It has been a marvellous lesson as do you. Dear Prof, this is my homework : I broke the glass. I dropped the glass and it broke. The referee blew his whistle and started the match. The match started at 2.30. We grew some tasty potatoes. The potatoes were growing well. The wind shook the trees. The trees shook in the wind. You should roast the meat at 200 degrees centigrade. The meat was roasting in a hot oven. I always defrost meat before I cook it. I am waiting for the meat to defrost. Melt the chocolate and pour it over the ice cream. The chocolate was melting in a pan. Always love you. Take care of yourself. Yours very truly. Andrea
Hi Andrea. Excellent! You provided a set of flawless examples that will help many others. Thank you! I'm very happy to have you study with me from week to week. Take care. :)
Good for you my best teacher ever! I know what ergative verb is: Consider the following sentences: I opened the door. The door was opened (by me). The door opened. The verb open is a transitive verb in sentence #1, and sentence #1 is in active voice. The doer here is I, and what is affected by my action is door Sentence #2 is in passive voice. Sentence #3 is in middle voice. The verb open is used as intransitive way. And here the doer of the action (verb) is not important and is not mentioned. What is affected is the subject - door. So here the verb - open - is used in ergative form. Consider sentence #1 and sentence #3. The object of the transitive verb in sentence #1 is the subject of the intransitive verb in sentence #3. But all intransitive verbs can't be used in ergative form, nor all ergative verb can take everything as subject. For example: He fired a gun. The gun fired. He fired a bullet. A bullet fired (we can't use "bullet" as the subject of this ergative verb) - Incorrect sentence MY QUESTION: All ergative verbs are transitive verb in nature. But when they are used in ergative form they acts as intransitive. Am I right? How to decide which verb can be used in ergative form and which verb can not? Is there any technique - logical or grammatical or anything else? How to decide which subjects are appropriate for a particular ergative verb, and which are not? Can you just, please, try to answer those questions dear teacher?
Ergative verbs are both transitive and intransitive. I don't think we usually talk about the "ergative form." We can use an ergative verb transitively or intransitively. Once you know a verb is ergative, the object of the transitive verb can be the subject of the intransitive verb, and vice versa. I'll share a new grammar video that's related to this topic on Thursday.
You're incredibly amazing! Thank you for all the dedication to prepare the videos and share your knowledge with us. Not only the flawless quality of your videos must be acknowledged, but also the fact that you're one of the humblest teachers on UA-cam. I've been teaching English for around 8 years and your videos are extremely valuable. May God bless your heart! 🥰😘
Hi Alan. Thank you for taking the time to post such a positive comment. I appreciate support from my peers. Best wishes to you in your own teaching! :)
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you so much! You're such an admirable role model. I'll never forget your outstanding phonetic lessons.🤗 Best regards from Brazil! 😍😚😁
I have never encountered this term or heard of before. Thanks for bringing this term to my knowledge. 😀 •Seeing him lifted her spirits. ➡️ Her spirits lifted after seeing him.
I appreciated your teaching ma’am. I am a student, and I am currently enrolled in the ESL program. I am looking forward to learn more advanced English grammar.
I now know ergative verbs. Finally, Jennifer has something on passive and active tense. I have yet to find this subject in her voluminous submission on You tube. Jennifer is a master in English grammar. My wife too is an English teacher of 40 years (wow) standing. She too has admitted that the grammar lessons of Jennifer interesting but finds them too theoretical..(Ha Ha, I don't agree with her at all.That's the nrom between us in most discussions).. Getting a hang of grammar helps a lot in speed reading, I find. This specially useful in today's world in which we are flooded with written and spoken material.
Teachers have different approaches to grammar. I have different kinds of grammar lessons, as you likely know. The playlists on phrasal verbs, for example, are very practical. The playlists on adjective clauses or conditionals are designed to cover all the patterns in context, so there's focus on form and meaning. My advanced grammar lessons are can be complex and more abstract. Maybe your wife would prefer to see the basic English videos I'm doing with the two young ladies. Grammar is taught through conversation and spoken activities. It's very practice-oriented. :)
Thanks Ms Jennifer for this interesting lesson about ergative verbs. I ve already studied this type of verbs but in listening to your explanation these verbs become more easy to me. So thank you very much indeed.
Very good lesson! I understand that terminology may be confusing and it's always useful to simplify it in order to teach something. Anyway, I think that the right term would be inergative verb: the one in which the subject of a intransitive looks like the object of a transitive sentence. Ergative seems to me more a type of aligment which requires case marking (erg for subject of transitive and absolutive for the rest). But I just coment to discuss about it: the lesson is perfect as it is!
I guess it's fun to be the grammarians who make up the terms! For the rest of us, I think it's useful to take a look at ergative verbs and understand how different words function, but in the end the terminology matters less than our ability to use the language. If you use verbs correctly, then it's okay if you don't know if any of them are called ergative verbs. :) I'm glad you liked the lesson. Thanks for watching.
@@Englishwithjennifer I totally agree! When you are learning a language terminology is not that important. But it's useful to know the specific terms when you are, for example, comparing languages (ie Euskera -with ergative alignment- and English -with a nominative one-). Thanks for replying, it's very interesting to me when someone talks about ergative features. I'm watching more of your videos because they are very clear and they are helping me to improve my English. Thanks again!
Wow, erga...what indeed! I never heard this word before 😆 THank you for expanding our vocab and improving grammar 🙌 Good knowledge of English increases the chances of getting a better job. The chances of getting a better job increase thanks to (due to?) good knowledge of English.
Hi Sergey! Well done. You've learned a new term, and you accurately demonstrated your understanding. Either preposition can fit that second sentence. "Thanks to" makes sense since it's a positive result.
Thank you, Ahmed. You can also study with me on Instagram and Hallo. Please try my new app, too. play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalcrafthouse.englishwithjenniferalarm Happy New Year!
Hi Jennifer How good it is to start the day watching your videos I've learned a lot from you thank you very much I hope you have a great weekend my dear teacher 😉🇧🇷
Dear Jennifer. I'm a big fan of your channel. Ergative verbs are verbs that are both transitive and intransitive. Just wonder if there is a name for words that are both adjectives and adverbs.
