transitivity
- noun
- /ˌtræn.zɪˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/
- Specialized
:
transitividad verbal
- Following Halliday's influential analysis of the thematic function of transitivity patterns in William Golding's The Inheritors, many stylisticians have adopted the transitivity model in investigating Anglo-American literary narratives.
- transitivity patterning
- transitivity analysis
- transitivity choices
Examples
-
As a stylistician, Simpson, in discussing "Characterisation 1: Actions and Events," focuses on the system of transitivity, which "refers to the way meanings are encoded in the clause and to the way different types of process are represented in language" (22).
Academic text (2005) -
As far as syntax is concerned, M. A. K. Halliday has argued that "transitivity is really the cornerstone of the semantic organization of experience... transitivity is man's interpretation of his experience of the world, his understanding of its processes and of his own participation in them" (359).
Academic text (1990) -
This passage is notably marked by the following features in terms of transitivity:
Academic text (2005) -
A transitivity analysis of the verbal choices will shed fresh light on the narrative and help resolve the critical controversy.
Academic text (2005) -
What has so far been neglected is the hidden yet significant relation between transitivity patterning, indirect presentation, and the theme of redemption.
Academic text (2005) -
It is clear that Watson deliberately and consistently exploits transitivity choices to tone down the violence of James's actions.
Academic text (2005) -
Further, it is shown that the transitivity model greatly facilitates a systematic analysis of the writer's indirect way of presentation, especially when such indirection constitutes a general.
Academic text (2005) -
In the present study, we considered the relationship between verbal transitivity and the licensing conditions for unexpressed objects and proposed that lexical development is a specific prerequisite to typological decisions in this grammatical context.
Academic text (2012) -
Transitivity in verbs helps grammar students understand which verbs can take direct objects.
-
The concept of transitivity is essential for analyzing how different verbs function in sentences.
Synonyms
Whether a verb can take an object, for example 'eat an apple'
Antonyms
- Specialized
The state of a verb not taking a word for the thing acted on, for example 'sleep'
How Transitive
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
transitivity = transitive (transparent) = transitive + ity
Clearly formed from the adjective 'transitive' with the noun-forming suffix '-ity' to denote the property or state.
Etymology
Transitivity comes from the prefix trans- meaning 'across' and the ending -ity that makes a noun, the same root you see in transport and transfer. For verbs it tells whether the action 'goes across' to a direct object — a transitive verb 'carries' its action to something, and that quality is called its transitivity.
