseudo-intransitive verb to steal in the table below. The verb steal is pseudo-
intransitive in the second pattern.
transitive verb use: pseudo-intransitive steal:
Pattern 1 The boy uses scissors. The boy steals scissors.
Pattern 2 The boy uses* The boy steals.
Pattern 3 The using boy*... The stealing boy...
As we can see from the table, the usage of essentially transitive verb use in the given
examples is possible only in the first sentence pattern.
Although Pseudo-Intransitives belong to Systemic Functional Grammar, these verbs
have not been addressed much by the majority of authors whose works are based within SFG
(their works mostly include the system of transitivity of transitive and intransitive verbs).
James R. Black compares pseudo-intransitives with weakly transitive in his book “Critics,
Pronouns and Movement“. Murthada J. Bakir compares the construction of pseudo-
20
Newman, John: The Linguistics of Eating and Drinking, University of Alberta, 2009, Chapter 9
17. 12
intransitives in English and Arabic in “Notes on passive and pseudo-intransitive construction
in English and Arabic“. We’ll analyse these comparisons in the next subchapter.
Traditional grammar divided verbs in transitive and intransitive. The foundation of
Systemic Functional Grammar argues there are more than two classes of verbs by defining
verbs that are essentially transitive but that can be intransitive as well, i.e. pseudo-
intransitives. Pseudo-Intransitives possess specific characteristic of deleting or omitting the
object. After discussing about properties of pseudo-intransitives, we hope that we brought
forward the importance of these verbs in the mastery of overall English language proficiency,
as well as in terms of expanding the horizons of English grammar. The further discussion will
focus on the researches that were previously done on the topic of this research.
2.2. PREVIOUS RESEARCHES
Considering the available literature about pseudo-intransitives that was studied in
detail, we managed to find works on the matter published across the globe. We will explain
some of them we found most relevant to the subject. These researches were done by linguists:
Peter Hugoe Matthews, Cliff Goddard, Diane D. Bornstein, John Newman, Fusa Katada and
Murtadha Jawad Bakir.
British linguist Peter Hugoe Matthews (P. H. Matthews) defines pseudo-intransitives
in the second edition of “The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics” as verbs that are
usually followed by an object but are shown without an object in a sentence. Matthews
describes the verb to read as one that can take an object but it can occur without one as well
in a construction such as: Jason is reading.21
The verb to read is one of a few in the English
language that has pseudo-intransitive properties besides being a regular transitive verb.
Cliff Goddard, a professor of linguistics at Griffith University in Australia, discusses
about pseudo-intransitives by analyzing and comparing the verbs to eat and to nibble in the
second edition of Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction. Mr. Goddard describes the
mode how eat can be used as pseudo-intransitive verb regarding that eat can appear without
an object in a sentence. Goddard explains that regardless a pseudo-intransitive construction
doesn't have explicit object, the meaning of a sentence is usually clear because a pseudo-
intransitive verb depicts the notion of the object that is missing and which is associated in our
minds with the pseudo-intransitive verb in a sentence, such as: “Ben was eating.” In this
sentence structure eat indicates that something, or some stuff, is affected, i.e. we understand
that Ben was eating something (or some things). Regarding that this verb possesses limited
connotations, we presume that Ben was eating something that is regularly eaten, i.e. food. But
on the other hand, Goddard emphasized that the usage of eat is absolutely acceptable in the
sentence such as: “Oh my god, the baby is eating grass.“. This kind of connotation is not
linked with the connotations that are present when pseudo-intransitive verb is used in a
sentence such as: “The baby is eating.” By explaining this, Goddard came to a conclusion that
21
Matthews P. H.: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistic, Oxford University Press, Oxford, first edition:
1997; second edition: 2007.
18. 13
eat as a regular transitive verb can possess different connotation comparing to the usual
connotation when it is used as a pseudo-intransitive verb.22
Many pseudo-intransitive verbs
implicate on a single object. For instance: The verb to lock is usually associated to a door as
object. But, of course, there are other objects that can be linked with this verb, such as: a
house, a car, a folder, a padlock, a safe, etc. Also, the verb to read is usually associated to a
book as object, but other objects that can be linked with the verb could be: a novel,
newspapers, a magazine, a poem, an article, a cheque, a file, etc. Such various connotations
can be found with the rest of pseudo-intransitive verbs. Goddard's research clarifies the
connotations that pseudo-intransitives essentially have, particularly the connotations that the
verb to eat possesses. It would be wise and useful if some research in the future would be
analysing the connotations of the rest of pseudo-intransitives in order to make this
phenomenon of SFG clearer.
Diane D. Bornstein, the author of “An Introduction to Transformational Grammar”,
includes the analysis of pseudo-intransitives in the content of the book. The research precisely
describes verbal terms such as pseudo-intransitives and verbs that are related to pseudo-
intransitives. First of all, Bornstein construes verbs that cannot be followed by an object such
as to walk and to arrive. These are the most common verbs and they are labelled as
intransitive verbs in traditional grammar. For instance:
S
NP VP
aux. Vi
N tense
George past arrive
George arrived.
Afterwards, Bornstein argues about verbs that can be followed by a cognate object
which appertains to the action of a verb and possesses a similar name such as: dream a
dream; sing a song, etc; and finally, she describes verbs that are considered to be transitive
but still can be used without an object, such as: drive, steal, eat, etc; and emphasises that such
verbs are often named pseudo-intransitives. Mrs. Diane concludes that these verbs can appear
in the following pattern that is applied for transitive verbs:
V Vt + Np
Diane Bornstein also notes that pseudo-intransitives are defined in traditional grammar
as verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive.23
For instance, compare: Frank is cooking
a breakfast; with: Frank cooks well. (pseudo-intransitive construction) The study of the verbs
22
Goddard, Cliff: Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction: Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New
York, 2011.
23
Bornstein, D. Diane: An introduction to transformational grammar, University Press of America, 1984.
19. 14
emphasized the difference between pseudo-intransitives and the verbs that are closely related
to this class of verbs. This research contributed to defining the characteristics of pseudo-
intransitives and differentiating them from the verbs that are similar to them.
John Newman, PhD in Linguistics from university of California, polemicizes about
pseudo-intransitives such as: to drink, to eat and to break. Newman argues about the way
these verbs are presented in traditional grammar. He contradicts that these verbs are
prototypical transitive as it is seen in traditional grammar and emphasizes that the property of
such verbs must include absolute semantic distinction of its participants by means of the
function they possess in the process. He adds that this is not the case with the usage of the
verbs drink, eat and break, not just in English, but in variety of other languages. Newman
presented his theory of the same lexeme being used both in transitive and intransitive form:
Henry is eating the orange/ an orange/ oranges. Henry is eating.
Sara ate food. Sara ate.
Newman emphasized that such constructions are regular in Indo-European and
Germanic as well. He concluded that the verbs drink, eat and break can be both transitive and
intransitive but he emphasizes that there are only a few other that possess this property in the
English language. He distinguishes drink and eat from break by explaining that the property
of the verb break would not be formal in such a construction. For instance: Richard is
breaking a plate/ the plate/ plates; *Richards is breaking. Newman stated that beside the name
pseudo-intransitives these verbs are also called labile and ambitransitive.24
The study showed
that the verbs drink and eat can be involved in both transitive and intransitive structures
which is not common for the majority of verbs in the English language, and that even the rest
of pseudo-intransitives are not as flexible as these pseudo-intransitive verbs drink and eat are.
