In linguistics , a grammatical agent is the thematic relation of the cause or initiator to an event. The agent is a semantic concept distinct from the subject of a sentence as well as from the topic . While the subject is determined syntactically, primarily through word order, the agent is determined through its relationship to the action expressed by the verb . For example, in the sentence "The little girl was bitten by the dog", girl is the subject, but dog is the agent.
11-694: Emain Ablach (also Emne ; Middle Irish Emhain Abhlach or Eamhna ; meaning "Emhain of the Apples") is a mythical island paradise in Irish mythology . It is often regarded as the realm of the sea god Manannán Mac Lir and identified with either the Isle of Man or, less plausibly, the Isle of Arran . According to the medieval Irish poem Baile Suthain Sith Eamhna , the god Lug Lamfada
22-456: A number of preverbal particles marking the negative , interrogative , subjunctive , relative clauses , etc. Prepositions inflect for person and number . Different prepositions govern different cases , depending on intended semantics . The following is an untitled poem in Middle Irish about Eógan Bél , King of Connacht. Agent (grammar) The word agent comes from
33-410: Is often confused with the subject , but the two notions are quite distinct: the agent is based explicitly on its relationship to the action or event expressed by the verb (e.g. "He who kicked the ball"), whereas the subject is based on a more formal title using the theory of the information flow (e.g. "Jack kicked the ball"). In the sentence "The boy kicked the ball", the boy is the agent and
44-549: Is sentient or perceives, causes a change of state, or moves. The linguist David Dowty included these qualities in his definition of a Proto-Agent, and proposed that the nominal with the most elements of the Proto-Agent and the fewest elements of the Proto-Patient tends to be treated as the agent in a sentence. This solves problems that most semanticists have with deciding on the number and quality of thematic roles. For example, in
55-1117: Is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from c. 900–1200 AD; it is therefore a contemporary of Late Old English and Early Middle English . The modern Goidelic languages— Modern Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic —are all descendants of Middle Irish. Middle Irish is a fusional , VSO , nominative-accusative language , and makes frequent use of lenition . Nouns decline for two genders : masculine and feminine, though traces of neuter declension persist; three numbers : singular , dual , plural ; and five cases : nominative , accusative , genitive , prepositional , vocative . Adjectives agree with nouns in gender , number , and case . Verbs conjugate for three tenses : past , present , future ; four moods : indicative , subjunctive , conditional , imperative ; independent and dependent forms. Verbs conjugate for three persons and an impersonal, agentless form ( agent ). There are
66-917: The Proto-Indo-European root *eis- "to move rapidly". "Ablach" means "of the apples/fruits" in Old Irish . In medieval Arthurian literature , Geoffrey of Monmouth's island paradise Insula Avallonis (Avalon), where the sword Caliburnus (Excalibur) was forged, and where King Arthur was taken to be healed by the sorceress Morgen and her eight sisters after the Battle of Camlann , could have been influenced by Irish legends of Emain Ablach. The medieval Welsh equivalent of Avalon, Ynys Afallach ("Isle of Afallach"), may also be related to – if not derived from – Emain Ablach. Middle Irish Middle Irish , also called Middle Gaelic ( Irish : An Mheán-Ghaeilge , Scottish Gaelic : Meadhan-Ghàidhlig ),
77-411: The agentive grammatical role of a noun in a sentence. Although certain nouns do have a permanent trait of agency ( agent noun : runner, kicker, etc.), an agent noun is not necessarily an agent of a sentence: "Jack kicked the runner". For many people, the notion of agency is easy to grasp intuitively but difficult to define: typical qualities that a grammatical agent often has are that it has volition ,
88-530: The present participle agens , agentis ('the one doing') of the Latin verb agere , to 'do' or 'make'. Typically, the situation is denoted by a sentence , the action by a verb in the sentence, and the agent by a noun phrase . For example, in the sentence "Jack kicked the ball", Jack is the agent and the ball is the patient . In certain languages, the agent is declined or otherwise marked to indicate its grammatical role. Modern English does not mark
99-428: The sentence His energy surprised everyone , His energy is the agent, even though it does not have most of the typical agent-like qualities such as perception, movement, or volition. Even Dowty's solution fails for verbs expressing relationships in time: (1) April precedes May. vs: (2) May follows April. Here what is agent and what is patient must be specified for each individual verb. The grammatical agent
110-562: The subject. However, when the sentence is rendered in the passive voice , "The ball was kicked by the boy", the ball is the grammatical subject, but the boy is still the agent. Many sentences in English and other Indo-European languages have the agent as subject. The use of some transitive verbs denoting strictly reciprocal events may involve a conflation of agent and subject. In the sentence "John met Sylvia", for example, though both John and Sylvia would equally meet Dowty's definition of
121-573: Was reared in Emain Ablach. In another poem from the 14th century, Emain Ablach is described as being filled with swans and yews. "Emain/Emne" is of uncertain etymology, though it may be compared with the place name Emain Macha in Ireland, recorded as "Isamnion" in Ptolemy's 2nd-century AD Geography , which Celticist Heinrich Wagner would translate as "what is moving by itself rapidly, the stream", derived from
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