Re: Question about transitivity/intransitivity

Sally Caves wrote:
> Unaccusatives, however, can function both as transitives and
> intransitives:  1) I sink the ship, 2) I sink down.  3) I melted
> the ice, 4) the ice melted.
The defining characteristic about unaccusatives is that the subject of
the intransitive is the *patient*, the affected.  "I melt the ice" ->
"The ice melted"; "The bomber sank the battleship" -> "The battleship
sank", "I burned the house" -> "The house burned"

But, "I ate the apple" -> "I ate", not *"The apple ate", "I killed the
spider" -> ?"I killed" ("kill" sounds awkward to me without an object)

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