Real Grammar - Susan Conrad, Douglas Biber 2009

Action Verbs with inanimate Subjects
Unit 10 Reports suggest that…

What have you learned from your grammar textbook?

With transitive verbs in active voice, the subject is usually the actor who performed the action. Transitive verbs have a direct object (DO). Intransitive action verbs also usually have a subject who performed the activity, but there is no direct object.

A

What does the corpus show?

In academic writing, certain action verbs often have inanimate subjects. In real life, these subjects cannot perform an action, but they are used like human actors. Three major types of inanimate subjects are very common:

B

Inanimate subjects have a variety of functions. More than one function can occur at the same time.

1. Inanimate subjects give more emphasis to the inanimate thing than to a human actor.

2. Sometimes the human actor is not known, not important, or is “people” in general.

3. Some writers think the ideas sound more objective when the human actor is not named.

4. Sometimes an abstract concept is the topic of the discourse.

These functions are related to the use of passive voice in research writing (see Unit 16).

C

When transitive verbs are used with abstract, inanimate subjects, they also often have direct objects that are abstract.

D

Frequency information. Many different action verbs occur with inanimate subjects in academic writing. Here is a list of the most common action verbs that have inanimate subjects:

• The “Adjusted Trial Balance” columns give the adjusted account balances.

• Results indicated that all participants preferred to work for companies with merit-based pay systems.

• Further cooling leads to condensation.

• The slopes of the lines in the graphs show how sensitive the project’s NPV is to changes in each of the inputs.

Activities

1 Notice in context: Read these excerpts from different academic texts. Underline each inanimate subject that has an action verb with it. Circle the action verb. Be careful! Some of the verbs are in the list of most common action verbs, but others are not.

1. A study about taking multiple choice tests.

This study investigates whether answer-changing on multiple choice tests is beneficial. An exam was given to 286 students. Findings suggest that we should encourage students to change their answers after they look at them and find better answers.

2. Advice for studying language learning.

An investigation of language acquisition requires methods that include native speakers in the design. These methods must also provide a framework for comparing native speakers and learners.

3. Advice for encouraging new ideas in teaching.

Most good ideas come from working towards a goal. For example, suppose you are trying to introduce teachers of English to the computer and show them its value as an aid to their teaching.

4. A textbook description of accounting practices.

Businesses need periodic reports on their progress. Accountants slice time into small segments and prepare financial statements for specific periods. Until a business sells all its assets for cash and pays all its liabilities, the amounts reported in its financial statements must be regarded as estimates.

2 Analyze discourse: Look back at Activity 1 and at the inanimate subjects you underlined, write each one below. Then next to it, write its function(s). Use the information in Section В if you need help recognizing the functions.

1. ...

2. ...

3. ...

4. ...

3 Practice writing: write these scrambled sentences in correct word order. Each one contains an inanimate subject. The first word in each sentence is capitalized. Circle the direct object and note if it has an abstract meaning.

1. indicated I Reports on care for the elderly / that the quality was generally poor

2. from the desire I come / Some actions which benefit others / to help that particular person

3. a better insulated material I The technique of combining plastic and plywood / for walls I produces

4. should be restrictive / explains / why the conditions for compensation / The second principle

5. that reaction occurs by a polar mechanism / These facts I to the conclusion / lead

4 Practice writing: imagine that you have read a study on a topic that interests you. write a paragraph to summarize that study, using "facts" that you invent. Use at least three action verbs with inanimate subjects.

Example

The study found that ice cream gives pleasure to many people, but it also has a lot of fat. Ice cream provides calories without nutrition. This fact suggests that ice cream should have a small place in your diet since bad diet decisions lead to health problems.