Hi. Thank you for studying with me. I hope you'll also follow me on Instagram and Hallo. hallo.tv/ I don't know of a name for words that can be more than one part of speech. (Love = noun, verb/ Fast = adjective, adverb) I suppose they could possibly be viewed as homophones or homographs, but the meaning is basically the same. It's the function that's different.
Hi Jennifer, first I would like to thank you for making this extremely important lesson, which I have been searching for quite a while. I watched this lesson twice and I will maybe watch it several times, because there are still some gaps I have to fill. What I understand is that ergative verbs are group of verbs among the verbs that sometimes take and sometimes don't take objects. Can we ALAWAYS make egrative verbs transitive verbs, for example Me boss decreased my salary Can I make it My salary was decreased. Here I want to say that my boss, who is implied, did that. The question is can we ALWAYS do that if we want to specify who did that action? Do we use ergative verbs when the subject is not just not important but there is no need to imply it, for example Many factors reduced the water during the experiment. Water reduced during the experiment Another example Rain filled the river. The river filled There are verbs, such as reserve which is transitive verb only but we can make it ergative verbs can't we? , for example I reserved the documents The documents reserved.
Let's clarify: There are some verbs that can be transitive or intransitive, and among these are a group of verbs called ergative verbs. The choices between active, passive, and intransitive are partly influenced by the focus we want. 1. My boss decreased my salary. (active - the boss is the "doer") 2. My salary was decreased. (passive - someone did this, but the focus is on the "receiver") 3. Salaries can decrease during a weak economy. (intransitive - focus on the change of state) I like your example with "fill." I don't see "reserve" as ergative.
Hi Jennifer! Here my examples: Sam started work at eight o' clock (transitive) Sam' s work started at eight o' clock ( intransitive) Exercising lessens the risk of heart attack (transitive) The risk of heart attack lessens doing exercise. (intransitive) Boil the eggs before I come home. (transitive) The eggs were boiled before I came home. (passive)
1)I spent a lot of money buying that car.. a lot of my money spent when I went to the supermarket.. .. 2) the bikers rode their bikes very fast and quickly. Bikes rode from my village. 3)My mother has baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. The chocolate cake baked on my birthday.
Hi! I'm glad you've posted examples for us to consider. I'm not sure I consider all those verbs as ergative. SPEND is transitive. RIDE can be either, but I don't see it as ergative. BAKE is ergative, but let me offer a different pair of examples: 3a. My mother baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. (transitive) 3b. The cake was baked at a low temperature because my mother wanted to create thin layers. (passive) 3c. Cakes usually bake at about 325 degrees. (intransitive) Corrections to 1 and 2: (active-passive) 1. I spent a lot of money on that car. / A lot of money is spent every day at the supermarket. 2. The bikers rode their bikes very fast. / Those rental bikes have been ridden by many different tourists.
@@Englishwithjennifer thanks for sharing those examples.. but am I wrong with those examples? Have I used them incorrectly? Nothing just I want to make sure myself.
1) Better to say: I spent a lot of money ON that car. Incorrect: a lot of my money spent when I went to the supermarket.. 2) Better to use only "fast" or "quickly," not both. Correct: The bikers rode their bikes very fast. Incorrect: Bikes rode from my village. 3) Correct: My mother has baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. Incorrect: The chocolate cake baked on my birthday.
@@Englishwithjennifer thanks for you efforts and comments. I used the verb spend intrasitively because one teacher had used spend intransitively : amount of money spent on perfume, groceries, automobiles..( but this information was from IELTS task 1 graph) the sentence was exactly like this.😊👍
In the context of a budget, we don't normally use the intransitive verb. (about the body): It feels good to stretch after a long car trip. (about money): Learn how to stretch your budget.
I still haven't seen that Jerry Maguire film yet! Here are my ergative verb examples. I didn't know if it was wise to open a new chapter in my life. I felt like my life was a closed book and didn't want a new chapter opened. We closed off the road as we filmed the car chase. There was less chance of injury to the general public with the road closed. I totally disagreed with the mechanic when he said it was alright to reverse over a pile of rubble. New damage could have been done to my car, so it was unsafe to reverse. Driving in the fog should be avoided if you don't want to crash into something. Waiting until the fog clears means you are far less likely to crash. I wanted to fly to America. To my dismay I was told I first had to board a pane in order to fly. I also had to drive to the airport of course. Just like with the flying, I didn't want to drive. All those fears stopped the fun. Those fears had to be stopped in order to move forward.
Oh, you need to see that romantic comedy. I love the drama between Jerry and his one and only client. Cuba Gooding, Jr. got an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was wonderful in that role. You have an interesting mix of examples. Ha ha re: the plane. ;) Be careful. I think you're introducing other structures. >> want something done, want a new chapter opened That's a passive construction with a past participle. It's like have something done (have my car repaired). It's causative. Right? I see your examples with CRASH as perfect examples of an ergative verb. So here are others following that transitive-intransitive pattern. Can you fly a plane? / I want to fly to America. All those fears stopped the fun. / My fears suddenly stopped.
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you, Jennifer. I should be able to join next week. Top of my list of suggestions for subjects you could cover would be exploring common grammatical errors. I am also keen on vocabulary building, where we look at synonyms. For the ESL students: The Importance Of Articles would be a good title and video lesson. I am seeing mistakes in this area crop up often in the comments you receive. I would also like to see a second part to the ergative verb video lesson, with a test included. No pressure then! LOL :>)
Hi, ma'am. I've already watched some of your videos and they have been very helpful for my learning and understanding the concepts better. I have a question. Is "continue" an Ergative verb? "The fruits continued to be stolen." What kind of sentence structure is this? Please help me understand this.
Thank you for choosing to study with me. Continue is ambitransitive: 1. Let's continue. (intransitive) 2. Let's continue our work. (transitive). Yes, you can take that object and make it the subject: 3. Our work continues. >> For more context: Our work in this area continues./Our work to achieve this goal continued to this day. This means "continue" is ergative. In your example, you use an infinitive after "continued." Some identify the infinitive as the object of the verb. Others call it a complement.
