Ministry of higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Babylon
College of Education of Humanity Sciences
Department of English

2020 1441
 DEDICATION

This graduating paper is dedicated to:

My God, Allah, who always beside me, listens to me,
takes care of me and gives me the best thing ever.
My beloved parents, my mother and my father who
Always pray, guide, motivate me to become a better
person.

I
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been completed without
support, guidance, and help from my father .
Therefore, I would like to express special thank and
respect to my supervisor Asst. Prof Nasaem Mahdi for her
continuous cooperation ,advice and guidance in the
process of writing this paper.

2020 1441

II
 List of the content
The subjects Page
Chapter One: introduction 1
1-1- The Problem 1
1-2- Aims 1
1-3- Hypothesis 1
1-4- Procedure 2
1-5- Limit 2
1-6- Value 2
Chapter Two: Semantic Roles of the Subject
2-1- Semantics 3
2.2-Sentence and Proposition 3
2.3 - What is Semantic Role? 5
2.4- The subject 7
2.5- List of semantic roles 8
2.6- Semantic roles of the subject 10-24
Chapter Three: Data analysis and Discussion
3.1- Testing 25
3.2- Test Design 25
3.3- Test Material 26
3.4- The result of the Test 27-30
31
Chapter Four: Conclusion
Bibliography 32-33
Appendix One: The Test 34
Appendix Two: The Result 35

III
 Chapter One
Introduction
1.1- The Problem
This study is intended to assess students‟ ability to recognize and produce
the variety of semantic roles of the subject in English language. There are
some components that must be mastered by the college students such as
grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation. It is noted that students face
difficulties in identifying the variance of the semantic roles of the subject
because the sentence was not mastered well. Accordingly, the study tries to
answer the following question:
What are the difficulties faced by Iraqi EFL learners in recognizing and
producing the semantic roles of the subject?

1.2-Aims
The study aims at:

1-Investigating the difficulties faced by Iraqi EFL learners in recognizing

and producing the semantic roles of the subject.
2- Assessing the students' performance in using the semantic roles of the
subject and finding out the subjects' errors and analyzing those errors
through the result.

1.3- Hypotheses.
It's hypothesized that:
1-Iraqi EFL learners face difficulties in producing sentences including
various semantic roles of the subject.
2-Iraqi EFL learners' performance on the recognition level is better than
their performance on the production level.

1
1.4- Procedures.
The next steps will be followed:
1-Presenting the semantic roles of the subject with examples.
2- Discussing the examples that are presented.
3 -Applying a diagnostic test to random sample of students to assess
their performance in using the topic.
4- Analyzing the results of the test to come up with certain conclusions.

1.5- Limits
The study is limited to survey the semantic roles of the subject including
agent, theme,…….etc. The test will be applied to 20 Iraqi EFL learners from
the University of Babylon/College of Education/Department of English of
humanity sciences, during the academic year 2019-2020.

1.6-Value
It is hoped that the present study will be of value to students of English
grammar, particularly in the area of the semantic roles of the subject .It is
also of value to those who are concerned with the topic.

2
 Chapter Two
Semantic Roles of the Subject

2.1 - Semantics
When looking at words in a sentence, one can simply trace their
meanings in different ways of analyzing and then attach the meaning
completely to form that whole concept. One way is to perform a semantic
analysis that is closely related to the meaning of words, phrases, and
sentences. However, words should not be considered containers of
meaning. Instead, one must look at the role that is played in the situation
described in a sentence with each word (Yule, 2010: 113).

2.2 -Sentence and Proposition

The description of a sentence is a syntactic analysis. The description
of a proposition is a semantic analysis. A syntactic analysis is explanation
of the lexemes(lexical units) and function words in a sentence, describing
how these combine into phrases, and showing the functions that these
lexemes and phrases have in the sentence .Generally these sentence
functions are recognized: subject, predicate, object, complement and
adverbial(Kreidler,2002:64). Table (2.1) illustrates ways of analyzing two
sentences.
Note that a window is subject of the predicate broke in the first sentence
and object of the same predicate in the second sentence.

3
2.2.1 -The Syntactic Analysis of Sentences.
Indirect direct
subject predicate Complement adverbial
object object
A window broke
Tom broke a window
Sarah sends e.mail to her friend
Sarah sends Her friend e.mail
Salim is afraid of the dark
(Table 2.1)
The semantic analysis deals with meaning, the proposition expressed in
the sentence, not necessarily with all the function words in the sentence. In
semantic analysis we first separate Inflection from Proposition. The
following sentences show the difference between sentence and proposition
1-Ali sends his friends e-mail.
2-Ali sent his friends e-mail.
Then Ali sends his friends e-mail and Ali sent his friends email have the
same proposition, {Ali, send, Ali's friends, email}. You can note the first
sentence adds Present Tense to that proposition and the second sentence
adds Past Tense. Tenses are clearly part of the syntactic structure of
sentences but not of the semantic structure. In semantic analysis every
proposition contains one predicate and a varying number of referring
expressions (noun phrases) called arguments (Kreidler,2002:65).

