Example (1a) is an Estonian neutral declarative sentence with the SVO word order, whereas in (1b) the interrogative pronoun questioning the
object of the verb occupies the left periphery and leaves behind an empty position.
"Whom" refers to the
object of the verb or preposition.
Upper Necaxa Totonac (33) ya:wa:nikan a?tin [tu: li:lakaltante:kan] ya:wa:--ni--kan a?--tin [tu: li:--laka--ltan--taya--kan [O.sub.SO]] stand-BEN--IDF CLF-one NREL INST-face-pull.taut-take--IDF __ 'They stood up against it something that they could use to pull it tight.' In (33), the head of the relative clause is the applied, secondary
object of the verb li:lakaltantaya 'X pulls Y taut with Z', formed from the verb lakaltantaya 'X pulls Y taut' with the instrumental applicative prefix li:-.
Dough is the direct
object of the verb; it's what is being tossed.
Thus, it is a common development in Semitic for pronoun objects on an independently occurring X + pronoun object (X = iyya, -l, -it) to become grammaticalized as a unit as a predicate suffix, marking the subject or
object of the verb. The complex -n + pronoun object was among the first of these: predicate + -n + pronoun object = object (proto-West Semitic, stage 3).
Is it the
object of the verb 'to ask', or the subject of 'is calling'?
From a terminological point of view, Salvi and Vanelli (16) propose to consider verbs as transitive or non-transitive according respectively to the presence or absence of an argument that functions as direct
object of the verb. Subsequently, the authors divide the non-transitive into intransitives (17) and unaccusatives according to the auxiliary they select in compound tenses, avere and essere respectively.
All the most frequent and salient collocates as direct
object of the verb cause are negative: BNC(Sc) (damage, pollution, disease, problem, cancer, symptom, increase, difficulty, confusion, reduction, death, loss, concern), BAWE(PS) (problems, error, change, damage, decrease, noise, concern, pressure, interference, reduction, drag, failure, reaction, harm, distortion, negligence, resistance, instability).
Half a century later, usage commentators began arguing that since a college confers a degree upon a student, the student should be the
object of the verb graduate, not the subject performing the action.
The author cleverly compares the overt realization of the complement in verb periphrases with ne to the overt expression of the subject, which is only required in specific contexts, and the appearance of the complement in transitive verbs that can participate in transitive and intransitive constructions, and concludes that ne is a null-object marker, i.e., ne indicates that the
object of the verb need not be expressed.