Fusa Katada, a professor at Faculty of Science and Engineering Center for English
Language Education (CELESE), compares pseudo-intransitives in the English language to
weak transitive in the Japanese language in her article “Experience versus Non-experience
Asymmetries in the Causative System.” She concludes that pseudo-intransitives in English
have approximately the same characteristics as weak transitive verbs in the Japanese
language. The concept of pseudo-intransitives in English and the weak transitives in the
Japanese language is actually the same but the properties of these notions differ. She
explained the difference by comparing summarized idea of pseudo-intransitives in English
done in 1960 by the American linguist Robert Lees (who was a PhD in linguistics during his
period of life) with the similar properties in Japanese done in 1965 by the professor of
linguistics at the University of California Shinge-Yuki Kuroda who focused on the Japanese
language. Pseudo-intransitives in English are described as transitive verbs whose object can
be omitted. The possibility to delete an object was named intransitivization of the verbs that
are transitive. An example of intransitivization is provided with the verb to eat. (Peter eats an
apple. Peter eats.) Katada recounts that these types of verbs form a clear idea without
referring to the object of a sentence. She concludes that these verbs possess same properties as
24
Newman John: The Linguistics of Eating and Drinking, University of Alberta, 2009.
20. 15
pure intransitives do, such as the verb to walk. She adds that pure transitive verbs do not have
that kind of characteristic by analyzing the verb to kick which is comprehensible only in case
if an object determines what is to be kicked. Mrs. Katada explained that Kuroda used the idea
of pseudo-intransitives in the Japanese language and reconceptualised it as weakly intransitive
in 1965. Actually, Kuroda pointed out on a mismatch between pseudo-intransitives in the
English language and weak transitive in the Japanese language. The mismatch is concerning
the syntactic characteristic of intransitivation. In other words, in English, intransitivation is
implied if an object is omitted, while in Japanese, null prominals can occur which means that
the deletion of an object doesn’t mean that the action would still be that much precise.
Consider the following sentences:
Yao eats an apple.
Yao eats. intransitivation
Yao eats. (something) null-prominalization
Although it was difficult to determine whether such verbs as the pseudo-intransitives
in English are present in the Japanese language, Mrs. Katada concluded that pseudo-
intransitives in English possess approximately the same grammar properties as weakly
transitives in Japanese.25
The research brought closer the definition of pseudo-intransitive
verbs in English with the similar properties in the Japanese language, i.e. weakly transitive
verbs in Japanese. The research can be useful to those who study the grammar of these
languages, particularly to Japanese people who learn English as L2, or vice versa.
Iraqi linguist Murtadha Jawad Bakir in his research “Notes on Passive and Pseudo-
Intransitive Constructions in English and Arabic” attempted to define the difference between
passive and pseudo-intransitives by comparing the English language to modern Arabian
language by using the examples from both languages. He came to the conclusion that same
meaningful content used separately in passive and by the presence of pseudo-intransitives is
often different by its structure of words in a sentence in modern Arabian language comparing
to the structure of words in a sentence in the English language, but Bakir argues that there are
some similarities as well.
Mr. Bakir begins with explaining that a message that language depicts is construed
throughout limited number of processes which are represented in a limited number of
structural modes. The fundamental ones are transitive and intransitive. The rest of structural
modes can be depicted by the way we understand the process, the participants and the
properties these participants play in the activity we want to construe. The selection is usually
made between passive voice structure and the structure that is based on voice difference from
the passive in which the logical object assumes the essence of the grammatical subject. For
instance:
25
Katada Fusa: Experience versus Non-experience Asymmetries in the Causative System: Senshu University;
Clitics, Pronouns and movements, edited by Black R. James and Motapanyane Virginia, John Benjamins
Publishing Company, 1997.
21. 16
1. a. The soup is being cooked;
b. The soup is cooked.
2. a. That book was sold out within two months;
b. That book is selling fast.
3. a. The cotton shirt was washed by the maid;
b. Cotton shirts wash easier than others.
Bakir defined the sentences on b. as pseudo-intransitive structures following Lyons’s
research “Introduction to theoretical linguistics“ from 1968. He basically explained that
expressions of processes that any sentence has are divided to lexicon of the process itself, i.e.
the verb, and the other processes that denote the participants, which can be further divided
into the roles of an agent or an actor which are defined as subject in traditional grammar; and
a patient, a goal, a receiver or a beneficier which are defined as object in traditional grammar.
(All of these terms that are not the part of traditional grammar are components of Systemic
Functional Grammar.)
Mr. Bakir precisely explained the characteristics of passive by defining it and
providing several sentences in passive. He concluded that passive involves the deletion of
object and depiction of a sentence construction composed without an agent. The conclusion
Bakir came to was that passive has similar properties as pseudo-intransitives. A patient or the
logical object, i.e. the affected participant has a role of a subject in both passive and pseudo-
intransitives constructions, but the difference is that a verb in pseudo-intransitive
constructions is in active voice. For example, compare the following sentences:
The book was sold. passive
Science fiction sells fast. pseudo-intransitive construction
In passive there is a feeling that the action is carried out by someone and regardless it
is not realised there is a presence of the notion of agent/ actor or initiator, while pseudo-
intransitive constructions depict process or action, i.e. depicts it by emphasizing only the
affected participants (without an agent or an actor). Briefly, the passive constructions are
agent-oriented, while pseudo-intransitives are process-oriented. The reason why pseudo-
intransitive constructions are felt to be passive ones is because in such constructions it appears
as if we predicate a specific property of an entity that appears to have some characteristics
that facilitates or magnifies what we predicate out if it. Bakir tried to explain this theory
further by providing the following examples of structures both in passive and pseudo-
intransitive:
Those shirts were washed easily. passive
Those shirts wash fast. pseudo-intransitive construction
22. 17
The difference of usage of the given sentences is that the verb to wash in passive is
used to describe an event, while wash in pseudo-intransitive construction depicts a specific
characteristic that a provided thing inherently possesses, i.e. if the thing is “washable“.
Same would be with the verb to lock as in:
The door is locked. passive
The door looks securely. pseudo-intransitive construction
Here, the sentence in passive explains that the door is locked by an agent, while, on
the other hand, second sentence pattern depicts “lockability“ of the door.
Bakir emphasizes that pseudo-intransitives tend to occur in present simple tense and
particularizes the following verbs as pseudo-intransitives: cook, bake, wash, fry, convert,
built, add, do, cut, lock and kill.
In the Arabic language there is a possibility to express and preserve the same meaning
without an agent/ actor in the Present Simple Tense as pseudo-intransitives in English do.
