Wednesday 5 September 2018

Means: The Concepts Of Agency & Instrumentality

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 318-9):
… the category includes, in principle, the concepts of both agency and instrumentality. The instrument is not a distinct category in English grammar; it is simply a kind of means [as shown by voice agnates]. … The agent, however, although it is expressed as a prepositional phrase, typically functions as a participant in the clause [as shown by voice agnates].