Appendix:English ergative verbs

An ergative verb in English is an intransitive verb with a passive meaning that alternates with a transitive verb with active meaning.

A normal transitive verb like destroy in active form takes an ACTOR (the doer of an action) subject and an UNDERGOER (the person/thing having something done to it) object:


 * The man destroyed the car . (transitive, active)
 * the man (subject) = ACTOR
 * the car (object) = UNDERGOER

In the passive counterpart to this sentence, the UNDERGOER becomes the subject:


 * The car was destroyed. (intransitive, passive)
 * the car (subject) = UNDERGOER

An ergative verb can have a subject that is an UNDERGOER but without being in the passive form. This is the case with sink/sank/sunk.


 * The man sank the boat . (transitive, active)
 * the man (subject) = ACTOR
 * the boat (object) = UNDERGOER


 * The boat was sunk. (intransitive, passive)
 * the boat (subject) = UNDERGOER


 * The boat sank. (intransitive, active) ≈ ergative
 * the boat (subject) = PATIENT

Many but not all English verbs can have ergative syntax. This list is not exhaustive.

Ergative verbs should be distinguished from middle verbs (Category:English middle verbs) which require the support of some adverbial (e.g. The baggage transfers easily but not *The baggage transfers.)