The English Middle and Agentivity

Abstract

The widely assumed agentivity of the English middle construction is called into question by showing that the differential grammaticality of middles with for-phrases referring to a potential agent is linked to verb typology. Whereas simple change-of-state verbs can appear (1) in an unaccusative construction & (2) in a middle construction containing all by itself but not (3) in one containing a for-phrase, change-of-state verbs having an instrument/manner component cannot appear in (1) or (2) but license a for-phrase (3). It is proposed that the agent-implicating properties of the verb are responsible for the grammaticality of agentive phrases in the middle construction & that the latter has no subject. 19 References. J. Hitchcock