Furthermore, there is the equality in meaning and properties of passive structure in English
and Arabic. By comparing and analysing sentence patterns in both languages, Bakir came to
the conclusion that the subject in pseudo-intransitive constructions in Arabic is not affected,
i.e. the thing is not affected by a process. Most of pseudo-intransitives in English do not have
exactly the same properties in Arabic. Specifically, the verb to wash in Arabic does not have
pseudo-intransitive properties as it does in English. Similarities in both languages are found in
verbs to agree and to bath, as well as with the verbs in terms when the subject is not human
being. The difference between the reflexive usage and pseudo-intransitive usage of verbs in
Arabic matches to the difference between normal intransitive and pseudo-intransitive usage of
some of verbs in English, for example: move, change, burn, break, etc. It depends on a subject
regarding if it is human or not. The verb is intransitive if the subject is human while the verb
is pseudo-intransitive if the subject is not human. There is the presence of an agent in an event
or process in passive constructions in both languages. Although there are similarities, the
process issue is depicted differently in these two languages. Transitive verb used in a passive
in English is called the pseudo-intransitive construction in the Bakir's research and it does not
match the equivalent form in Arabic, but there are uncommon exceptions. In Arabic, more
than one verb form is used and these verb forms are called reflexive. Pseudo-intransitives tend
to match in both languages if the subject of the comparing structure is human being.26
The
research conducted by the linguist Murtadha Jawad Bakir contributed in making connection
between pseudo-intransitives in English and similar grammatical property in Arabic, i.e.
reflexive form in Arabic. There are no data of any research that compares pseudo-intransitive
constructions in English with similar grammatical properties in the Serbian language.
Pseudo-intransitives, sometimes called labile and ambitransitive, are defined similarly
by linguists. Although there are cases around the world where linguists who learn English as
26
Bakir J. Murtadha: Notes on Passive and Pseudo-Intransitive constructions in English and Arabic, Poland,
1996.
23. 18
L2 compared pseudo-intransitive verbs with similar grammar properties in their own
language, there are no data that pseudo-intransitives have been compared with analogous
grammar properties in the Serbian language. This research indicated that these verbs exist in
Serbian as well but they are not precisely determined. In addition, there is a lack of
nomenclature for the property of these verbs in Serbian.
2.3. TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS IN THE ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
We need to contemplate the methods used by introducing transitive and intransitive
verbs in grammar teaching according to the curriculum in Serbia in order to comprehend the
level of knowledge of these high school students that were put through the test. Educational
system in Serbia introduces transitive and intransitive verbs to students in the sixth grade of
elementary schools. The inclusion of these verbs in the curriculum of elementary schools in
Serbia is being done in mother tongue i.e. in Serbian. The students start practicing these verbs
in English a year later, i.e. in the seventh grade of the elementary schools.
Let’s briefly analyze the procedure how transitive and intransitive verbs are being
introduced to students in their mother tongue language, i.e. in Serbian, in the sixth grade of
elementary schools in Serbia. The following sentences in the table below that are written in
Serbian represent the original way how transitive and intransitive verbs are introduced to
students in the sixth grade of the elementary schools. It is an insertion. It’s italicized and
translated from the Serbian language. We analyzed it and explained the procedure how these
verbs are lectured and taught in elementary schools in Serbia:
THE
ORIGINAL
(SERBIAN)
Glagoli prema predmetu radnje mogu biti:
Prelazni glagoli - uz njih stoji pravi objekat.
Npr. čitati (knjigu), gledati, stajati, itd.
Uz sebe mogu imati imenicu u akuzativu bez predloga.
TRANSLATION
(ENGLISH)
Verbs are divided according to object action into:
Transitive verbs - the verbs that are accompanied by a direct object
E.g. to read (a book), to see, to stand, etc.
These verbs can be accompanied by an accusative noun without a preposition.
As we can see there are no discrepancies between English and Serbian in terms of
teaching transitive verbs and presenting their properties. Let's proceed with the division of
24. 19
verbs according to the curriculum and consider the way intransitive verbs are taught in
elementary schools in Serbia:
THE
ORIGINAL
(SERBIAN)
Neprelazni glagoli: - uz njih ne može da stoji objekat.
Npr. ići, hodati, maštati, itd.
Uz sebe ne mogu imati imenicu u akuzativu bez predolga.
TRANSLATION
(ENGLISH)
Intransitive verbs - the verbs that cannot be accompanied by an object
E.g. to go, to walk, to daydream, etc.
These verbs cannot be accompanied by an accusative noun without a
preposition.
There are neither mismatches in terms of representing and teaching intransitive verbs
in both languages, nor in terms of properties of listed verbs except for the verb to go if we
consider saying a sentence such as: “Peter would like to go fishing.“, in which fishing has a
function as a receiver.
By analyzing the pattern of the mode how transitive and intransitive verbs are taught
in Serbia, as well as the properties of these verbs, we concluded that there are no significant
dissimilarities between English and Serbian regarding these verbs. We also reassured that
these methods are proper in teaching these verbs.
Now let’s contemplate the way how transitive and intransitive verbs are introduced in
English in the seventh grade of elementary schools in Serbia which is presented in the table
below. The following scheme was taken from elementary school curriculum. It represents the
way these verbs are taught and practiced in English. The original part that is in Serbian is
italicized and translated.
THE
ORIGINAL
(SERBIAN)
Prelazni glagoli su oni glagoli uz koje može stajati direktni objekat u
akuzativu. (subject+ verb+ object) Na primier:
They built the bridge last year;
I saw a monkey;
Before leaving they sold the car;
He speaks English.
TRANSLATION
(ENGLISH)
Transitive verbs are those verbs that are accompanied by a direct
object in accusative case. (subject+ verb+ object) For example:
(examples were already written and lectured in the English language)
25. 20
We can see that the instructions are written and put forward in Serbian, but examples
are given and practised in English. The definition about transitive verbs in English is similarly
described as the definition that is provided in Serbian in the sixth grade. An addition is the
part in the bracket that describes the rule of allocation of words in a sentence. Let's consider
the way how intransitive verbs are introduced in English class in the seventh grade:
THE
ORIGINAL
(SERBIAN)
Neprelazni glagoli su glagoli uz koje ne može stajati direktni objekat.
(subject + indirect object) Na primer:
He returned home last night;
We were lying in the sun;
He has arrived;
She speaks fast.27
TRANSLATION
(ENGLISH)
Intransitive verbs are those verbs that cannot be accompanied by a
direct object. (subject+ indirect object) For example:
(examples were already written and lectured in the English language)
As expected, there are no discrepancies between the method how transitive and
intransitive verbs are taught in Serbian in the sixth grade and in English in the seventh grade
of elementary schools in Serbia.
According to the curriculum for seventh grade English lesson plans, we concluded on
the basis of these definitions and examples that the approach of presenting transitive and
intransitive verbs in Serbian is similar, or even identical, to the method of presenting these
verbs in English. Taking into account that students were previously been introduced with
these verbs, transitive and intransitive verbs in English are explained very similarly or even in
a more simplified way in English in the seventh grade than in Serbian in the sixth grade. The
way students study these verbs again in English in the seventh grade is not different than the
method they learn them a year before. One should take into account that we focused shortly
on introduction of transitive and intransitive verbs and that these verbs are constantly being
practiced onwards to the following grades of elementary and high schools in Serbia after
being introduced in the sixth grade.