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you for the reply and explanation, ma'am. When the verb "continue" is used "intransitively" (as an Ergative verb) in the sentence "The fruits continued to be stolen.", the passive infinitive must be the complement as the verb couldn't take an object, could it?
What would be the right whenever any emotional film finishes i cry or whenever any emotional film gets finished i cry or whenever any emotional film is finished i cry what should i use really confused
You can say, "When a sad movie ends, I cry." I'd say, "I cry at the end of sad movie." or "I'm usually crying the end of a sad movie." Thanks for watching!
Ergative doesn't mean passive. Passive implies that action is being received by some agent. The passive voice uses BE or GET + the past participle. I have a full lesson on the passive in my grammar playlist.
I've done vocabulary related to eyes (peer, squint, etc.) and feet (hop, stumble, etc.) See my English Vocabulary playlist. You might enjoy my summer creative writing course. Have you seen the announcement? "Gawk" and "slither" are the kinds of verbs you'd expect to read in fiction. We'll be writing short stories together.
Quite a useful lesson Jennifer. Thanks. Please check my sentences 1. Jennifer explains difficult grammar concepts with ease. 2.Difficult grammar concepts are explained with much ease by Jennifer. 3.His artistry casted a magical spell on everyone. 4.A magical spell was casted as he showed his artistry. Thanks God bless you.
Glad you're experimenting with verbs. :) The first pair is active-passive and they are correctly written. "Are explained" is a passive construction. "Explain" isn't ergative, so we can't give a third example with "explain." As for 3 and 4, can't think of an example where "cast" would be intransitive, so it's not an ergative verb either. Also, the past tense is "cast." Andrea posted some wonderful pairs of examples that demonstrate the pattern used by ergative verbs. Please take a look.
Consider joining a discussion board and inquiring. Consider finding a conversation partner, even if that person is a student too. It's still practice. Or think about paid lessons/courses. Good luck!
At first I had no idea, I thought it was a class of verb that can fit into ergative alignment. So, briefly saying ergative verb is a verb which can act as a transitive or intransitive, depending in the environment in the sentence. It reminds me with mediopassive, somehow. Am I correct?
It's just a way of understanding how verbs function. Here's a concise explanation that might clarify the concept. www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/ergative#:~:text=An%20ergative%20verb%20is%20a,' Please watch my other lesson on ambitransitive verbs. It's important to know if a verb is transitive or intransitive, or if it can be both. If it can be both, how exactly does it function? ua-cam.com/video/Lj4fk8d689w/v-deo.html
@@Englishwithjennifer thank you, I've watched the your video explaining about the ambivalent verbs. I recognize those patterns and always use them in my writings. I don't know the grammar terms about the verb classification before, I only knew intransitive, transitive, and reflexive. Thanks.
That's sweet, Mollie. Let me add to your active-passive examples: Your English skills develop through regular practice and review. (Now we've shown that "develop" is an ergative verb!)
Hey Jennifer! This was asked to me in an exam: "an ergative verb cannot be agentless" and I didn't know how to answer that. Could you help me? Thank you!
Hi Camille. That's not even a question, so it's not fair to ask you that. Was it a true-false quiz? I suppose they were asking you to identify an agent, in which case there isn't one when you say something like, "The caking is baking in the oven." It's not about someone doing the baking. The cake is baking all by itself.
Dear Ma'am In have there is no action how can it be transitive? For transitive verb there must be some action that passes to the object. So in this sentence. I have a pen. There is not any action going on.
Hello. It's true that "have" is not an action verb, but it's still transitive. We can mention the object being possessed. A learner's dictionary will confirm if a verb is transitive. www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/have
It's good to clarify. See some of the other comments to learn even more. :) No, ergative verbs aren't the same as passive verbs, but ergative verbs can have passive forms. Passive verbs use the form BE + past participle (or sometimes GET + past participle). Passive verbs shift the focus from the doer to the receiver of the action. Passive verbs often have a by-phrase to name the doer. (The exception would be stative passive verbs. See my lesson on that topic.) Ergative verbs are verbs that can be transitive (SVO) or intransitive (SV). Andrea posted a lot of great examples.
Yes, though I might phrase the ideas differently: My dreams were shattered. (past)/ My dreams are falling apart. (present) If you drop these toys, they will scatter across the floor.
My dreams will be shattered. (passive) What's going to shatter them? It's unclear. You might say, "I don't want anyone or anything to shatter my dreams."
@@Englishwithjennifer shatter is both transitive and intransitive so if we can say the glass will shatter if it drops so why can’t we say my dreams will shatter thats my question the glass shatters if you drop this so why cant we say your dreams shatters if you dont do hard word
Good question. Some dictionaries recognize a transitive use: go + (that way/this way/my way) go + (the length of the room) www.britannica.com/dictionary/go
I was tired because I didn't sleep/ hadn't slept I was hungry because I didn't eat or hadn't eaten I was exhausted because i didn't sleep a night before or hadn't slept a night before Which one is correct ? I am so confused
American English speakers often use the simple past (especially in conversation) if the context makes the sequence clear. You can use the past perfect if you wish to be perfectly clear.
@@Englishwithjennifer in first 2 sentences i can use either? There’s no difference? And the 3 rd sentence “a night before” i can also use either here? I want to use past simple in all of these sentences but not sure if it’s correct and what’s the difference?
@@Englishwithjennifer i was tired because i didn’t sleep and i was hungry because I didn’t eat or both correct right? I am showing the cause of me being tired and hungry but 1 guy said me use past perfect but I don’t really wanna use it
Again, textbooks will guide you to use the past perfect. In everyday American English, you'll hear the simple past used quite a lot if the timeline is clear.
@@Englishwithjennifer that's what i am asking in these both sentence is timeline clear and can i use past simple in these sentences? With because here?
It's good to have a few different presentations on the same topic. This way you can review information and reinforce your understanding. Each teacher has his or her own style, and I believe it's good for students to learn through different methods.
