Ambitransitive Verbs 🎓Learn Advanced English Grammar with JenniferESL 👩‍🏫

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Have you ever felt ambivalent about something? I'm sure you have.

"Ambivalent" means you experience some uncertainty. You likely have conflicting feelings.

Like you want to do something, and yet you don't want to do it.

You like something, and yet there's something you don't like about it.

Do you know anyone who's ambidextrous?

Maybe you are. If you're ambidextrous,

you can use your right hand or your left hand to write and do other tasks. Both hands are strong.

What do these words have in common?

The prefix ambi-, which means "both."

So what are ambitransitive verbs?

They're verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive.

If you've watched my lesson on ergative verbs, you know that ergative verbs can be transitive and intransitive.

I've warned you that different sources can use different terms to refer to the same thing, and not all

grammarians and teachers agree on definitions.

Here's how I view it: We can separate verbs into verbs that are always transitive,

verbs that are always intransitive, and verbs that can be both.

We can call this last group of verbs that have transitive and intransitive meanings ambitransitive verbs.

A good learner's dictionary will confirm what kind of verb you're dealing with.

Ambitransitive verbs can break down further.

Ergative verbs are those verbs where the object of the transitive verb can become the subject of the

intransitive verb.

See how the object of the transitive verb is the subject of the intransitive verb?

So ergative verbs are ambitransitive verbs, but not all ambitransitive verbs are ergative. Get it?

Look. The teacher explained his methods.

His methods explained?

Only a passive construction can use "methods" as the subject and

shift the focus to the receiver of the action.

His methods were explained through the demonstration.

So the verb "explain" is ambitransitive, but not ergative.

Watch for a pattern as I present some common ambitransitive verbs.

Do the revised sentences still make sense? Yes.

How did I change them? I just removed the objects, the direct objects.

Did the subjects change?

No.

So you see how READ, WRITE, and SING are ambitransitive, but not ergative.

The terms aren't all that important, but you do need to know that different groups of verbs follow different patterns.

Become familiar with those patterns, and you'll have more accuracy in your speech.

Let's try a discovery task. I'll describe two different situations.

You'll identify the ambitransitive verbs. Okay? I'll read two different texts.

I made the first verb easy for you.

I used "negotiate" with a transitive and an intransitive meaning. That's your first ambitransitive verb.

Here are the others.

When in doubt, test the verb like we did with READ, WRITE, and SING.

Write a sentence and make sure the verb has an object. Remove the object and see if the sentence still makes sense.

The subjects remain the same. Right? If that second sentence still makes sense,

you have an ambitransitive verb.

That last sentence actually has two objects. Right?

If you'd like to study more grammar with me,

then let me know because we can have a lesson on ditransitive verbs -- verbs that take two objects.

Okay. Here's the second text.

This text has only two ambitransitive verbs: survive and suffer.

What you can learn from the second text is the importance of collocations.

Learn commonly used phrases, and you'll learn how to use a verb.

For example, someone can survive a crisis.

Someone can suffer from something, like a company suffering from lack of leadership.

So now we have a list of ambitransitive verbs that aren't ergative. This list isn't complete, but it's a start.

Grammar isn't about memorizing lots of information. It's more about familiarity.

It's about developing your ability to recognize and follow standard patterns.

That's all for now. If you found our lesson useful, please like this video and share it with other advanced learners of English.

Thanks for watching and happy studies!

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