By briefly recapitulating lesson plans and the methods of teaching transitive and
intransitive verbs according to the curriculum of grammar teaching in elementary schools in
Serbia, we reassured that the methods are proper and that the definitions about transitive and
intransitive verbs in Serbian match the definitions about these verbs in English. The
conclusion is that the students who graduated from elementary school in Serbia are expected
to show high knowledge in terms of these verbs by taking into account the educational system
of teaching and practicing these verbs. The third grade high school students should
27
The patterns were taken from the curriculum of “Radoje Domanović“ elementary school in Niš.
26. 21
successfully recognize pseudo-intransitives regarding their prior knowledge of transitive and
intransitive verbs and four years of practicing them in elementary and high schools in Serbia.
To summarize, in traditional grammar there are only two types of verbs: transitive and
intransitive. Transitive verbs are those that are accompanied by a direct object while
intransitive verbs are not accompanied by a direct object. Systemic Functional Grammar
proved there is a third class of verbs that are intrinsically transitive but can act as intransitive
as well and named this class of verbs pseudo-intransitives. Although this class of verbs is
clearly defined and its characteristics proved to be important part of grammar itself, pseudo-
intransitives are not taught in schools in Serbia. There are many researches that were focused
on defining this group of verbs more precisely as well as many comparison researches that
compared pseudo-intransitives in English with similar grammar-verbal properties in other
languages, but still there is no evidence of comparing these verbs with the Serbian grammar.
Regarding that learning pseudo-intransitives implies prior knowledge of transitive and
intransitive verbs, we analyzed the methods that are used in teaching these verbs in schools in
Serbia and then compared the definitions and applied teaching methods with the definitions
and teaching methods in English class. The analysis reassured us that the methods are proper,
as well as that English and Serbian are very or completely similar in this segment. According
to the conclusion we had come to, our expectation was that the third year high school students
who were put to the test are capable of recognizing pseudo-intransitive verbs, as well as, that
they would be able to solve the test successfully although they haven’t learnt pseudo-
intransitives before at the time they were tested.
27. 22
III PRESENT STUDY
The research aim in this study was to examine if third year high schools students are
capable of determining pseudo-intransitive verbs. The hypothesis was that they do. The
reason for such supposition was the proper way of teaching and practicing transitive and
intransitive verbs throughout years of elementary and high school.
The subject matter of the investigation presented in the thesis focused on pseudo-
intransitives. Specifically, this research is primarily focused on determining if high schools
students in Serbia are capable of determining these verbs. Consequently, if the test proves
they are capable, we would raise the question why these verbs are not a part of the curriculum
of schools in Serbia. Besides the primary goal of the research, it also strives to define the
terms, definitions and characteristics of pseudo-intransitives, as well as to analyze and
scrutinize existing comparisons that have been done to similar properties in other languages.
The participants in the test were two classes composed of 54 third year high schools
students of the grammar school “Bora Stanković” in Niš. These students had learnt transitive
and intransitive verbs in the sixth grade of elementary school and they have been practicing
them ever since, but they have never learnt about pseudo-intransitives before.
The study was conceived as a quantitative and a qualitative investigation throughout a
test as the main data gathering instrument. The test was composed of 16 sentences (including
the first three that were done as examples) that the students were asked to solve. The students
were supposed to circle the right answer and determine whether a verb in a sentence can be
either (a) exclusively intransitive, (b) exclusively transitive or (c) both – the case when a verb
can be used both transitively and intransitively, in which case if a given verb is intrinsically
transitive it’s actually pseudo-intransitive. If a verb can be both used both transitively and
intransitively, the students were supposed to rewrite a sentence of their own using the
opposite verb from the one given in a sentence (if a verb in a sentence was transitive they
were asked to compose a sentence with an intransitive one, and vice versa). The testing took
place in the grammar school “Bora Stanković” in Niš on the 27th of May 2013. It included
two classes consisted of third-year high school students. Total number of respondents was 54.
The test was created by the help and supervision of Professor Violeta Stojičić. The
director and the psychologist of the school where the testing took place had been informed
about the testing before it was conducted. The testing occurred during English class. Before
the testing started the students had confirmed that they had learnt transitive and intransitive
verbs in school. Officially, there were 57 respondents - 54 who done the test and 3 who left
the test blank.
The results of the test were quantitatively analyzed in terms of correct and incorrect
answers, problematic structures and verbs, while the sentences which the participants
produced themselves were all qualitatively analyzed in terms of the correct usage of the
transitive and intransitive verbs.
28. 23
3.1. THE RESULTS
The students were given 13 sentences to solve by recognizing the class of a verb in
terms of transitivity and intransitivity in each sentence. The verbs that were the part of the test
were: to work, to drive, to go, to eat, to run, to break, to find, to disagree, to read, to
nominate, to wake up, to turn down and to arrive. First of all, we will consider all the verbs
that have been put to the test including pseudo-intransitive ones, and after that we will
especially, but briefly, focus on the verbs that were exclusively pseudo-intransitives. Let’s
consider the number and the percentage of correct and incorrect answers provided by the
respondents on the test. The exact number and the percentage of correct and incorrect answers
in each sentence, i.e. for each verb are presented in the table below. The detailed discussion
about the results is done further within this subchapter.
No. VERB TOTAL CORRECT INCORRECT PERCENTAGE OF
CORRECTNESS
PERCENTAGE OF
WRONG ANSWERS
4. WORK 54 7 47 12.96 % (*70.37 %) 87.04 % (*29.63 %)
5. DRIVE 54 27 27 50.00 % 50.00 %
6. GO 54 4 50 7.41 % (*55.56 %) 92.59 % (*44.44 %)
7. EAT 54 29 25 53.70 % 46.30 %
8. RUN 54 15 39 27.78 % 72.22 %
9. BREAK 54 27 27 50.00 % 50.00 %
10. FIND 54 4 50 7.41 % (*83.33 %) 92.59 % (*16.67 %)
11. DISAGREE 54 36 18 66.67 % 33.33 %
12. READ 54 31 23 57.41 % 42.59 %
13. NOMINATE 54 3 51 5.56 % (*88.88 %) 94.44 % (*11.12 %)
14. WAKE UP 54 17 37 31.48 % 68.52 %
15. TURN DOWN 54 7 47 12.96 % (*74.08 %) 87.04 % (*25.92 %)
16. ARRIVE 54 12 42 22.22 % (*51.85 %) 77.77 % (*48.15 %)
The fundamental analysis, which was conducted during this research in terms of
transitivity and intransitivity of these English verbs that were on the test, showed that there
were no exclusively transitive verbs among the sixteen verbs that took place on this survey.
Moreover, this research concludes that there are just a few, or even none, exclusively
transitive verbs in the English language such as the verb to use. But even this verb can be
used intransitively as in: “This is the fuel we will use from now on.” On the other hand, there
29. 24
are many verbs that are typically used transitively and very rarely used intransitively. These
verbs are often called almost exclusively transitive verbs.
There are discussions about this topic among academicians. The British linguist,
Martin J. Endley, in his book “Linguistic perspectives on English grammar: a guide for EFL
teachers” argues about verbs that are exclusively or almost exclusively transitive verbs.
