Promotion to subject

General characteristics

We have said, several times, that the semantic role which is most likely to be relevant for the success of an activity is placed in syntactic subject relation; this is Mary in Mary sells sports cars, Mary cut the veal with the new knife, Mary poured the custard (onto the pie) with the new jug. If an adverb like quickly, easily, properly or well is added to these sentences it will be taken to describe the way in which the subject performed the activity—Mary certainly sells sports cars quickly, Mary cut the veal easily with the new knife, Mary didn’t pour the custard properly (onto the pie) with the new jug (but spilt some on the cloth).

It is possible, in some particular instance of an activity, for the success or lack of success to be due not to the subject (which is usually the responsible role) but to some role in non-subject relation. If this is so, then that role may be promoted into subject slot (and the original subject is omitted from the sentence). For example, Sports cars sell quickly (this implies that it is inherent in the nature of the vehicle that people want to buy them), The veal cuts easily (it isn’t tough or sinewy), The new knife cuts veal easily (it is nice and sharp), The custard doesn’t pour properly (it has too many lumps in it),

The new jug doesn’t pour properly (it may have a crooked spout), The new jug doesn’t pour custard properly (but it might be all right for water or milk, which have a thinner consistency).

Some linguists have labelled constructions like Sports cars sell quickly as ‘ergative’. They say that a transitive object (O) becomes intransitive subject (S) and point out that ‘ergative’ is the term used to demonstrate a link between O and S. This terminology is misconceived, for at least three reasons. Firstly, promotion to subject is available for some O NPs (as with Sports cars sell quickly, The veal cuts easily, The custard won’t pour properly) but it is also possible from a peripheral NP (as with The new knife cuts the veal easily, The new jug doesn’t pour the custard properly). Secondly, promotion to subject does not alter the transitivity of a sentence; if an NP other than object is promoted to subject then the object may be retained (as the veal and the custard are in examples just given). An O NP or a peripheral NP from a transitive clause is promoted into A relation, not S. Thirdly, even if it were only O that could be promoted, and even if it were promoted to S, ‘ergative’ would still not be an appropriate label. ‘Ergative’ is normally used of a linguistic system where A is marked in a distinctive way (by ergative case), differently from S and O which are marked in the same way (by absolutive case); see Dixon (1994). It is not an apt label for describing an S derived from O. (In fact, passive S does correspond to transitive O. People who label Sports cars sell quickly as ‘ergative’ should, if they were consistent, apply the same label to a passive like Sports cars are sold quickly, where there is a definite link between O and S.)

It is possible to find sentences describing some complex activity where any one of four roles may be held to be responsible for the success of the activity.

(1) Mary washed the woollens (with Softly) (in the Hoovermatic)

Mary, in subject slot, refers to the person who does the washing. She may do it well:

(1a) Mary washed the woollens well (with Softly) (in the Hoovermatic)

But the garments may be manufactured in such a way that they respond well to washing (to any sort of washing, or to washing with that brand of soap mixture and/or washing in that make of washing machine):

(1b) The woollens washed well (with Softly) (in the Hoovermatic)

Washday success could alternatively be attributed to the type of soap used:

(1c) Softly washed the woollens well (in the Hoovermatic)

or to the machine employed:

(1d) The Hoovermatic washed the woollens well (with Softly)

Note that when a non-subject role is promoted to subject the original subject is lost. It cannot be included as a peripheral constituent (in the way that a transitive subject can be included, as a by phrase, in a passive). Non-subject roles that are not promoted to subject may be retained in their original post-verbal position. And—also unlike passive, which has an explicit marker be ...-en—nothing is added to the verb in a promotion-to-subject construction.

The fact that the direct object may be retained (as the woollens is in (1c) and (1d)) when a non-object NP is promoted to subject shows that constructions (1b–d) are still transitive sentences. What we have in (1b–d) is a single semantic role effectively functioning in two syntactic relations simultaneously. The Hoovermatic in (1d) is still in locative relation to the verb, as it is in (1a–c), but it is also in subject relation, as a means of showing that the success of this particular instance of washing activity is due to the machine in which the clothes were placed. In (1b) the woollens is still understood to be in object relation to the verb (this NP refers to the things that are affected by the activity, i.e. they get washed) but it is also in surface subject slot, to mark that the success of the activity is due to the nature of this instance of the role. Subject relation takes precedence over other syntactic relations in determining where the NP comes in the sentence, but anyone who hears (1b) will understand that the woollens, although in surface subject slot, is also the object of the verb; and so on.

Most examples of promotion to subject involve transitive clauses, but there are some intransitive instances. Consider John jumped with the pogo stick. This could have a satisfactory outcome either because John is something of an expert, e.g. John jumped well with the pogo stick, or because the pogo stick has a good spring in it, e.g. That pogo stick jumps well. Potentially, any non-subject NP from a transitive or intransitive clause may be promoted into subject slot; the transitivity of the clause is not affected.

There is a clear difference between promotion-to-subject clauses and passives (which are intransitive). Recall that a prepositional object can only become passive subject if there is no direct object, that it leaves its preposition behind it, and that the original transitive subject can be retained in a by phrase, e.g. This knife has been cut with by John. A prepositional NP can be promoted to subject even if there is a direct object (which may be retained), its preposition is omitted, and the original subject is omitted, e.g. This knife cuts (veal) easily.

There is also a clear semantic difference between passive and promotion to subject. Passivization does not change or add to the relation between object and verb—it merely focuses on the object, or on the effect the activity has on it. In The woollens were washed well the well is taken to refer to the skill of the transitive subject—even though this is not identified here—exactly as it is in (1a). Compare this with The woollens washed well, where well refers to the washable qualities of the clothes. We can also compare The custard wasn’t poured properly (the person holding the jug didn’t look to see what they were doing) with The custard doesn’t pour properly (it is too thick, and will have to be spooned onto the pie).

Although an object can be retained when a peripheral NP is promoted to subject, it is not then available for passivization. If it were, confusion could arise. If corresponding to The Hoovermatic washed the woollens well we could have The woollens were washed well (by the Hoovermatic), this could be confused with a passive corresponding to sentence (1a), The woollens were washed well (by Mary) (in the Hoovermatic). Since a by phrase may always be omitted, The woollens were washed well would then be irretrievably ambiguous, and a listener would not know whether well referred to the Agent, the machine, the soap mixture, or what.