Re: implicational and factive verbs

daniel andreasson wrote:

> A somewhat OT-question, although it concerns linguistics
> in general. What's an implicative (implicational?) verb
> and what's a factive verb? A compling friend of mine wants
> to know and I don't know what to tell her.
I don't know about "implicative verb", but "factive verb" could
mean one of two things:

(1)  I have occasionally heard the term "factive verb" used to
refer to verbs of making/creating--that is, verbs whose direct
object comes into existence as a result of the event:

  build a house
  cook a meal
  erect a monument
  make a sandwich
  construct an argument

(2)  Alternatively, the term could refer to a verb which selects
a factive clause as its complement.  Factive clausal complements
are complements which are entailed by the sentence in which they
are embedded.  For example:  "Frank
realised/remembered/forgot/discovered that Lisa hates sushi"
entails "Lisa hates sushi".  Thus, "realise", "remember",
"forget", and "discover" are all factive verbs.  By contrast,
"Frank believed/thought/imagined/denied that Lisa hates sushi"
does not entail "Lisa hates sushi".  Thus, "believe", "think",
"imagine", and "deny" are non-factive verbs.

Hope that helps...

Matt.