Though mentioning that those verbs that are widely regarded as exclusively transitive verbs
are actually almost exclusively transitive ones, Endley quotes that the verb to find appear to
be exclusively transitive regarding the sentence pattern such as “ *He found”, declaring that
such a sentence, without an object following the verb, is not grammatically acceptable.
Furthermore, Mr. Endley quotes the following sentences which he emphasized as the ones
that have exclusively transitive verbs in their constructions. The original examples from this
book are presented below:
“The old lady angrily smashed the plate. (*The old lady angrily smashed _____ );
Belle chopped the onions (*Belle chopped _____ )”28
These sentences cited Martin Endley’s
statement that claimed verbs find, smash and chop to be exclusively transitive. In fact, we
found that these verbs can be used intransitively as in the following examples:
- The verb to find used intransitively in a sentence:
The jury found in Blake’s favour;
- The verb to smash used intransitively in the following sentences:
The truck smashed into a concrete lamppost;
A couple of glasses have been smashed; The kitchen plate smashed into a thousand pieces.
- The verb to chop used intransitively in the following sentences:
The country was chopped up into several provinces; The share price was chopped from 30 to
10 pounds.
We came across an assertion that the verb to hit is exclusively transitive, which,
actually, is not. This statement was quoted by the American developmental psychologist
Michael Tomasello in his research book “Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of
language acquisition”. We would paraphrase Mr. Tomasello’s statement from this book
which asserts hit is exclusively transitive. Focusing on cognitivity abilities of children from
3.5 to 8 years, Michael Tomasello mentioned that there are exclusively intransitive and
exclusively transitive verbs in English. Tomasello quoted only the verb to hit as the
representative of those that are exclusively transitive.29
But, hit can be used intransitively as
well. For example: Poor countries have been worst hit by the world crisis; A tornado hit on
Monday morning.
28
Endley J. Martin, Linguistic perspectives on English grammar: a guide for EFL teachers, Information Age
Publishing Inc., USA, 2010, p. 192
29
Tomasello, Michael: Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition, First Harvard
University Press paperback edition, 2005, USA, p. 179
30. 25
This thesis suggests that there are no verbs that can be used exclusively transitively in
English, i.e. not having properties and affinities to act intransitively. However, there are many
verbs that are typically used transitively and extremely rarely used intransitively.
The detailed analysis of all the verbs that the students who were put to the test were
asked to solve is below. These verbs were: work, drive, go, eat, run, break, find, disagree,
read, nominate and arrive, as well as two phrasal verbs: turn down and wake up. The thesis
will analyse these verbs and discuss about the ways how they can be used transitively and
intransitively. This research was based on many dictionaries and grammar books that can be
found in references. This part of the research includes quantitative and qualitative analysis of
the verbs that the students were asked to recognize and use in the test. In other words, the
following analysis examined all possible forms of the verbs that were in the test in terms of
transitive and intransitive usage. In addition, the analysis indicates whether verbs from the test
were transitive or intransitive and it shows and examines the sentences which the students
composed and wrote by themselves using the verb from the sentence transitively or
intransitively depending on the case. All data were statistically calculated, displayed and
analysed. The results for each verb that was on the test were presented within six tables.
Table number 1 shows exactly how many students answered A, B and C to be the right
answers for each sentence on the test.30
The top field in the left corner of each table represents
numerical number of each sentence in the test while the third column (that is located in the
middle) indicates total number of respondents that were put to the test. Second column of
each table displays a sentence from the test that is analysed which is accompanied by the
answers that were offered. The verb that was analyzed is underlined just as it was underlined
on the test which had been done in order to help the students to concentrate easily on the task
they had to fulfil. On the left side of each table are alphabetical indications of each of three
optional answers marked as A, B and C (and n/a which represents no answer at all) that are
followed by optional verb that these alphabetical marks represent. The answer C indicates that
the answer may involve pseudo-intransitives. The optional answer that is regarded as accurate
is marked with a check mark symbol31
. The percentage of the students’ responses for each
optional answer is shown in the fourth column. Additionally, the last (the fifth) column
portrays if an answer was right or wrong which was depicted by a check mark symbol* if the
answer was correct or, on the contrary, by X if the answer was inaccurate. At the bottom of
each table is emphasized how many students didn’t provide any answer at all.
Table 2 shows all possible functional patterns in terms of transitive and intransitive
usage in the English language of the verb that is being discussed. The review in this table is
the result of the thorough analysis of the verb that is discussed in terms of its transitive and
intransitive usage in the English language.
30
The first three sentences are skipped because they were already solved as examples in the test.
31
Square root symbol in Verdana’s font (√ ) is used instead of check mark symbol (✓) because of its better
visibility in Microsoft Word. In other words, check mark symbol is appreciably smaller than square root symbol.
Nevertheless, it requires more space when it is inserted. Taking all this into account, as well as the resemblence
of these two symblos, we decided to use square root symbol (√ ) as the impersonation of the answers that were
correct in the test.
31. 26
Table 3 displays total correct and incorrect answers in the test obtained by circling.
Table 4 indicates whether the verb that is being discussed was used either transitively
or intransitively in the sentence in the test.
Table 5 shows sentence that were composed by the students which include the verb
that is being discussed.32
Table 6 demonstrates total number of the students who circled the right answer; then,
how many students composed a sentence using the verb; and finally, how many of them
composed the sentence appropriately. All data is accompanied by the calculated percentage of
each result.
The examples discussed are marked as numbered on the test the participants took.
(Taking into account that sentences number 1, 2 and 3 had already been solved as examples,
the students were supposed to solve the sentences starting from 4 to 16 as numbered on the
test.) Our discussion will start from the first sentence the respondents were asked to solve
which was the sentence that was numbered as 4th
on the test, and which was: “Jessica worked
all day long.”
3.1.1. WORK
The results of statistical analysis are presented in Table 1.
MARK THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST AND ANSWER PATTERNS TOTAL PERCENTAGE √ OR X
(RIGHT/
WRONG)4. Jessica worked all day long. 54 100 %
A. exclusively intransitive 38 70.37 % X / *√
B. exclusively transitive 6 11.11 % X
C. both transitive and intransitive √ 7 12.96 % √
n/a students that didn’t provide an answer 3 5.56 % X
Table 1, work
More than two-thirds of the students (38 of 54 = 70.37 %) thought that the correct
answer was A, which signified that the verb to work can be used exclusively intransitive,
which actually is not the truth. In fact, the usage of this verb is generally regarded as
exclusively intransitive - same as the majority of the students claimed by providing their
answers. However, this research points out that intransitive usage of this verb is also possible
although it’s very rare. Nevertheless, regardless of the fact it is so rare, the intransitive usage
is there. Therefore, we disregarded the common impression of work being exclusively
32
If no sentence is composed by the students regarding the verb that is being discussed, Table 5 is not needed.
Therefore, in such a case, this table is not presented.
32. 27
intransitive verb and acknowledged the answers which claimed this verb can be used both
transitively and intransitively as correct answers. There were just 7 of 54 students (12.96 %)
whose answers claimed this. Table 2 considers and shows when we use work intransitively
and when we use it transitively in the English language.
to
WORK
INTRANSITIVE USAGE TRANSITIVE USAGE
1 when the action involves physical or
mental exertion (which generally
refers to a job); e.g. Arthur has been
working on his assignment all night;
Lewis is working on a new book;
Medical staff members frequently work
very long hours.
a subject that is affected by very hard
working;
e.g. Peter works himself too hard.