No, it's not absolutely necessary. However, I'd argue that proficient speakers are familiar with how ergative verbs work even if they don't know the term "ergative." ESL students tend to know more terminology than native speakers. Terminology gives us a way to talk about grammar. In this case, it's very helpful to understand how verbs work. It's not as simple as saying all verbs are either transitive or intransitive. You need to have familiarity with verbs that can be either. And among those are "ergative verbs." See all the different examples some of your fellow learners are posting. Collectively, students here are trying to master the grammar and accurately use ergative verbs. Accuacy is important in communication. I know this lesson is loaded with content, and that's why I labeled it as advanced.
I appreciate the feedback. I know my style not as lively as others'. I tend to slow down for grammar. My live teaching experience has taught me that many students need time to process information. Thanks for watching.
I'm glad to see you practicing! Let's change the object of the first pair of examples. It will make more sense: 1a. I start new projects every year. 1b. New projects start every year. The second pair will be clearer if we shift the verb to the past: 2a. She broke the window of my car. 2b. The window broke. Compare to the passive: The window was broken by the force of the crash. (Focus on cause-effect.)
Well, think of this. We can say: We bake bread. >> The bread is baking. While we can say, "The road goes on for miles," we can't say that someone makes the road go on.
It's placing information at the head of the sentence, often for emphasis. dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/about-words-clauses-and-sentences/fronting
Yes. One view is that all ergative verbs are ambitransitive. But not all ambitransitive verbs are ergative. Does that make sense? Ergative verbs are a type of ambitransitive verb.
Hi. Grammatically that example works, but can we create an example with "explain" where the object of the transitive verb becomes the subject of the intransitive verb? "His actions explained" is an incomplete thought. Does that make sense?
This window is about to smash This window is about to be smashed Be careful of this bus your head could smash Be careful of this bus your head could be smashed . what's the difference and which one is correct
@@Englishwithjennifer can't we use it world like break this window is about to break this window is about to smash? Or it should be be smashed? Some guy told be i can be used as intransitive too can you plz confirm that
You can break a window. "About to break" in this situation is odd. "About to be smashed" is logically odd as well. If there is some support structure and it's bending under the heavy weight of something, we can say, "It's about to break" or "The weight is about the break the structure." (I strongly prefer the first.)
You can post a short language question here. Please also consider joining my subscriber group on Hallo. We have a lie Q&A session for 1-2 hours every Wednesday. hallo.tv
@@EnglishwithjenniferThank you a lot. I took a photo while riding. (riding) is a present participle as adverb. True. He forgot doing the exercises last night. (doing the exercises) is a gerund phrase. True.
It has been a marvellous lesson as do you. Dear Prof, this is my homework :
I broke the glass.
I dropped the glass and it broke.
The referee blew his whistle and started the match.
The match started at 2.30.
We grew some tasty potatoes.
The potatoes were growing well.
The wind shook the trees.
The trees shook in the wind.
You should roast the meat at 200 degrees centigrade.
The meat was roasting in a hot oven.
I always defrost meat before I cook it.
I am waiting for the meat to defrost.
Melt the chocolate and pour it over the ice cream.
The chocolate was melting in a pan.
Always love you. Take care of yourself. Yours very truly. Andrea
Hi Andrea. Excellent! You provided a set of flawless examples that will help many others. Thank you!
I'm very happy to have you study with me from week to week. Take care. :)
Thanks Andrea , those are great examples.😍
Good for you my best teacher ever!
I know what ergative verb is:
Consider the following sentences:
I opened the door.
The door was opened (by me).
The door opened.
The verb open is a transitive verb in sentence #1, and sentence #1 is in active voice. The doer here is I, and what is affected by my action is door
Sentence #2 is in passive voice.
Sentence #3 is in middle voice. The verb open is used as intransitive way. And here the doer of the action (verb) is not important and is not mentioned. What is affected is the subject - door. So here the verb - open - is used in ergative form.
Consider sentence #1 and sentence #3. The object of the transitive verb in sentence #1 is the subject of the intransitive verb in sentence #3.
But all intransitive verbs can't be used in ergative form, nor all ergative verb can take everything as subject. For example:
He fired a gun.
The gun fired.
He fired a bullet.
A bullet fired (we can't use "bullet" as the subject of this ergative verb) - Incorrect sentence
MY QUESTION:
All ergative verbs are transitive verb in nature. But when they are used in ergative form they acts as intransitive. Am I right?
How to decide which verb can be used in ergative form and which verb can not? Is there any technique - logical or grammatical or anything else?
How to decide which subjects are appropriate for a particular ergative verb, and which are not?
Can you just, please, try to answer those questions dear teacher?
Ergative verbs are both transitive and intransitive. I don't think we usually talk about the "ergative form." We can use an ergative verb transitively or intransitively. Once you know a verb is ergative, the object of the transitive verb can be the subject of the intransitive verb, and vice versa.
I'll share a new grammar video that's related to this topic on Thursday.
@@Englishwithjennifer Great! I am there. Awaiting for that vedio, then! Thanks so much dear Jennifer!
You're incredibly amazing! Thank you for all the dedication to prepare the videos and share your knowledge with us. Not only the flawless quality of your videos must be acknowledged, but also the fact that you're one of the humblest teachers on UA-cam. I've been teaching English for around 8 years and your videos are extremely valuable. May God bless your heart! 🥰😘
Hi Alan. Thank you for taking the time to post such a positive comment. I appreciate support from my peers. Best wishes to you in your own teaching! :)
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you so much! You're such an admirable role model. I'll never forget your outstanding phonetic lessons.🤗 Best regards from Brazil! 😍😚😁
Great! I didn't know these verbs. Thanks a million!
You're very welcome!
Today I learned a new thing, something I have never come across during 40 years. Veeeeeeeery interesting! And perfectly explained, thanks!
That's how I felt when I first heard the term "ergative." What?! Thanks for giving me the chance to explain how I understand them.
Thank you for your explanation in the beginning. Thank you for being so humble.
You're very welcome. Thank you for studying with me.
I have never encountered this term or heard of before. Thanks for bringing this term to my knowledge. 😀
•Seeing him lifted her spirits. ➡️ Her spirits lifted after seeing him.