4
 2.3 - What is Semantic Role?
The concept of semantic roles (thematic roles) has played an important
part in linguistic theory over the past twenty years.
To begin with the notion of sematic roles, let's take example below:
Gina raised the car with a jack.
This sentence identifies an event with three entities, Gina, the car, and a
jack, related by the action described by the verb raise. The sentence shows
these entities in specific roles: Gina is the entity responsible for initiating
and carrying out the action, the car is acted upon and has its position
changed by the action, and a jack is the means by which Gina is able to
cause the action (Saeed,2016:149). Such roles have a number of labels in
semantics, including participant roles (Allan 1986), deep semantic cases
(Fillmore 1968), semantic roles (Givon 1990), thematic relations (Jackendoff
1972, Gruber 1976) and thematic roles (Dowty 1986, 1989, 1991),
(Jackendoff 1990) and so on .

Semantic Roles (Thematic roles) are semantic relations that connect

entities to events, more particularly, arguments to predicate. Semantic
roles are grammatically relevant relations of arguments to predicates, not
simply the connection of entities to events. We need predicates and
arguments because, on closer inspection, something that we might classify
as events by quality of their obvious form in sentences (Frawley,2009: 200).
What is the predication structure of The flower is red? We might say that
the predicate is represented by is, with flower and red standing for the
arguments.
The arguments that accompany the predicate have different semantic
functions, or roles, in the proposition. Roles depend partly on the nature of
the predicate and partly on their own meanings. The semantic structure of
a proposition can be represented this way:

5
 Predicate

argument argument argument

Arguments are defined by both their relation to the predicate (as agent,
theme, etc.) and their referential type (as animate, speaker, topic etc.).
Languages vary as so whether their GRs (grammatical relations) select
arguments on the basis of role or reference properties or by combining
these two kinds of properties ( Payne ,2006:237).
Every simple sentence—every proposition—has one predicate and a
varying number of referring expressions, or arguments. The meaning of a
predicate is determined in part by how many arguments it may have and
what role those arguments have. For example, the sentences:

A window broke, A rope broke, A plate broke all contain the verb break
and a single argument. The breaking of a window, the breaking of a rope
and the breaking of a plate is not identical events, but English break can be
used with the names of all these things. That is part of its meaning, the scope
of its application. And in these sentences A window broke, etc , the referring
expressions a window, a rope, a plate have the same role, the same relation to
the verb break. Syntactically this function can be called the subject, but that
term is too general for semantic analysis. We call this role the affected
'someone breaks a window' ( Kreidler,2002:67).
The semantic role „agent‟ has been exemplified only with human
referring expressions, as in "Tom broke the window". However, the cause
of a window breaking and similar acts need not be a human. In A stone
broke the window the phrase a stone(syntactically subject) may be said to
have the role of instrument (Tom broke the window with a stone). In The
storm broke the window the subject has the role of „event‟ (The window
broke during the storm). The noun phrases in the sentence describe the
roles of entities, such as people and things, involved in the action,
(Yule,2010:112).

6
 2.4- The subject
It is unquestionable that the simple sentence is divided into two main
parts: subject and predicate.
Semantically and communicatively, the Subject expresses the main
participant in the situation represented by the sentence and has the highest
claim to the status of topic.(Downing,2015:34).
The Subject is a major element or clause structure , traditionally,
associated with the 'doer' of an action (cyristal,1992:372).

2.4.1-The subject syntactically:

a-Is normally a noun phrase or a clause with nominal function.
b- Occurs before the verb phrase in declarative clauses and immediately
after the operator in question.
c-Has number and person concord, where applicable with the verb
phrase (Quirk,1976:170).

2.4.2-The subject semantically

a. Agentive Subject is animate causer of the happening.
3-John opened the door.
4-Margaret is mowing the grass.
b. Instrumental Subject is inanimate causer of the happening.
5-The computer has solved the problems.
6-The wind opened the door.
7-The electric shock killed him.
c. Affected subject is one being affected by the event (theme).
8-The door opened.
d. Recipient Subject is one that receives the happening.
9-Mr. Smith has given his son a radio.
e. Locative Subject is one that denotes location (designating the place).
10-This cup contains coffee.
f. Temporal Subject is one that denotes time.
11-Tomorrow is my birthday.
g. Eventive Subject is one that denotes event (Quirk, 1976:171,2,3).
12-The match is today.

7
 Objects can normally become the subject in a passive clause, since the
system of voice allows different semantic roles to be associated with
Subject and Object functions (Downing,2015:37).
13-The bomb killed the policeman.
14-The policeman was killed ( by the bomb).