2 when the action depicts possession of
a job; e.g. Both Kevin and Ralph work;
<work + for + someone/ something>
Lester is working for an international
business company; <work + with +
someone/ something> Scarlett is
enjoying working with children; <work
+ as + something> Cressida is working
as a lawyer.
managing or operating something to
profit from it; e.g. Kerwin works the
land (= he grows crops on it); Sophia
works a large area (i.e. selling a
company's goods, etc.); Lombard is a
good motivational speaker who knows
how to work a crowd (to animate them or
make them sympathize with him).
3 when the action refers to striving to
achieve something; e.g. Government
and other public institutions need to
work together to combat poverty.
making a machine, a device, etc. to
operate; e.g. John knows how to work
the coffee machine.
4 with the action that involves
functioning or operating; e.g. The air
conditioner is not working; The device
works by solar energy.
causing or producing something as an
outcome of exertion; e.g. Jessica can
work miracles with very little money if
she follows our home decoration tips.
5 when the action has the outcome or
impact that you want; e.g. The
medicine the physician gave me is not
working; Her charm doesn't work on
Clementine.
making a material into a certain shape
by pressing, stretching, hitting it, etc.
e.g. Anybody can try to work the mixture
into a paste.
6 when the action has a particular
impact; e.g. That kind of attitude can
work against you; Speaking Japanese
should work in her favour.
moving or passing to an exclusive
place or state, usually progressively;
e.g. Carl was tied up, but he managed to
work himself free; (figurative) Lester
worked his way to the top of his
33. 28
profession.
7 when the action involves usage of a
particular material in order to create
a picture or other item; e.g. The artist
that works in oils is over there.
8 if the action depicts moving violently;
e.g. Beatrice started at me in horror, her
mouth working.
9 when the action includes moving or
passing to a explicit place or state,
usually progressively; e.g. It will take
several hours for the medicament to
work out of your system.
Table 2, work
Based on data we presented in Table 2, we can agree that despite transitive usage of
work is rare, it is still possible. The reason why this verb is wrongly regarded as exclusively
intransitive is because it is most commonly used intransitively.
Table 3 shows total number of correct and incorrect answers. To recapitulate, this
thesis came to the conclusion that work can be used both transitively and intransitively.
Taking into account that this verb is generally regarded as exclusively intransitive, we
presented the students’ answers which supported this idea in the brackets along with an
asterisk symbol in Table 3.
THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST TOTAL PERCENTAGE
4. Jessica worked all day long. 54 100 %
CORRECT ANSWERS 7 (*37) 12.96 % (*70.37 %)
INCORRECT ANSWERS 47 (*16) 87.04 % (*29.63 %)
Table 3, work
Table 4 shows whether the verb in the sentence numbered as 4th on the test was used
transitively or intransitively.
to WORK THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST USAGE
4. Jessica worked all day long. INTRANSITIVE
Table 4, work
As we can see from Table 4, the verb in this sentence is used intransitively which
indicates the adverbial phrase of time “all day long“.
34. 29
Table 5 displays the sentences composed by the students who accurately claimed work
can be used either transitively or intransitively by circling the answer C on the test. There
were only 2 of 7 respondents (28.57 %), i.e. 2 of 54 in total (3.70 %), who composed a
sentence on their own. Regarding that the verb in the sentence on the test was used
intransitively, the students were supposed to compose a sentence using the verb transitively.
to
WORK
STUDENTS' SENTENCES FROM THE TEST USAGE
1 “I worked on a project last week.“ intransitively X transitively
2 “I worked on building my muscles.“ intransitively X transitively
Table 5, work
As shown in Table 5, these 2 students failed to provide a sentence using work
transitively. These two students either mistakenly thought that the verb in the sentence on the
test was transitive or they recognized that this verb in the sentence on the test was intransitive,
but they didn't manage to give an appropriate example. Taking all the results into account, we
came to the conclusion that neither of the students (0 %) completed the task thoroughly in the
sentence numbered as 4th
in the test.
Table 6 displays how many students circled the right answer; then, how many of them
composed a sentence using the verb; and finally, how many of them composed the sentence
appropriately. All data is accompanied by the calculated percentage of each result.
VERB CORRECTLY CIRCLED
ANSWERS
COMPOSED SENTENCES CORRECTLY COMPOSED
SENTENCES
TO WORK NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE
7 12.96 % 2 3.70 % 0 0 %
Table 6, work
In Serbian, this verb is usually used intransitively. Transitive usage is possible as well
although it's not so formal. e.g. *Tamara radi domaći zadatak. But this sentence would be
more appropriate by using the verb pisati (to write): Tamara piše domaći zadatak. Comparing
these examples with the English ones, we conclude that transitive and intransitive usage of the
verb work in Serbian is similar to the usage of this verb in English. However, there are more
cases and examples of transitive usage of work in English comparing to the number of case
patterns of this verb in the Serbian language.
Although work can be used either transitively or intransitively, this verb is not a
pseudo-intransitive verb regarding it is intrinsically intransitive. To summarize, 7 of 54
students (12.96 %) circled the correct answer, but neither of them (0 %) done the task
completely successfully by composing an adequate sentence on their own using the verb to
work.
35. 30
The analysis continues to the second sentence that the students were asked to solve,
which was the sentence numbered as 5th
on the test, and which was: “Ben drives his car to
work everyday.”
3.1.2. DRIVE
The results of statistical analysis are presented in Table 1.
MARK THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST AND ANSWER PATTERNS TOTAL PERCENTAGE √ OR X
(RIGHT/
WRONG)5. Ben drives his car to work everyday. 54 100 %
A. exclusively intransitive 2 3.70 % X
B. exclusively transitive 25 46.30 % X
C. both transitive and intransitive √ 27 50.00 % √
n/a students that didn’t provide an answer 0 0 % X
Table 1, drive
The verb to drive is intrinsically transitive, but it can be used both transitively and
intransitively. This verb is a pseudo-intransitive. We concluded this by reassessing properties
of drive in terms of its transitive and intransitive function and usage in a sentence in the
English language. As a result, all possible functions and usages of drive in a sentence in
English are presented in Table 2. Half of the students, 27 of 54 (50 %), managed to give the
right answer (which was C). In other words, the number of total correct and incorrect answers
coincided. There were 25 students (46.30 %) who considered drive to be exclusively transitive
and 2 (3.70 %) who thought this verb can be used exclusively intransitively.
to
DRIVE
INTRANSITIVE USAGE TRANSITIVE USAGE
1 driving a vehicle in order to go in a
certain direction; e.g. Cooper drove
to work at dawn; Eleanor drives too
slowly.
driving a vehicle in order to go in a
certain direction; e.g. Jasper drives a van
(= that's his job); Can you drive a truck?
2 falling or moving rapidly and with
huge amount of energy; e.g. The
waves were driving against the shore.
providing transportation for someone by
car, taxi, etc. e.g. Would you like to drive
Jessica to school tomorrow?