Super job! That pair of examples nicely demonstrates that "lift" is an ergative verb. :)
@@Englishwithjennifer
Thank you, Jennifer. 🌹
This is a great lersson. Love the pace of these videos.
Thank you for watching. I'm working on a new grammar lesson now. I'll share it next week.
You are the best teacher in youtube, thank you!!
Wow! Thank you. :)
I appreciated your teaching ma’am.
I am a student, and I am currently enrolled in the ESL program. I am looking forward to learn more advanced English grammar.
Hi. I'm glad my lessons can supplement your classroom studies!
I now know ergative verbs. Finally, Jennifer has something on passive and active tense. I have yet to find this subject in her voluminous submission on You tube.
Jennifer is a master in English grammar. My wife too is an English teacher of 40 years (wow) standing. She too has admitted that the grammar lessons of Jennifer interesting but finds them too theoretical..(Ha Ha, I don't agree with her at all.That's the nrom between us in most discussions)..
Getting a hang of grammar helps a lot in speed reading, I find. This specially useful in today's world in which we are flooded with written and spoken material.
Teachers have different approaches to grammar. I have different kinds of grammar lessons, as you likely know. The playlists on phrasal verbs, for example, are very practical. The playlists on adjective clauses or conditionals are designed to cover all the patterns in context, so there's focus on form and meaning. My advanced grammar lessons are can be complex and more abstract. Maybe your wife would prefer to see the basic English videos I'm doing with the two young ladies. Grammar is taught through conversation and spoken activities. It's very practice-oriented. :)
Thanks Ms Jennifer for this interesting lesson about ergative verbs. I ve already studied this type of verbs but in listening to your explanation these verbs become more easy to me. So thank you very much indeed.
You're very welcome! Thank you for studying with me.
Good morning mam, one of the best English spoken teacher for online video teaching thanks so much
Thank you for studying with me. Have a great weekend!
I didn't know ergative verbs before.
It's an interesting way to look at verbs in English.
Very good lesson! I understand that terminology may be confusing and it's always useful to simplify it in order to teach something. Anyway, I think that the right term would be inergative verb: the one in which the subject of a intransitive looks like the object of a transitive sentence. Ergative seems to me more a type of aligment which requires case marking (erg for subject of transitive and absolutive for the rest). But I just coment to discuss about it: the lesson is perfect as it is!
I guess it's fun to be the grammarians who make up the terms! For the rest of us, I think it's useful to take a look at ergative verbs and understand how different words function, but in the end the terminology matters less than our ability to use the language. If you use verbs correctly, then it's okay if you don't know if any of them are called ergative verbs. :) I'm glad you liked the lesson. Thanks for watching.
@@Englishwithjennifer I totally agree! When you are learning a language terminology is not that important. But it's useful to know the specific terms when you are, for example, comparing languages (ie Euskera -with ergative alignment- and English -with a nominative one-). Thanks for replying, it's very interesting to me when someone talks about ergative features. I'm watching more of your videos because they are very clear and they are helping me to improve my English. Thanks again!
Wow, erga...what indeed! I never heard this word before 😆 THank you for expanding our vocab and improving grammar 🙌
Good knowledge of English increases the chances of getting a better job.
The chances of getting a better job increase thanks to (due to?) good knowledge of English.
Hi Sergey! Well done. You've learned a new term, and you accurately demonstrated your understanding.
Either preposition can fit that second sentence. "Thanks to" makes sense since it's a positive result.
@@Englishwithjennifer Great! Thanks a lot, Jennifer! I wasn't really sure if my sentences were correct.
I'm new here
I'd like to tell you, Jennifer that you are an incredibly amazing professor
Thank you so much
Thank you, Ahmed. You can also study with me on Instagram and Hallo.
Please try my new app, too. play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalcrafthouse.englishwithjenniferalarm Happy New Year!
The term, Ergative verb, is new to me. Good lesson.
Thanks, Patrick.
I was having hard time with this subject, thank you miss.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks so much Jennifer for everything presented to us good evening
Have a wonderful weekend!
@@Englishwithjennifer question please are you married or single with best regards
Literally the best teacher ever ❤️
I appreciate the support!
Thank you for explaining "with pears and apples" :D
Thanks for watching!
i am really inspired mom it's my first time the word i hear argative i understood thank you mom
Like I said, I didn't know about ergative verbs or at least the term "ergative" for many years. Ha ha.
Hi Jennifer How good it is to start the day watching your videos
I've learned a lot from you thank you very much
I hope you have a great weekend my dear teacher 😉🇧🇷
My pleasure, Aparecido. Have a good weekend!
Your Grammar lessons are the best!! Thank you, Jennifer!!
Thank you for studying with me! 😃
Dear Jennifer. I'm a big fan of your channel. Ergative verbs are verbs that are both transitive and intransitive. Just wonder if there is a name for words that are both adjectives and adverbs.
Hi. Thank you for studying with me. I hope you'll also follow me on Instagram and Hallo. hallo.tv/
I don't know of a name for words that can be more than one part of speech. (Love = noun, verb/ Fast = adjective, adverb) I suppose they could possibly be viewed as homophones or homographs, but the meaning is basically the same. It's the function that's different.
Thank you so much. My great teacher. ❤️Jennifer❤️
You're very welcome.
I love your videos, and your teaching. have a nice day!
Thanks, Sena. Take care!
I love grammar so lot.
I love it a lot as well!
Hi Jennifer, first I would like to thank you for making this extremely important lesson, which I have been searching for quite a while.
I watched this lesson twice and I will maybe watch it several times, because there are still some gaps I have to fill.
What I understand is that ergative verbs are group of verbs among the verbs that sometimes take and sometimes don't take objects.
Can we ALAWAYS make egrative verbs transitive verbs, for example
Me boss decreased my salary
Can I make it
My salary was decreased.
Here I want to say that my boss, who is implied, did that.
The question is can we ALWAYS do that if we want to specify who did that action?
Do we use ergative verbs when the subject is not just not important but there is no need to imply it, for example
Many factors reduced the water during the experiment.
Water reduced during the experiment
Another example
Rain filled the river.
The river filled
There are verbs, such as reserve which is transitive verb only but we can make it ergative verbs can't we? , for example
I reserved the documents
The documents reserved.