2.5-List of semantic roles

There are two broad classes of semantic roles: participant roles and
nonparticipant (or sometimes circumstantial) roles. The former are the
roles of arguments necessitated by the predication itself, those that
generally answer the question, "Who did what to whom?":

A- Participant roles:
Semantically, almost all participant roles can be associated with the
subject. Here we examine nine major participant roles, grouped according to
their function in the predication.
1-Agent 2- Author 3- Instrument
The three thematic roles of agent, author, and instrument are all
associated with the logical actor of the event (Frawley,2009:210).
4- Patient 5- Experiencer 6-Benefactive
The three thematic roles of patient, experiencer , and benefactive are all
associated with the Logical Recipients.
7-theme 8-source 9- goal
The three thematic roles of theme, source, and goal are described in terms
of their spatial structure, they are participant roles because they are often
associated with actors and recipients and frequently surface in the
direct grammatical roles of subject and direct object (Frawley,2009:218).
The latter are optional roles necessitated by the semantic context more
than by the predication. They generally answer the question, "Why, where,

8
when, and how?

B-Nonparticipant Roles:
Here we examine the fixed spatial organization of a situation. The
argument thatdenotes the spatial position of the predicate is the locative, it is
the site of thepredication; reason and purpose are, respectively, the prior
conditions and thecontextual goals of the predication (Frawley,2009:228).
10- locative, 11-reason, 12-purpose.
The distinction between participant and nonparticipant roles can be
seenin the following sentence:
15-Tom hit the ball in the stadium.
The predicate, hit, takes three arguments, represented by Tom, ball, and
stadium. Tom and ball the logical doer and receiver, those entities are
more relevant to the predication than is the location indicated by stadium.
A simple test confirms these intuitions. If the logical doer and receiver
are eliminated, the predication fails, something not the result of
eliminating the location. the doer and receiver are in this case participants
and have participant roles; the location of the predication has a
nonparticipant role because it is selected by the semantic context, not the
predication itself (Frawley,2009:202).
Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams (2003:192) believe that thematic roles of
the verb are among theme, agent , and goal . Other thematic roles are
location, where the action occurs,; source ,where the action originate
,;instrument ,an object used to accomplish the action ,;experiencer ,one
receiving sensory input,; causative, a natural force that brings about a
change; and possessor, one who owns or has something.

2.6-Semantic roles of the subject

The subject has a number of semantic roles as we discussed above. The
most typical semantic role of a subject in a clause that has a direct object is

9
that of the AGENTIVE participant: that is, the animate being instigating or
causing, the happening denoted by the verb (Quirk,1976:171).

2.6.1-agent
Agent is the „doer‟ or instigator of the action and it is the initiator of
some action, capable of acting with volition ,denoted by the predicate
(Saeed,2009:163).
It is the deliberate, potent, active instigator of the predicate: the primary,
involved doer. Normally, the agent is human, and agency is therefore often
connected with volition(Frawley,2009:203).
The Subject is that functional category of the clause of which something is
predicated. With voluntary verbs of action, the subject fulfills the role of
Agent , the one that initiates or carries out an action. If there is an Agent in
the event expressed by such a verb, that element will be the subject
(Downing,2015:40).
Agency may be seen in the following sentences:
16 -Tommy drove the car.
17- Our food was eaten by raccoons.
In (16), Tommy stands for the agent because, in the situation expressed,
Tommy carries out the act with deliberateness and primary involvement
.He is still the agent of driving because agency is concerned with the
execution of the predicate, not with the circumstances that give rise to
predicate or the argument. Similarly, in (17), raccoons represents the
agents, the active instigators of the eating, even though the form itself is
not, as in (16), the grammatical subject.( Frawley,2009:203).
Agents are the most common semantic roles. Although agents are
typically human (Tommy), as in (16), it can also be non-human entities that
cause actions, as in (17) Raccoons ( Yule,2014:112).In scenes likely to be
described by the following clauses, Jack would be the AGENT:
18-Jack ate beans.
19- Jack ran around the block.
20-That vase was broken by Jack.
10
 21-Whom did Jack kiss?
22-It was Jack who deceived his father.
A prototypical AGENT is conscious, acts with volition (on purpose), and
performs an action that has a physical, visible effect. It is a powerful
controller of an event. According to this characterization, Jack in 18 and 20
is a near prototypical AGENT. In 19, although Jack is conscious and
presumably acts with volition, there is no visible change in the message
would that results from Jack‟s act. The same sort of observation can be
made for 6 and 7 Therefore, Jack is a less-than-prototypical AGENT in 19,
21and 22 ( Payne ,2006:105).
Agentive Subject: animate causer of the happening and the most
agentive, that is, the animate being typical semantic role of a subject is
or causing the happening denoting by the verb. In both of the instigating
following sentences, John has the semantic role of agent:
23-John hit Bill.
24-Bill was hit by John.

