it’s important to understand what is going on here on an abstract level. This usage of the terms predicate and argument is identical to how they are used in formal logic.
We can speak about any particular predicate’s argument structure. This refers to the number of arguments that a particular predicate requires. Another name for argument structure is valency. Take, for example, predicates that take only one argument (i.e., they have a valency of 1). These are predicates like smile, arrive, sit, run, etc. The property of transitivity refers to how many arguments follow the verb. In predicates with a valency of 1, no arguments follow the verb (the single argument precedes the verb), so these predicates are said to be intransitive. Predicates that take two obligatory arguments have a valency of 2; some examples are hit, love, see, kiss, admire, etc. These predicates are said to be transitive, because they have a single argument after the verb (the other argument precedes the verb). Finally predicates that take three arguments have a valency of 3. Putand give are the best examples of this class. These predicates have two arguments after the verb so are said to be ditransitive.
| 25) Transitivity | Valency | Example |
| Intransitive | 1 argument | smile, arrive |
| Transitive | 2 arguments | hit, love, kiss |
| Ditransitive | 3 arguments | give, put |
In determining how many arguments a predicate has, we only consider the obligatory NPs and PPs. Optional ones are never counted in the list of arguments. Only obligatory elements are considered arguments.
Predicates not only restrict the number of arguments that appear with them, they also restrict the categories of those arguments. A verb like ask can take either an NP or a clause (embedded sentence = CP) as a complement:
26)
1 I asked [NP the question].
2 I asked [CP if you knew the answer].
But a verb like hit can only take an NP complement:
27)
1 I hit [NP the ball].
2 *I hit [CP that you knew the answer].
With these basics in mind, we can set up a series of features based on how many and what kind of arguments a verb takes.
Let’s start with intransitives. These require a single NP subject. We’ll mark this with the feature [NP] where the underscore represents where the verb would go in the sentence. An example of such a verb would be leave.
Most transitive verbs require an NP object, so we can mark these with the feature [NP NP]. An example of this is the verb hit, seen above in (27). Verbs like ask (see 26 above), think, say, etc. allow either an NP object or a CP (embedded clause) object. We can mark this using curly brackets {} and a slash. {NP/CP} means “a choice of NP or CP”. So the feature structure for predicates like this is [NP {NP/CP}].
Ditransitive verbs come in several major types. Some ditransitives require two NP objects (the first is an indirect object, the other a direct object). The verb spare is of this category. It does not allow an NP and a PP:
28)
1 I spared [NP him] [NP the trouble].
2 *I spared [NP the trouble] [PP to him].
This category of ditransitive is marked with the feature [NP NP NP]. The opposite kind of ditransitive is found with the verb put. Put requires an NP and a PP:
29)
1 *I put [NP the box] [NP the book].
2 I put [NP the book] [PP in the box].
This kind of ditransitive takes the feature [NP NP PP]. We also have ditransitives that appear to be a combination of these two types and allow either an NP or a PP in the second position:
30)
1 I gave [NP the box] [PP to Leah].
2 I gave [NP Leah] [NP the box].
These have the feature [NP NP {NP/PP}]. Finally we have ditransitives that take either two NPs, or one NP and one CP, or an NP and a PP:
31)
1 I told [NP Daniel] [NP the story].
2 I told [NP Daniel] [CP that the exam was cancelled].
3 I told [NP the story] [PP to Daniel].
Verbs like tell have the feature [NP NP {NP/PP/CP}].
The following chart summarizes all the different subcategories of verb we’ve discussed here:
32)
| Subcategory | Example |
| V[NP__] (intransitive) | leave |
| V[NP ___ NP] (transitive type 1) | hit |
| V[NP ___ {NP/CP}] (transitive type 2) | ask |
| V[NP ___ NP NP] (ditransitive type 1) | spare |
| V[NP ___ NP PP] (ditransitive type 2) | put |
| V[NP ___ NP {NP/PP}] (ditransitive type 3) | give |
| V[NP ___ NP {NP/PP/CP}] (ditransitive type 4) | tell |
There are other types of verbs that we haven’t listed here. We’ll introduce similar features as we need them.
You can now try WBE14, GPS12, and CPS6–9.
Did You Run the Race?
The claim that only obligatory arguments are found in argument structure is not as straightforward as it sounds. Consider the verb run. It has both an intransitive use (I ran) and a transitive use (I ran the race). A similar problem is raised by languages that can drop the subject argument (e.g. Spanish and Italian) and by imperative sentences in