Let's clarify: There are some verbs that can be transitive or intransitive, and among these are a group of verbs called ergative verbs.
The choices between active, passive, and intransitive are partly influenced by the focus we want.
1. My boss decreased my salary. (active - the boss is the "doer")
2. My salary was decreased. (passive - someone did this, but the focus is on the "receiver")
3. Salaries can decrease during a weak economy. (intransitive - focus on the change of state)
I like your example with "fill."
I don't see "reserve" as ergative.
@@Englishwithjennifer ok I got it.
Thanks sooooo much
An excellent
job madam !
could you please differentiate between ambitransitive and ergative verbs?
This lesson may be helpful.
ua-cam.com/video/Lj4fk8d689w/v-deo.html
very informative lesson, Thank you so much
You are welcome!
Hi Jennifer! Here my examples:
Sam started work at eight o' clock (transitive)
Sam' s work started at eight o' clock ( intransitive)
Exercising lessens the risk of heart attack (transitive)
The risk of heart attack lessens doing exercise. (intransitive)
Boil the eggs before I come home. (transitive)
The eggs were boiled before I came home. (passive)
Great lessons😍I love it.
Thanks a lot!!
I'm happy you liked it so much. :)
1)I spent a lot of money buying that car.. a lot of my money spent when I went to the supermarket.. ..
2) the bikers rode their bikes very fast and quickly. Bikes rode from my village.
3)My mother has baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. The chocolate cake baked on my birthday.
Hi! I'm glad you've posted examples for us to consider. I'm not sure I consider all those verbs as ergative. SPEND is transitive. RIDE can be either, but I don't see it as ergative. BAKE is ergative, but let me offer a different pair of examples:
3a. My mother baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. (transitive)
3b. The cake was baked at a low temperature because my mother wanted to create thin layers. (passive)
3c. Cakes usually bake at about 325 degrees. (intransitive)
Corrections to 1 and 2: (active-passive)
1. I spent a lot of money on that car. / A lot of money is spent every day at the supermarket.
2. The bikers rode their bikes very fast. / Those rental bikes have been ridden by many different tourists.
@@Englishwithjennifer thanks for sharing those examples.. but am I wrong with those examples? Have I used them incorrectly? Nothing just I want to make sure myself.
@@Englishwithjennifer I really appreciate your comment and effort that you made to write these examples.
1) Better to say: I spent a lot of money ON that car.
Incorrect: a lot of my money spent when I went to the supermarket..
2) Better to use only "fast" or "quickly," not both.
Correct: The bikers rode their bikes very fast.
Incorrect: Bikes rode from my village.
3) Correct: My mother has baked a chocolate cake for my birthday.
Incorrect: The chocolate cake baked on my birthday.
@@Englishwithjennifer thanks for you efforts and comments. I used the verb spend intrasitively because one teacher had used spend intransitively : amount of money spent on perfume, groceries, automobiles..( but this information was from IELTS task 1 graph) the sentence was exactly like this.😊👍
you're my inspiration 🤗
Thank you for studying with me.
At 9:00, the verb "to explain" is described as not an ergative verb. However, it is an ambitransitive verb: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambitransitive_verb
Ambitransitive verbs will likely be my next topic. I didn't want to overload this lesson with too much info. It's dense as is!
Thanks for your great efforts.
You're very welcome!
you are wonderful as usual
Thank you so much ...
You're most welcome!
We can't stretch our budget. that's the one way of saying it can we say
Our budget can't stretch? Is that correct?
In the context of a budget, we don't normally use the intransitive verb.
(about the body): It feels good to stretch after a long car trip.
(about money): Learn how to stretch your budget.
I still haven't seen that Jerry Maguire film yet! Here are my ergative verb examples.
I didn't know if it was wise to open a new chapter in my life. I felt like my life was a closed book and didn't want a new chapter opened.
We closed off the road as we filmed the car chase. There was less chance of injury to the general public with the road closed.
I totally disagreed with the mechanic when he said it was alright to reverse over a pile of rubble. New damage could have been done to my car, so it was unsafe to reverse.
Driving in the fog should be avoided if you don't want to crash into something. Waiting until the fog clears means you are far less likely to crash.
I wanted to fly to America. To my dismay I was told I first had to board a pane in order to fly.
I also had to drive to the airport of course. Just like with the flying, I didn't want to drive.
All those fears stopped the fun. Those fears had to be stopped in order to move forward.
Oh, you need to see that romantic comedy. I love the drama between Jerry and his one and only client. Cuba Gooding, Jr. got an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was wonderful in that role.
You have an interesting mix of examples. Ha ha re: the plane. ;)
Be careful. I think you're introducing other structures. >> want something done, want a new chapter opened
That's a passive construction with a past participle. It's like have something done (have my car repaired). It's causative. Right?
I see your examples with CRASH as perfect examples of an ergative verb. So here are others following that transitive-intransitive pattern.
Can you fly a plane? / I want to fly to America.
All those fears stopped the fun. / My fears suddenly stopped.
@@Englishwithjennifer Yes, it will take a bit of practice and study to be totally proficient with ergative verbs, Jennifer.
Hope you'll be able to enjoy the next live stream. :)
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you, Jennifer. I should be able to join next week.
Top of my list of suggestions for subjects you could cover would be exploring common grammatical errors. I am also keen on vocabulary building, where we look at synonyms.
For the ESL students: The Importance Of Articles would be a good title and video lesson. I am seeing mistakes in this area crop up often in the comments you receive.
I would also like to see a second part to the ergative verb video lesson, with a test included.
No pressure then! LOL :>)
Hi, ma'am.
I've already watched some of your videos and they have been very helpful for my learning and understanding the concepts better.
I have a question.
Is "continue" an Ergative verb?
"The fruits continued to be stolen."
What kind of sentence structure is this? Please help me understand this.
Thank you for choosing to study with me.
Continue is ambitransitive:
1. Let's continue. (intransitive)
2. Let's continue our work. (transitive).
Yes, you can take that object and make it the subject:
3. Our work continues. >> For more context: Our work in this area continues./Our work to achieve this goal continued to this day.