2.6.2-Author
If the primary executor of an act has all the characteristics of an agent,
but is not the direct cause of the act, the argument is the author(also called
effector Broadwell1988: 116-7; Foley and Van Valin 1984: 51).
The agent is the direct doer, the author is simply the enabler, or the
indirect cause, often differentiated from the agent by degree of
involvement in the act (Frawley,2009:205).
The difference between the doers of predicates in the following sentences:
25-Bill floated down the river.
26-The canoe floated down the river.
In(25), Bill directly effects the floating, as the paraphrase. Bill kept himself
afloat down the river brings out; if Bill does not volitionally carry out the
act-if he is dead, for example-the nature of the agency changes, as does the
nature of the relation between the arguments and the predicate. The
paraphrase changes likewise: Bill's body floated down the river. In the
11
situation represented by (26), the canoe does not really carry out the act.
So the paraphrase for (25) that brings out the volition of the agent is
unavailable for (26).
Pavey(2010:115) believes that , the first argument of do in activity
predicates generally has the semantic role of an effector, the person or
thing that does something, an effector could be a willful, conscious agent
or an inanimate entity like the wind, example below :
27-The wind is blowing.(the wind is the force that effector of the act).

The author has a variety of characteristics, which are best understood in

the practice of the agency. The author is the sufficient, but not necessary,
reason for the predication; hence it is often understood as the inactive
reason. animacy, intent, and responsibility are not required of the author.
Thus, while the agent is the direct actor, the author is simply the enabler,
or indirect cause, and is often different from the agent depending on the
degree of participation in the act(Frawley,2009:206).

2.6.3-Instrument
Instrument is the medium by which the action or event denoted by the
predicate is carried out.
Instruments may look like agents and authors as the method by which the
action is executed, they are closely associated with both. But instruments,
unlike agents and authors, must be acted upon by something else in order
to participate in the situation; their energy source is external to them.
(Frawley,2009:208).
The subject frequently has an instrumental role ; that is ,it expresses the
unwitting material cause of an event (Quirk,1976:172). Instrument may be
seen in the following sentences :
28-The key opened the door
29-The frost has killed the flowers
In the situation of (28), although the key directly performs the act of
12
opening, it does so only because of the action of some one. In (29), the
frost is the basis of killing the flowers without human effecting.
An instrument is something that causes an action indirectly. Normally an
AGENT acts upon instrument and the instrument accomplishes the action.
For example, in the following clauses, a hammer is an instrument:
29- Mary smashes the box with a hammer!
- A hammer smashed the box.
- That box was smashed by a hammer.
- What did Mary smash with a hammer?
-It was a hammer that Mary smashed it with.
Note that ,an instrumental Subject is inanimate causer of the happening
as the hammer in sentences above.

2.6.4-Patient.
If an argument undergoes, is changed by, or is directly affected by a
predicate, it is a patient .This choice of terminology reflects the fact that a
patient suffers the situation, or comes out changed as a result of the action
of the predicate. Just as the agent is the primary executor of the event, so
the patient is the primary recipient ( Frawley,2009:210).
The subject may have a recipient role with verbs such as have, own,
posses, benefit form, as is indicated by the following(Quirk,1976:172).
30-Mr. smith has given his son a radio.
So, his son owns the radio .
31-The man cleaned the car.
So ,the car is clean.
32-The ice-cream sandwich melted onto her fingers.
A patient undergoes a visible, physical change in state. So, ice-cream is
melt.
Action-processes are situations initiated by some conscious or unconscious
force, and which affects a distinct patient ( kill, hit, stab, shoot, spear and
other violent events), plus the transitive senses of break, melt, crash,
change, and others. Verbs that express action-processes may occur in
13
answer to both the questions:
'What did X do?' and 'What happened to Y?( Payne,2006:113).
With intransitive verbs, the subject also frequently has the AFFECTED
role elsewhere typical of the Direct Object.
Payne(2006:237) believe that "Every language has constructions that
affect the alignment between semantic roles and grammatical relations in
clauses. Such constructions are sometimes referred to as voices. For
example, in a typical active voice construction in English an AGENT is the
subject of the clause and a PATIENT is the object. The passive voice creates
a different argument structure, one in which the PATIENT bears the subject
relation and the AGENT appears in an oblique role":
33-ACTIVE: Sarah made these cookies. (subject = agent; object =patient)
34- PASSIVE: These cakes were baked (by Sarah).(subject = patient )
Now consider the following English examples:
35-I opened the door with the key. SUBJECT = AGENT
-The key opened the door. SUBJECT = INSTRUMENT
-The door opened. SUBJECT = PATIENT or THEME
Finally ,the formal category of subject (as identified by preverbal
position, pronominal form, and potentially verb agreement in
English)expresses three distinct semantic roles, AGENT, INSTRUMENT,
and PATIENT.
Patient: anyone or anything acted upon or described
36-The elderly man was robbed in the park last night.
37- Napoleon was crowned emperor by the Pope.
38-The broken windows testify to the extent of the riot.
39-The tiger carried his victim from the village to the jungle.