3 owning or using a certain type of vehicle;
e.g. Leah drives red convertible.
4 forcing someone to act in a certain way;
e.g. The urge to survive drove Christopher
and his friends on; Rhys is driving himself
too hard.
36. 31
5 making someone to be very agitated or
making them doing something extreme;
e.g. Victoria drives me crazy; Hunger drove
him to mug; Rebecca’s co-workers are
driving her to despair.
6 forcing someone or something to move in
a certain direction; e.g. A shepherd drove
sheep into a field.
7 forcing something to go in a certain
direction or into a certain place by
pushing or hitting it; e.g. Jack knows how
to drive a nail into a piece of wood.
8 making an opening in or through
something by using force; e.g. Dylan and
Jake drove a tunnel through a solid rock.
9 hitting a ball with force/ sending it
forward; e.g. (in golf) Tiger Woods drove
the ball into the rough.
10 carrying something along; e.g. Massive
waves drove the ship onto the rocks.
Table 2, drive
Table 3 presents the number of total right and wrong answers which are coincided.
THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST TOTAL PERCENTAGE
5. Ben drives his car to work everyday. 54 100 %
CORRECT ANSWERS 27 50.00 %
INCORRECT ANSWERS 27 50.00 %
Table 3, drive
Table 4 shows whether the verb in the sentence numbered as 5th on the test was used
transitively or intransitively.
to DRIVE THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST USAGE
5. Ben drives his car to work everyday. TRANSITIVE
Table 4, drive
37. 32
As we can see from Table 4, the verb in the sentence was used transitively which
indicates the noun phrase „his car“.
Although there were 27 respondents who circled the accurate answer, 15 of them
composed a sentence on their own. Regarding that the verb in the sentence on the test was
used transitively, the students were supposed to compose a sentence using the verb
intransitively. Table 5 shows sentences composed by the students who correctly claimed by
circling the answer C on the test to be the right answer which signified that drive can be used
either transitively or intransitively.
to
DRIVE
STUDENTS' SENTENCES FROM THE
TEST
USAGE
1 “Ben usually drives well.” intransitively √ transitively
2 -II- (identical sentence as the one above) intransitively √ transitively
3 -II- (identical sentence as the one above) intransitively √ transitively
4 “Ben drives fast.” intransitively √ transitively
5 -II- (identical sentence as the one above) intransitively √ transitively
6 “Ben drives everyday.” intransitively √ transitively
7 “Ben drives carefully.” intransitively √ transitively
8 “Ben drives to work everyday.” intransitively √ transitively
9 “Ben drives well.” intransitively √ transitively
10 “Ben drives carelessly.” intransitively √ transitively
11 “Ben drives often.” intransitively √ transitively
12 “Ben drives.” intransitively √ transitively
13 -II- (identical sentence as the one above) intransitively √ transitively
14 “Ben drives aeroplane every Sunday.” intransitively transitively X
15 “Ben drives his moto-bike.” intransitively transitively X
Table 5, drive
13 of these 15 students successfully determined that the verb to drive in the sentence
on the test was transitive by composing a sentence on their own using this verb intransitively.
There is a supposition that two students who composed a sentence using this verb transitively
either erroneously considered that the verb in the sentence on the test was intransitive or they
did recognize that the verb in the sentence on the test was transitive but they couldn’t
compose a sentence using this verb intransitively.
38. 33
Table 6 indicates how many students circled the right answer; then, how many
composed a sentence using the verb; and finally, how many of them composed the sentence
appropriately. All data is accompanied by the calculated percentage of each result.
VERB CORRECTLY CIRCLED
ANSWERS
COMPOSED SENTENCES CORRECTLY COMPOSED
SENTENCES
TO DRIVE NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE
27 50 % 15 27.78 % 13 24.07 %
Table 6, drive
To sum up, 27 of 54 students (50 %) had accurately circled C on the test to be the right
answer which signified that drive can be used either transitively or intransitively. 15 of these
27 (55.56 %), i.e. 15 of 54 in total (27.78 %), composed a sentence on their own in which case
13 of these 15 students (86.67 %) did that well. In other words, 13 of 54 students (24.07 %)
completed the task thoroughly by composing an appropriate sentence on their own. As all
pseudo-intransitive verbs, the verb to drive is intrinsically transitive but it can be used
intransitively as well. In addition, as it is the case with every pseudo-intransitive verb, the
intransitive usage of drive is slightly rarer comparing to the transitive one.
The analysis proceeds to the third sentence that the students were asked to solve which
was numbered as 6th
on the test, and which was: “She went to the store yesterday.”
3.1.3. GO
The results of statistical analysis are presented in Table 1.
MARK THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST AND ANSWER PATTERNS TOTAL PERCENTAGE √ OR X
(RIGHT/
WRONG)6. She went to the store yesterday. 54 100 %
A. exclusively intransitive 30 55.56 % X / *√
B. exclusively transitive 20 37.04 % X
C. both transitive and intransitive √ 4 7.41 % √
n/a students that didn’t provide an answer 0 0 % X
Table 1, go
The verb to go is intrinsically intransitive. Moreover, this verb is generally regarded as
exclusively intransitive verb, but there are ways this verb can function transitively which we
presented in Table 2. In addition, we came across transitively usages of go which are informal
that occur orally in a speech when someone is telling a story. Considering the fact that such
sentences are a part of informal speech, this paper does not formally recognize these kinds of
transitive usages of go, but, on the other hand, it does recognize transitive usage of go as in:
Amber went outside; Go home! There were only 4 of 54 respondents (7.41 %) who answered
39. 34
correctly that go possesses the ability to function both intransitively and transitively. On the
other hand, the majority of the students (30 of 54 = 55.56 %) supported the general
misconception of go functioning as exclusively intransitive verb. Additionally, there were 20
students (37.04 %) who considered this verb is exclusively transitive. There is an assumption
that these students who claimed this verb was exclusively transitive didn’t know that the verb
in the sentence on the test was intransitive considering it was followed by a prepositional
phrase (to the store yesterday), i.e. a preposition (to), which must have perplexed them. Table
2 demonstrates when we use go intransitively and transitively in the English language.
to
GO
INTRANSITIVE USAGE TRANSITIVE USAGE
1 moving or traveling from one spot/
destination to another;
e.g. Lesley went into his apartment and shut
the door behind him; Rodney goes to work by
bus; Helen has gone to Paris.
moving or traveling, individually
or accompanied by someone, to a
certain place or in order to be
present at an event; e.g. Charlie
goes everywhere with her; Marcus
went home; Let’s go outside.
2 moving or traveling in a certain way or over
a certain distance; e.g. Gillian is going too
fast; I’m afraid that her husband is driving in
the opposite direction.
moving or traveling in a certain
way or over a certain distance; e.g.
They had gone hundred kilometres
when the jeep broke down.
3 moving in a certain way or while doing
something else; e.g. The truck went skidding
off into a ditch; Cameron crushed into a
waitress and her plates went flying.
(informal; colloquial) telling a
story; e.g. Chad asked: “How
much?”, and Ralph goes: “Eighty”,
and Chad goes: “Eighty? You must
be joking!”.