This means "continue" is ergative.
In your example, you use an infinitive after "continued." Some identify the infinitive as the object of the verb. Others call it a complement.
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you for the reply and explanation, ma'am.
When the verb "continue" is used "intransitively" (as an Ergative verb) in the sentence "The fruits continued to be stolen.", the passive infinitive must be the complement as the verb couldn't take an object, could it?
I like it. Your subscriber amount HAS İNCREASED. Also i forgot say : this video is great
Thanks for the support. Well, a little jump now and then is nice to see.
What would be the right whenever any emotional film finishes i cry or whenever any emotional film gets finished i cry or whenever any emotional film is finished i cry what should i use really confused
You can say, "When a sad movie ends, I cry."
I'd say, "I cry at the end of sad movie." or "I'm usually crying the end of a sad movie."
Thanks for watching!
Thank you 👍
You're welcome. :)
Hi, so the ergative verbs is considered a kind of passive voice . Is it right?
Ergative doesn't mean passive. Passive implies that action is being received by some agent. The passive voice uses BE or GET + the past participle. I have a full lesson on the passive in my grammar playlist.
@@Englishwithjennifer thank you very much
Can you talk about active verbs that (show) help describe character or personality? For example: he gawks/he slithers in.
I've done vocabulary related to eyes (peer, squint, etc.) and feet (hop, stumble, etc.) See my English Vocabulary playlist.
You might enjoy my summer creative writing course. Have you seen the announcement? "Gawk" and "slither" are the kinds of verbs you'd expect to read in fiction. We'll be writing short stories together.
Quite a useful lesson Jennifer.
Thanks.
Please check my sentences
1. Jennifer explains difficult grammar concepts with ease.
2.Difficult grammar concepts are explained with much ease by Jennifer.
3.His artistry casted a magical spell on everyone.
4.A magical spell was casted as he showed his artistry.
Thanks
God bless you.
Glad you're experimenting with verbs. :)
The first pair is active-passive and they are correctly written. "Are explained" is a passive construction. "Explain" isn't ergative, so we can't give a third example with "explain."
As for 3 and 4, can't think of an example where "cast" would be intransitive, so it's not an ergative verb either.
Also, the past tense is "cast." Andrea posted some wonderful pairs of examples that demonstrate the pattern used by ergative verbs. Please take a look.
@@Englishwithjennifer
Thanks dear.
Stay blessed
An eragative verb has to be both transitive n intransitive. Isn't it?
Thanks.
Yes.
@@Englishwithjennifer
Thanks.
what should I do if I want to speak with a native?
Consider joining a discussion board and inquiring. Consider finding a conversation partner, even if that person is a student too. It's still practice.
Or think about paid lessons/courses. Good luck!
At first I had no idea, I thought it was a class of verb that can fit into ergative alignment. So, briefly saying ergative verb is a verb which can act as a transitive or intransitive, depending in the environment in the sentence.
It reminds me with mediopassive, somehow. Am I correct?
It's just a way of understanding how verbs function. Here's a concise explanation that might clarify the concept. www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/ergative#:~:text=An%20ergative%20verb%20is%20a,'
Please watch my other lesson on ambitransitive verbs. It's important to know if a verb is transitive or intransitive, or if it can be both. If it can be both, how exactly does it function? ua-cam.com/video/Lj4fk8d689w/v-deo.html
@@Englishwithjennifer thank you, I've watched the your video explaining about the ambivalent verbs. I recognize those patterns and always use them in my writings. I don't know the grammar terms about the verb classification before, I only knew intransitive, transitive, and reflexive. Thanks.
Excellent
Thank you so much! 😀
JenniferESL develops our English skills.
Our English skills are developed by JenniferESL.
That's sweet, Mollie. Let me add to your active-passive examples:
Your English skills develop through regular practice and review. (Now we've shown that "develop" is an ergative verb!)
Hey Jennifer! This was asked to me in an exam: "an ergative verb cannot be agentless" and I didn't know how to answer that. Could you help me? Thank you!
Hi Camille. That's not even a question, so it's not fair to ask you that. Was it a true-false quiz?
I suppose they were asking you to identify an agent, in which case there isn't one when you say something like, "The caking is baking in the oven." It's not about someone doing the baking. The cake is baking all by itself.
@@Englishwithjennifer yes! It was a true-false quiz! Thank you so much Jennifer. Your videos really help students of English as a second language ❤️❤️
Dear Ma'am
In have there is no action how can it be transitive?
For transitive verb there must be some action that passes to the object.
So in this sentence. I have a pen.
There is not any action going on.
Hello. It's true that "have" is not an action verb, but it's still transitive. We can mention the object being possessed.
A learner's dictionary will confirm if a verb is transitive. www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/have
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you.
Hi Jennifer,
I don't understand !!
ergative verbs = passive verbs ???
and thank you🙏😳
It's good to clarify. See some of the other comments to learn even more. :)
No, ergative verbs aren't the same as passive verbs, but ergative verbs can have passive forms.
Passive verbs use the form BE + past participle (or sometimes GET + past participle). Passive verbs shift the focus from the doer to the receiver of the action. Passive verbs often have a by-phrase to name the doer. (The exception would be stative passive verbs. See my lesson on that topic.)
Ergative verbs are verbs that can be transitive (SVO) or intransitive (SV). Andrea posted a lot of great examples.
@@Englishwithjennifer
Thanks a lot Jennifer 😍😍😍😍😍😍now I understand.by the way, I like your way of using terminology.😍🌹🌹🌺
Good video for me!👍👍
I'm happy to hear that!
You can extend This bed
This bed can extend. is it right?
Yes. There are transitive and intransitive uses of "extend."
You can also make a passive verb: When the bed is extended, it's seven feet long.
@@Englishwithjennifer this bed can extend is also correct ?
What about the sales on clothes have been extended or the sales on clothes have extended
Yes.
People extend the sales >> Sales have been extended (by them).
What happens when 2 color mix or what happens when 2 color get/are mixed
Interesting examples! I'd add: What happens when you mix two colors?
"Mix" allows variations.
My dreams are shattering
If you drop these toys they will scatter
Are these correct?
