Passive clauses argument structure of give verbs in corpus of contemporary American English (COCA)

Abstract

This study is entitled Passive Clauses Argument Structure of Give Verbs in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). It is concerned with the argument structure which is mapped to the grammatical relation. This study aimed to recognize the grammatical relations in passive clauses which have “give verbs”. This study is library research. The data of this study were taken from Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) which is concerned with passive clauses. To collect the data, the documentation method and note-taking technique were applied. The descriptive-qualitative method was applied in analyzing the data. The data were described and explained based on the theory argument structure and the theory of passive. Based on the analysis, the grammatical relation operated within passive clauses with the class of give verbs involves subject, object, and oblique. Verb feed, give, and pay in passive can be constructed with S-V, S-V-O, S-V-OBL, and S-V-O-OBL. However, the construction found with verb lease in passive is S-V and S-V-OBL. On the other hand, the possible construction found in verb lend in passive is S-V, S-V-OBL, and S-V-O.