2.6.5- Experiencer.
If a predicate affects the internal state or constitution of an argument,
then the argument has the semantic role experiencer(Frawley,2009:213).
Experiencer: The living entity that experiences the action or event
denoted by the predicate and Someone who experiences some kind of
14
perception (seeing, hearing, smelling) or mental experience (feeling,
thinking, knowing, realizing).
Yule (2010:112 )states that "When a noun phrase is used to designate an
entity as the person who has a feeling, perception or state, it fills the
semantic role of experiencer. If we see, know or enjoy something, we‟re
not really performing an action (hence we are not agents). We are in the
role of experiencer.". Experiencer may be seen in the following sentences:
40-The boy feels sad.
41-Did you hear that noise?
In (40)The boy is the only semantic role . In (41) the experiencer is you.
43- Buddy smelled the flowers.
In (43) Buddy does nothing volitionally, but experiences the event.
Pertinent general notions that help us to identify participant roles are
mental states, which are often used under the cover term sentience. They
characterize the experiencer, which is the role of the participant that has
the mental state denoted by the verb, such as:
44- John knows the answer. (the mental state denoted by the verb)
45 -John tells a story.
46 -John shows a picture.
47 -John teaches English.
Mental states also characterize roles such as the addressee for verbs of
communication in the broad sense ,including (45, 46, 47) With these verbs,
the mental state of John, for example his knowledge or intentional focus, is
changed in the eventuality described by the verb.
Normally ,as subject, an experienceris an entity that receives a sensory
impression, or in some other way is the locus of some event or activity that
involves neither volition nor a change of state. For example, in the
following English clauses, Ali is an experiencer:
48- Ali saw the bicycle.
49 -The explosion was heard by Ali.
50- What did Ali hear ?
51- It was Ali who saw the book first.
15
 These are different English sentences, but they convey the same message
they express the same proposition (Kreidler,2002:63).
The perceptual verbs see and hear require an experiencer subject, in
contrast to look at and listen to, which are agentive. The other perceptual
verbs taste, smell, and feel have both an agentive meaning corresponding
to look at and an experiencermeaning corresponding to see.
52-I can taste the pepper in my soup.
Verbs indicating cognation or emotion may also require an experiencer
53-I thought you were mistaken.(It seemed to me you were mistaken)
54-I liked the play. [The play pleased me/gave me pleasure.]
Normally, recipient and experiencer subjects go with verbs used statively.

2.6.6-Benefactive
Benefactive is noun or noun phrase that refers to the person or animal
who benefits ,or is meant to benefit from the action of the
verb(Razmjo,2004:34).
BENEFICIARY: "the entity for whose benefit the action was
performed"(Saeed, 2015:151).
Then beneficiary is anyone or anything receiving the results of an action.
Benefactive may be seen in the following sentences :
55-Tom lost the game for his team.
56- Mary bought lunch for Bob.
In (55), the event is such that the losing affects all participants, but only
one of them, Tom, actually carries out the act expressed: The team derives
the result from the alternate act of Tom. Similarly, in the event of (56), only
Mary actually carries out the act. Bob is the benefactive: He derives a result
from Mary's actions and is, in fact, prevented from doing the act of paying
because of Mary's agency ( Frawley,2009:216).
57-The president gets many letters every day.
58-He bought the flowers for Lina.
- Lina receives flowers(from him).

16
 59- The prize was given to the best player.
- So, the best player got the prize.

2.6.7-theme
THEME: the entity which is moved by an action, or whose location is
described.
A theme is a participant that moves, or is the locus of an action or property
that does not undergo a change. For example, Tom is the theme in the
following clauses:
60- Tom fell into the well.
61- I‟m Tom.
62- We love Tom.
63- Scooby looked at Tom.
64- Scooby forgot Tom.
65- It was Tom who seemed stand-offish.

The theme can also be an entity that is simply being described as below:
66- The ball was red.
The theme can also be human as below(Saeed,2015:41):
67. The boy kicked the ball
If the sentence ,The boy kicked the ball, contains an agent and a theme, it is
because the verb kick has the type of meaning that implies an entity that
does the kicking (an agent) and an entity that gets kick (a theme).
If the verb is marked as passive, then a theme in h can do as a subject(The
ball was kicked).
68-Peter (source) sends the parrot (theme) to the pope (goal) (Von,Kasper,
and Alsfeld,2008:61).

Theme and patient

Radford (1988) treats PATIENT and THEME as different names for the
same role. The distinction that PATIENT is reserved for entities acted upon
and changed by the verb‟s action while THEME describes an entity moved
17
in literal or figurative space by the action of the verb, but constitutionally
unchanged(saeed,2016:152). Thus the noun phrase the rock would be a
PATIENT in (69) below but a THEME in (70):
69- Fred shattered the rock.
70-Fred threw the rock.