Yes, though I might phrase the ideas differently:
My dreams were shattered. (past)/ My dreams are falling apart. (present)
If you drop these toys, they will scatter across the floor.
@@Englishwithjennifer how to say my dreams were shattered in future tense?
My dreams will be shattered. (passive)
What's going to shatter them? It's unclear. You might say, "I don't want anyone or anything to shatter my dreams."
@@Englishwithjennifer shatter is both transitive and intransitive so if we can say the glass will shatter if it drops so why can’t we say my dreams will shatter thats my question the glass shatters if you drop this so why cant we say your dreams shatters if you dont do hard word
Nice video mam 😘😘
I appreciate it ma'am
Thanks for watching and commenting.
He goes this way. Is go transitive here?
Good question. Some dictionaries recognize a transitive use:
go + (that way/this way/my way)
go + (the length of the room)
www.britannica.com/dictionary/go
I was tired because I didn't sleep/ hadn't slept
I was hungry because I didn't eat or hadn't eaten
I was exhausted because i didn't sleep a night before or hadn't slept a night before
Which one is correct ? I am so confused
American English speakers often use the simple past (especially in conversation) if the context makes the sequence clear. You can use the past perfect if you wish to be perfectly clear.
@@Englishwithjennifer in first 2 sentences i can use either? There’s no difference? And the 3 rd sentence “a night before” i can also use either here? I want to use past simple in all of these sentences but not sure if it’s correct and what’s the difference?
@@Englishwithjennifer i was tired because i didn’t sleep and i was hungry because I didn’t eat or both correct right? I am showing the cause of me being tired and hungry but 1 guy said me use past perfect but I don’t really wanna use it
Again, textbooks will guide you to use the past perfect. In everyday American English, you'll hear the simple past used quite a lot if the timeline is clear.
@@Englishwithjennifer that's what i am asking in these both sentence is timeline clear and can i use past simple in these sentences? With because here?
A teacher should have high expectation for their students to succeed in school.
And we teachers have high expectations of ourselves. Teachers and students can work together toward a goal. :)
Mr. Skype has a lesson on ergatives. Thanks.
It's good to have a few different presentations on the same topic. This way you can review information and reinforce your understanding. Each teacher has his or her own style, and I believe it's good for students to learn through different methods.
Is this lesson necessary to know? it is difficult for esl student?,,,
No, it's not absolutely necessary. However, I'd argue that proficient speakers are familiar with how ergative verbs work even if they don't know the term "ergative." ESL students tend to know more terminology than native speakers. Terminology gives us a way to talk about grammar. In this case, it's very helpful to understand how verbs work. It's not as simple as saying all verbs are either transitive or intransitive. You need to have familiarity with verbs that can be either. And among those are "ergative verbs." See all the different examples some of your fellow learners are posting. Collectively, students here are trying to master the grammar and accurately use ergative verbs. Accuacy is important in communication. I know this lesson is loaded with content, and that's why I labeled it as advanced.
I like your channel but the pace of the lessons is a bit slow can you go a bit quicker. Anyway respect for the efforts and devotion
I appreciate the feedback. I know my style not as lively as others'. I tend to slow down for grammar. My live teaching experience has taught me that many students need time to process information. Thanks for watching.
I start something new every year.
Something new starts every year.
She breaks the window of my car.
The window of my car breaks because of her.
I'm glad to see you practicing! Let's change the object of the first pair of examples. It will make more sense:
1a. I start new projects every year.
1b. New projects start every year.
The second pair will be clearer if we shift the verb to the past:
2a. She broke the window of my car.
2b. The window broke.
Compare to the passive: The window was broken by the force of the crash. (Focus on cause-effect.)
At least, I have learned what I didn't know...
Something new. That's good!
he goes this way. is go ergative verb?
Well, think of this. We can say: We bake bread. >> The bread is baking.
While we can say, "The road goes on for miles," we can't say that someone makes the road go on.
good.
Thanks!
What is Fronting ?
It's placing information at the head of the sentence, often for emphasis. dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/about-words-clauses-and-sentences/fronting
@@Englishwithjennifer
Thanks for the useful sources.🌹😍😍thanks a lot,you're so kind.☺😊
Are ergative verbs ambitransitive verbs?
Yes. One view is that all ergative verbs are ambitransitive. But not all ambitransitive verbs are ergative. Does that make sense? Ergative verbs are a type of ambitransitive verb.
@@Englishwithjennifer yes
Wouldn't this be correct? His reasons explained his actions.
Hi. Grammatically that example works, but can we create an example with "explain" where the object of the transitive verb becomes the subject of the intransitive verb? "His actions explained" is an incomplete thought. Does that make sense?
This window is about to smash
This window is about to be smashed
Be careful of this bus your head could smash
Be careful of this bus your head could be smashed . what's the difference and which one is correct
Correct:
about to be smashed
you could smash your head/your head could be smashed
@@Englishwithjennifer can't we use it world like break this window is about to break this window is about to smash? Or it should be be smashed? Some guy told be i can be used as intransitive too can you plz confirm that
You can break a window.
"About to break" in this situation is odd.
"About to be smashed" is logically odd as well.
If there is some support structure and it's bending under the heavy weight of something, we can say, "It's about to break" or "The weight is about the break the structure." (I strongly prefer the first.)
@@Englishwithjennifer so the window is about to break/shatter are correct and it sounds natural right?
They're correct, but they're only logical if we know that someone or something is going to break the glass.
I have a question , please.
You can post a short language question here. Please also consider joining my subscriber group on Hallo. We have a lie Q&A session for 1-2 hours every Wednesday. hallo.tv
@@EnglishwithjenniferThank you a lot.
I took a photo while riding.
(riding) is a present participle as adverb.
True.
He forgot doing the exercises last night.
(doing the exercises) is a gerund phrase.
True.
Yes, that's right, but it's odd for someone to do homework and not remember doing it.
@@Englishwithjennifer Thank you a lot.
Я вас люблю очень....
Brasil!
👍
Thanks.
👍👍
Thank you!
how are you
Great! And you?
miss you
💘💗💖
Thank you, Alexandr. :)