4 leaving a place in order to get to another
one; e.g. I must be going now; Rupert and
Prunella came at eight and went at half past
ten.
(informal; colloquial) to make an
offer; e.g. His uncle will go eighty
dollars for the merchandise, but no
more.
5 leaving a place and going on a journey/ a
tour/ a trip/ a cruise; e.g. Cordelia has gone
on leave for two weeks.
6 visiting or attending a place for a certain
purpose; e.g. (British) She has to go to
hospital for an operation; (American) She has
to go to the hospital.
7 leaving or traveling to a destination in order
to be involved in an activity or a sport
(going for a walk/ drive/ swim/ run); e.g.
40. 35
Anne has to go shopping next morning; Kyle
and Adam are going sailing on Sunday.
8 being sent or passed somewhere; e.g. Owen
wants this memo to go to all employees.
9 leading or extending from one place to
another; e.g. Joe demanded a rope that would
go from the top of the building to the first
floor.
10 having an usual place or correcting present
position; e.g. The grammar book goes on the
bottom shelf.
11 saying that something does not adjust into a
certain position or location; e.g. Laura’s stuff
will not all go into this pink traveling bag.
12 starting an activity; e.g. The coach will
exclaim: “one, two, three, go!”, as a signal for
you to start; As soon as Nathan gets home
Scarlett and I are ready to go.
13 talking about the quality of progress or
success of something; e.g. “How did the
promotion go?” “It went very successfully.”;
The way the situation is going the enterprise
will be bankrupt at this time next year.
14 expressions that indicate that someone/
something has come to a certain state/ is not
in a certain state anymore; e.g. Eleanor went
to sleep; Green colour has gone out of fashion.
15 becoming different in a certain manner
(often possessing a bad connotation – to go
bald/ mad/ blind/ bankrupt/ bad, etc.); e.g.
Matilda’s hair is going grey; The milk in the
pitcher has gone sour; The kids went wild with
excitement.
16 living or moving around in a certain state
(going naked/ barefooted); e.g. Emma can’t
bear the thought of kids going hungry.
41. 36
17 not being noticed/ reported/ etc. e.g. Citizens
are concerned that many felonies go
unreported.
18 talking about what tune or words a song/
poem has or about plot of a story; e.g. Chloe
often forgets how the next line goes.
19 making a certain sound or movement; e.g.
The rifle went “bang”; Caitlin went like this
with her hand.
20 a sound as a signal or warning; e.g. The
whistle went for the end of the match.
21 working of a machine/ device; e.g. The wall
clock in the living room doesn’t go.
22 stop of existence or being lost or stolen; e.g.
Sienna’s headache hasn’t gone yet; Leo left his
motorcycle outside the cafeteria and when he
came out afterwards it had gone.
23 talking about a desire to get rid of someone/
something; e.g. The old wardrobe will have to
go; Dylan is useless, he’ll have to go.
24 getting worse by becoming damaged or stop
working correctly; e.g. Lillian’s sight is
beginning to go; Nash was driving home when
his brakes went.
25 dying (to go is used as avoidance of saying
the verb to die); e.g. Becket can’t take his
lifetime savings with him when he is gone.
26 spending or using money for something; e.g.
Alton doesn’t know where his money goes;
Most of Carter’s salary goes on his debts.
27 selling a product/ property/ etc. e.g. Her
family won’t let the apartment go for less than
₤100000; Bread usually goes cheap (being
sold cheaply) in the evenings.
28 willingness to pay a certain amount of
money for something; e.g. The potential
42. 37
buyer has offered ₤4000 for the car and Claire
doesn’t expect he would go any higher; I will
go to ₤350 but that is my limit.
29 helping by playing a part in doing
something; e.g. This all goes to justify his
version of the story.
30 talking about how slowly or quickly time
appears to pass; e.g. An hour and a half went
past while we were standing at the station.
31 (informal) using a toilet; e.g. Brad, do you
need to go?
Table 2, go
As we have seen in Table 2, there are thirty-one different ways of using go
intransitively in a sentence in English, as well as four ways of using this verb transitively
including two non-formal ways of usage. Although the intransitive usage of go is much
widely applied and used, the transitive usage is there. Therefore, this thesis recognizes the
answer C in the test as accurate.
Table 3 reviews total number of correct and incorrect answers which the respondents
provided in the test. The numbers in the brackets accompanied by an asterisk symbols would
be regarded as accurate only if we consider go to be exclusively intransitive verb which we
assured in this analysis not to be plausible by taking into account there are ways this verb can
be used transitively.
THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST TOTAL PERCENTAGE
6. She went to the store yesterday. 54 100 %
CORRECT ANSWERS 4 (*30) 7.41 % (*55.56 %)
INCORRECT ANSWERS 50 (*24) 92. 59 % (*44.44 %)
Table 3, go
Table 4 shows whether the verb in the sentence was used transitively or intransitively.
to GO THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST USAGE
6. She went to the store yesterday. INTRANSITIVE
Table 4, go
As we can see in Table 4, the verb in the sentence in the test was used intransitively
which indicates the prepositional phrase “to the store yesterday“, i.e. the preposition “to“.
43. 38
Only 4 students (7.41 %) correctly answered that go can be used both intransitively and
transitively. However, nobody did compose a sentence on their own in order to fulfil the task
thoroughly according to the instructions about the answer they opted to. Our presumption is
that either they didn’t know that the verb in the sentence in the test was intransitive (it was
followed by a prepositional phrase, i.e. a preposition “to”), hence they didn’t know to use it
intransitively, or they recognized it as intransitive but they didn’t know how to use it
transitively. Consequently, we didn’t need table 5 in this case.
Considering that no one composed a sentence, Table 6 displays only how many
students circled the right answer and the percentage of it while the rest of the results were
negative.
VERB CORRECTLY CIRCLED
ANSWERS
COMPOSED SENTENCES CORRECTLY COMPOSED
SENTENCES
TO GO
NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE NUMBER PERCENTAGE
4 7.41 % 0 0 % 0 0 %
Table 6, go
To sum up, only 4 of 54 students (7.41 %) accurately answered by circling the right
answer that go can be used both intransitively and transitively. Nevertheless, no one of these
four students did even try to compose a sentence as they were instructed in the test. Hence,
nobody did the task thoroughly. Although go can function both intransitively and transitively,
it is not a pseudo-intransitive verb considering it is intrinsically intransitive.
The paper will analyse fourth sentence that the students were asked to solve which was
numbered as 7th
on the test, and which was: “An omnivore eats either other animals or
plants.”
3.1.4. EAT
The results of statistical analysis are presented in Table 1.
MARK THE SENTENCE FROM THE TEST AND ANSWER PATTERNS TOTAL PERCENTAGE √ OR X
(RIGHT/
WRONG)7. An omnivore eats either other animals or plants. 54 100 %
A. exclusively intransitive 3 5.56 % X
B. exclusively transitive 22 40.74 % X
C. both transitive and intransitive √ 29 53.70 % √
n/a students that didn’t provide an answer 0 0 % X
Table 1, eat
The verb to eat is a pseudo-intransitive verb. As any other pseudo-intransitive verb,
eat is intrinsically transitive but it can be used intransitively as well. Most of the students (29