2.6.8-source
SOURCE: the entity from which something moves, either literally or
metaphorically. We have seen that a language may signal the object
displaced in a predication. It is also common for a language to make
reference to the point of origin of displacement. The argument with this
thematic role is the source.
In motion predicates, source is readilyseen(Frawley,2009:220):
71-The plane came back from Baghdad .
72- She borrowed a magazine from George.
In the event represented by (71), Baghdad is the point of origin of the
plane's coming ; in that of (72), the transfer of the magazine has its origin in
Mr. George.

2.6.9-Goal
GOAL: the entity toward which something moves, either literally or
metaphorically as in below:
73-Pat told the joke to his friends.
74-She handed the magazine back to George.
In their respective states of affairs, his friends and Mr. George are the goals
of the predicates because they are the endpoints of the events.
Like sources, goals are not restricted to motion predicates. If the
predication involves a destination, whether or not the means to that
destination is spatial, then the argument denoting the destination has the
role of goal. So, no spatial conveyance also selects for goal:
75- I told Ellen the story.
Sentence (75) represents a case where Ellen is the goal of my words,
18
though it is difficult to see how Ellen is the destination of any concrete
motion.
Part of semantic interpretation involves determining the roles that the
referents of NPs play in the situation described by sentences. Consider in
this regard the simple sentence below :
76-The seller sent the goods from Baghdad to Hilla
It would be impossible to understand this sentence if we could not identify
the seller as the person who is responsible for sending something, the
goods as the thing that is sent, Baghdad as the origin(source), and Hilla as
the goal . The term thematic role or semantic role is used to describe the
part played by a particular entity in an event. In most linguistic analysis, at
least the thematic roles in Table 2.2 are recognized.

The seller sent the goods from Baghdad to Hilla

Agent the entity who deliberately performs an action the seller
Theme the entity undergoing a change of state or transfer the goods
Source the starting point for a transfer Baghdad
Goal the end point for a transfer Hilla
(Table 2.2)
The notion of transfer used in the definition of theme, source, and goal is
intended to involve not only actual physical movement, but also changes in
possession as in below:
77-Terry gave the book to Mary.
Agent theme goal
78-The magician changed the handkerchief into a rabbit.
Agent theme goal
79- The boy threw the red ball to the girl
agent theme goal

The particular thematic roles assigned by a verb can be traced back to

components of the verb‟s meaning. Verbs such as throw, buy, give, change ,

19
fly and so on , contain a feature" go” expressing a change in location or
possession(Fromkin; Rodman;and Hyams,2011:165).
We now consider nonparticipant, or circumstantial roles, which derive
from the semantic context of the predication rather than inherent selection
by the predication. Informally, we have said the participant roles signal
"who did what to whom". Nonparticipant roles signal "where, why, when,
and how. By imagining all the details of the semantic context of
a predication, we can determine a wide range of nonparticipant roles, for
example, different kinds of locations, reasons, and times (Frawley,2009:224).

2.6.10- locative
Location is the place at which an entity or action is located. In
our discussion of participant spatial(dynamic) roles, we considered the
initial point, destination, and displaced object. Here we examine the fixed
spatial (stative)organization of a situation .The argument that denotes the
spatial position of then predicate is the locative; it is the site of the
predication, or its static position. The following sentences illustrate the
locative(Frawley,2009:225):
80-The cloud floated in the sky.
81- I sat behind Sally.
82- My brother works at the store.
In the situation of (80), the sky is the site for the floating; in that of (81),
Sally is the locational reference point for the sitting; in that of (82), thestore
is the site for the working.

The subject may have the LOCATIVE role of designating the place of the
state , action, or the TEMPORAL role of designating its
time(Quirk,1976:173 ).

20
 Locative Subject: one that denotes location (designating the place)
83- Baghdad is crowded. ('It's crowded in Baghdad')
84-Kuwait is hot and humid. ('It's hot and humid in Kuwait)
85-My car holds four people.('Four people can hold in my car')
86-Monday was a holiday. ('It was a holiday on Monday')

Verbs following locative subjects normally have no passive or progressive

form as below(ibid):
87- The bag holds seven pounds.
- Seven pounds are held by the bag*
- The bag is holding seven pounds*

Temporal Subject: one that denotes time.

88- Tomorrow is my birthday. (It is my birthday tomorrow)
An important role of the subject is EVENTIVE. The noun at the head of
the noun phrase is commonly a nominalization (ibid).

Eventive Subject: one that denotes event.

89-The concert is on Thursday.
90-The match is today.
91-The Norman invasion took place in 1066.
92-The explosion caused many casualties.

