The person or thing that undergoes a process: The water evaporated. More examples… The thing that is affected by an event: The dog ate the meat. More examples… The entity which is possessed, acquired, or exchanged: John has a new book. The entity undergoing a change of state or location: He opened the door.
Įxamples The entity predicated with a state or location: The door is open. Larson 1984 defines the affected role as the thing that is affected by an event person or thing that undergoes a process, or person who experiences an event. What is patient as a semantic role? Also known as: affected, undergoer Longacre 1983 defines a patient as the entity undergoing a change of state or location, or which is possessed, acquired or exchanged. The key = SUBJECT The key = INSTRUMENT The door opened. Bob = SUBJECT Bob = AGENT The key opened the door. Notice what varying semantic roles a subject can play: Sentence Grammatical relation Semantic role Bob opened the door with a key. Semantic roles do not correspond directly to grammatical relations. Grammatical relations ( subject, object, oblique …) are morphosyntactic, whereas semantic roles ( agent, patient, instrument …) are conceptual notions.
In both of the above sentences, John has the semantic role of agent. Therefore, the semantic role of Bill is the same (patient) in both of the following sentences: John hit Bill. Also known as: Semantic case, thematic role.Įxample: If, in some real or imagined situation, someone named John purposely hits someone named Bill, then John is the agent and Bill is the patient of the hitting event. Send us feedback.A semantic role is the underlying relationship that a participant has with the main verb in a clause. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'semantics.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2022 The people at Merriam-Webster are blurring the distinction between choice and coercion, and that’s not merely semantics.ĭavid R. 2022 The new work on semantics was completely independent of the work on memory - the two unfolding at around the same time but on opposite sides of the United States. 2022 Russian grammar is similar to Ukrainian - perhaps a tad closer than, say, Ukrainian and Polish - but the semantics are not that close. 2022 One key element of human language is semantics, the connection of words with meanings.īetsy Mason, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. George Bradt, Forbes, But if the fundamental relationship between producer and consumer is here to stay, maybe arguing about the word itself is just semantics?Ĭassie Werber, Quartz, 18 Mar. Anderson, National Review, 15 June 2022 Some think this is a matter of semantics with no material difference between sales funnels and revenue funnels. Recent Examples on the Web Defaults are murky territory, and Russia's basically arguing over semantics here.Īllison Morrow, CNN, 28 June 2022 In fact, their semantics pose the greatest threat to the transgender community and society at large.