G1

G1. We can say "She broke the window" and "The window broke". What is the grammatical term for "broke" in the second example?

Note: Any word, phrase, sentence or paragraph that I consider to be wrong is shown in red. And any text I consider to be questionable is followed by a question mark:

Request 1: We can say "She broke the window" and "The window broke". What is the grammatical term for "broke" in the second example?

Response 1: The word "broke" in the second example, "The window broke", is a past participle acting as an adjective modifying the subject "window". It is a passive construction, meaning that the window is the recipient of the action rather than the subject performing the action.

"Broke" in the sentence "The window broke" is neither a past participle nor acting as an adjective.

Request 2: Can you give more examples of verbs that can behave in this way?

Response 2: Certainly! Here are some examples of other verbs that can also behave in a similar way as "broke" in the sentence "The window broke":

1. The vase was smashed.
2. The cake was eaten.
3. The book was torn.
4. The door was slammed shut.
5. The tree was uprooted.
6. The picture was hung on the wall.
7. The car was stolen.
8. The phone was answered.

In each of these examples, the verb is in the past participle form and is being used to describe something that happened to the subject, rather than the subject performing the action itself.

See Request 3 below.

Request 3: No, these examples do not exemplify the pattern in "The window broke". Please redo your answer.

Response 3: I apologize for the confusion in my previous answer. Here are some examples of other verbs that can also be used in a similar way as "broke" in the sentence "The window broke":

1. The vase was smashed.
2. The cake was eaten.
3. The book was torn.
4. The door was slammed shut.
5. The tree was uprooted.
6. The picture was hung on the wall.
7. The car was stolen.
8. The phone was answered.

In each of these examples, the verb is in the past participle form and is being used to describe something that happened to the subject, rather than the subject performing the action itself. This construction is known as a passive voice, where the subject is acted upon by the verb rather than performing the action.

ChatGPT simply repeated the previous list. Its explanation after the list is correct.

Request 4: No. There is no "was" in "The window broke" or "The door opened.". Please redo your answer.

Response 4: I apologize for the confusion again. Here are some examples of other verbs that can also be used in a similar way as "broke" in the sentence "The window broke" and "The door opened":

1. The cake burned.
2. The car crashed.
3. The vase shattered.
4. The tree fell.
5. The glass cracked.
6. The computer froze.
7. The ice melted.
8. The bridge collapsed.

In each of these examples, the verb is in the past tense and is being used to describe something that happened to the subject, rather than the subject performing the action itself. This construction is known as a passive voice, where the subject is acted upon by the verb rather than performing the action.

We finally get examples that follow the same patter as The window broke.

Request 5: What is the grammatical term for this verbs which can be used in this way?

Response 5: The grammatical term for the verbs which can be used in the passive voice, as in the sentence "The window broke" or "The cake burned", is transitive verbs. Transitive verbs are verbs that require an object to complete their meaning, and they can be used in both active and passive voices. In the passive voice, the object of the verb becomes the subject of the sentence, and the subject of the verb becomes the object of the preposition "by". For example, "She broke the window" (active voice) becomes "The window was broken by her" (passive voice).

The explanation is correct, but see Request 6 below.

Request 6: Yes, they are transitive verbs, but they are a special subset of transitive verbs. We cannot use transitive verb "hit" in the same way. "The ball hit" is ungrammatical. What is the grammatical term for this subset of transitive verbs?

Response 6: You are correct that the verbs that can be used in this way are a special subset of transitive verbs. Specifically, they are known as intransitive verbs that allow for a subject to undergo an action without requiring an object.

The subset of intransitive verbs that can be used in the passive voice, as in "The window broke", are called ergative verbs. These are verbs that can be used in both a transitive and intransitive sense, with the same form of the verb used for both, but with a different grammatical structure for each usage. In the transitive sense, the verb takes a direct object, while in the intransitive sense, the verb does not take an object but rather has the subject undergo the action.

Yes, verbs that behave in this way are called ergative verbs by many, but not all, grammarians.

General comment

There is useful information in ChatGPT's explanations. But it took a lot of prompting on my part to arrive at them. The first two responses above are seriously deficient.