2.6.11-Reason( causative).
The arguments that denote the prior conditions of a predication have the
thematic role reason. Reasons are good examples of nonparticipants roles
because they are clearly located on the contextual level, outside of strict
participant involvement in the predication(Frawley,2009:225).
93- I ran from fear.
94- Bob jogs because of his need to keep fit
95- The murderer acted out of passion
In the events of (93), fear precedes and motivates the running; in those of
21
(94), the need to keep fit motivates the jogging; in those of (95) passion
motivates the actions. In all three cases, the reasons derive from events
external to the predication and motivate the predication through the
intentions of the agent. Reasons are prior conditions, and thus they are
often coded like sources.
English is a language that conflates source and reason marking. Sentence
(96) is ambiguous between a source reading and a reason reading:
96- We ran from the horrible art.
In one sense, with source, the sentence means 'the point of origin of our
physical displacement was the spatial position held by the horrible art'; in
the other, with reason, it means 'we ran because of the motivating prior
condition of horrible art (whatever its spatial position) (Frawley,2009:226).
Kreidler called this role, EFFECT, "The role of an argument that comes
into existence through the action of predicate (Kreidler,2002:70).

2.6.12-Purpose.
If reasons may be viewed as the motivational sources of predications,
what, then, are the motivational goals? A language may thematically code
the result or consequence of a predicate.
An argument with this role is th purpose .Here are some sentences
illustrating purpose arguments (Frawley,2009:227):
97- I went to the doctor for a checkup.
98-Tom has a silk shirt for impressing his friends.
In the events of (97), the checkup is the goal(purpose) of the action; in (98)
impressing his friends is the result of Tom's having the silk shirt.
Though purposes and reasons seem very much alike, we must be careful
not to confuse the two, especially because languages often sharply
differentiate them. Purposes focus on the contextual endpoints of
predications. In fact, the purpose arguments in sentence (98)may be
converted to reasons quite simply by shifting the focus of the predicates to
their prior conditions:
99- I went to the doctor because of my checkup.
22
100-Tom has a silk shirt to impressing his friends.
The meaning of (99) is now something like 'I went to the doctor as a result
of the anticipation of the checkup'; that of (100) is something like Tom is
now in the possession of a silk shirt because of his prior actions of
impressing his friends. In (100), the possession follows the reason, as
contrasted with (98),where the possession precedes the purpose. Reasons
are the motivational sources of predicates whereas purposes are their
motivational goals (Frawley,2009:227).
We have looked at the structure and grammatical manifestation of
three nonparticipant roles: locative, reason, and purpose. Locative is the
fixed site of the predication; reason and purpose are, respectively, the prior
conditions and the contextual goals of the predication (Frawley,2009:228).
It can explain below:
101-The bug causes the sandwich to give bad smell (the bug agent causes
the bad smell and the bad smell is a result of the bug ).
102-The contractor will build you a house.(the contractor agent build
a house and a house result of contractor ).

23
 Chapter Three
Data analysis and Discussion
This chapter is the main part of the whole graduating paper. The writer
wants to examine and discuss the performance of a sample of students in
using the semantic roles of the subject.

3.1-Testing.
Brown (2000:384) states that a test is a method of measuring a person‟s
ability or knowledge in giving domain.
Al-Juboury (1999:1) believes that the test includes any means of checking
what students can do with language and what they cannot do with it .
How do we know if the test is a “good” test or not? Does it accurately
measure what you want it to measure? These questions can be answered
through these classes: practicality, reliability, and validity:
3.1.1- Practicality.
limitation, time constraints, case of administration, scoring and
interpreting.
3.1.2- Reliability.
A reliable test is consistent and dependable. Brown (2000:385) pointed out
the careful specification of an analytical scoring instrument can increase
scorer reliability.
3.1.3- Validity.
Validity means the actually degree of measuring what is intended to
measure ( Brown ,2000:387), validity can be established only by
observation and theoretical justification.

24
 Brown (2000:387) believes that "If a test actually samples the subject
matter about the conclusions are to be drawn or if it requires the test-taker
to perform the behavior that is being measured, it can claim Content
Validity". The writer will apply this : It is generally agreed upon that errors
are indicators of difficulties faced in certain structures and the percentage
of errors shows the degree of that difficulty .

3.2-Test Design
Accordingly, the present test is constructed to investigate the
performanceof 4th stage students ,English department , College of
Education forHuman Sciences , University of Babylon ,during the
academic year (2019-2020) ,in using semantic roles of the subject
depending on the books, (Thestudy of language, George Yule and A
University Grammar of EnglishRandolph Quirk ,Sidney Green
Baum) ,they learned this topic from.The researcher chooses a sample of
twenty students from thisDepartment. The test includes two questions:
The first of which measuresthe students' responses at the recognition
level, it is of seven items. Thesecond question is constructed to measure
the students' responses at theproduction level, it is of seven items.

