Ergative verbs

Ergative verbs have two patterns S V O and S V.

A. The vase broke.

B. John broke the vase. (animate doer)

The impact broke the vase. (inanimate doer)

The ergative form is when the O is used as S. This is different from intransitive verbs which do not permit an O. The choice of patterns allows you to talk about the world in very different ways. Either something just happens, or someone is responsible for it.

When there is only a "doer", the cause is not stated. There may be an implication that there is no cause - it just happened. Or we do not want to say who did it. In the S V O, the S is a "causer".

By comparison, the passive version, The vase was broken, tells us that it didn't just happen but it doesn't tell how or by whom.

These notes derive from p.474 of this book.