Patient (grammar)

In linguistics, the grammatical patient, also called the target or undergoer, is a semantic role representing the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out,^[1] or the thematic relation such a participant has with an action.

Sometimes, theme and patient are used to mean the same thing.^[2] When used to mean different things, patient describes a receiver that changes state ("I crushed the car") and theme describes something that does not change state ("I have the car").^[3] By that definition, stative verbs act on themes, and dynamic verbs act on patients.

^ Memidex.com^{[permanent dead link]} Retrieved 2012-07-24.
^ William O' Grady; Michael Dobrovolsky; Mark Aronoff (1997). Contemporary Linguistics. ISBN 0-312-13749-4. - uses "theme" to mean a recipient of an action that changes state, p. 265-66
^ A similar distinction is made here: 1.3.2 Predicates and arguments in Basic English Syntax with Exercises (ISBN 9639704709), see also the pop-up glossary for the terms in question

[1] Memidex.com^{[permanent dead link]} Retrieved 2012-07-24.

[2] William O' Grady; Michael Dobrovolsky; Mark Aronoff (1997). Contemporary Linguistics. ISBN 0-312-13749-4. - uses "theme" to mean a recipient of an action that changes state, p. 265-66

[3] A similar distinction is made here: 1.3.2 Predicates and arguments in Basic English Syntax with Exercises (ISBN 9639704709), see also the pop-up glossary for the terms in question

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