3.3-Test Material
Most items of the test are taken from grammar book{A University
Grammarof English workbook R.A.Close}by : Randolph Quirk ,Sidney
GreenBaum,1974

25
3.4- The result of the test.
3.4.1-The students' performance on the Recognition level:
Table( 3-1) shows the results of the test of question one on the Recognition
level:
No. No. of the No. of the
No. of the
Of correct Percentage % incorrect Percentage %
question
Item responses responses
1 10 50% 10 50% 20
2 12 60% 8 40% 20
3 7 35% 13 65% 20
4 6 30% 14 70% 20
5 9 45% 2 11% 20
6 9 45% 11 55% 20
7 8 40% 12 60% 20
Total 61 44% 79 56% 140
(Table 3-1)
In table (3-1) the total number and percentage of the correct answer are
(61,44%) while the total number and percentage of the incorrect answer are
(79,56%). This shows that the number and percentage of the incorrect
answers are more than those of correct answer. That shows most students
face difficulty in dealing with semantic roles of the subject.

Item No.
26
 Fig(3-1) and Fig(3-2) show detail analysis of the result :
1-The highest response and percentage of the correct answers is (12,60 %) in (item 2)
because the agent is the most role of the subject the student can recognize .
2- The lowest responses and percentage of the correct answers is (6,30 %) in (item 4).
This reflects the students' insufficient training and ability to deal with this item.
3- In items (3),(4),(5),(6),and(7), the number and percentage of the incorrect answers
are higher than that of correct answers .This reflects that they lack knowledge
about the semantic roles of subject.

27
3.4.2-The students' performance on the Production level

Table( 3-2)shows the results of the test of question two on the Production level:

No. of the No. of the

No. of the
Items correct Percentage % incorrect Percentage %
question
responses responses
1 9 45% 11 55% 20
2 7 35% 13 65% 20
3 10 50% 10 50% 20
4 5 25% 15 75% 20
5 8 40% 12 60% 20
6 6 30% 14 70% 20
7 4 20% 16 80% 20
Total 49 35% 91 65% 140
(Table 3-2)

In table (3-2) the total number and percentage of the correct answer are (49,35%)
while the total number and percentage of the incorrect answer are (91,65%). This
shows that the number and percentage of the incorrect answers are more than those
of correct answer. It can be concluded that most of the students have failed to give
the correct responses for the items in production level.

Item No.
28
 Fig(3-3) and Fig(3-4) show detail analysis of the result :
1-The highest response and percentage of the correct answers is (10,50 %) in (item 3)
because the students are familiar with it.
2- The lowest responses and percentage of the correct answers is (4,20 %) in (item 4).
This indicates that most of the students face serious difficulties in forming sentences
containing semantic roles of the subject or they may be incompetent enough to
produce sentences of such types.
3- In all items ,the number and percentage of the incorrect answers are high .
Insufficient information about semantic roles of the subject may be the main
reason behind making more erroneous responses in production level.

29
 Chapter Four
Conclusion
The knowledge of the semantic roles of the subject would provide control
over the formed sentence with all its elements.
According to the results of the test, table (4-1) shows the number and
percentage of the incorrect answers of the whole test (170,61%) are more
than those of the correct answers (110,39 %).

No. of
No. of No. of correct
percentage Incorrect Percentage No. of all items
question responses
responses
Q/1 61 44% 79 56% 140
Q/2 49 35% 91 65% 140
Total 110 39% 170 61% 280
(Table 4-1)
According to the preceding analysis, the following conclusions have been
drawn:
1- Most of Iraqi EFL learners face difficulties in using the semantic roles of
subject .
2- The students are unaware of semantic roles in the way that they did not
know how to use them in the position of subject.
3- The students cannot differentiate between subject, object and adverbial
on one hand and their semantic roles on the other hand.
4- Student' achievement at the recognition level is better than their
achievement at the production level.

30
 Bibliography
Al-Hamash, and Younis .H.(1985).Principal and Techniques of Teaching
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Of English Language Teaching In IRAQ.

Al-juboury, N.(1999).A language Teachers‟ Guide To Assessment .Baghdad:

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Angela Downing(2015) English Grammar A university course. New York:

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Brown, H Douglas, (2006).Principles of language learning and teaching.

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Charles F. Mever(2009).Introducing English Linguistics .New York :

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Lvons.John.(1995).Introduction To Theoretical Linguistics. New York :
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 Appendix One
The Test
Q1: Identify the semantic roles of the subject in each sentence in terms of
Agent , Theme , eventive, Instrument, temporal, Experiencer, location.

1- Sarah saw a fly on the wall.

2- Huda squashed the bug with the magazine.
3-The door was opened with the key by the boy.
4- The street was crowded
5-The knife cut the rob.
6- Today is my birthday
7- The party is today

Q2: Exemplify the following semantic roles of the subject in meaningsentences :

Agent , Theme , eventive, Instrument, temporal, Experiencer, location.

33
 Appendix Two
The Result
Q1/
1-Experiencer
2-Agent
3-Theme
4-Location
5-Instrument
6-Temporal
7- Eventive
Q2/
The semantic roles of subject given should be on the position of subject.

34