Tuesday 23 November 2021

Circumstances That Are More Like Figures Than Participants

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 221-2):
But even within one language, however they are construed grammatically, the status of circumstantial elements is variable. In English, those that are nearer the centre of our helix are more like participants, as shown by the examples above; while those that are on the periphery are more like figures. We can give some examples of agnate pairs of this kind.