Self-study material: Verb Types, Argument Structure and

Theta Roles
1. Read the following extract from James Gregory’s Goodbye
Bafana and classify the underlined verbs according to whether
they are:
 Intransitive (unaccusative, ergative or unergative verbs)
 Monotransitive (including control and ECM verbs)
 Ditransitive (including object control and transitive phrasal verbs)
2. Identify the complements (if any) and the adjuncts
corresponding to each verbal phrase.

Just before the third Christmas when Nelson was preparing for a visit from
Winnie, he asked me to do something for him.
‘Okay, tell me what you wish me to do.’
‘I have a chocolate, one which I have been given by another prisoner. I have
been saving it as a special present for Winnie. Can I give it to her?’
I knew that to acquire the chocolate had taken all sorts of ingenuity: it would
have come into the section from the main prison and that showed me how
good the smuggling system was.
I considered the situation, knowing the risk I was taking.
‘Look, you know I cannot allow you to hand it over personally, but if you
agree, I will give it to Winnie.’
The chocolate was wrapped in a typical shiny foil and he insisted, ‘Please
look inside to ensure I am not sending anything illegal.’
At the end of the visit, as Nelson walked back to the cell area, I went back
and hastened Winnie to one side. I held the chocolate out in my hand.
Winnie choked, immediately understanding how difficult it had been for her
husband to get hold of the sweet.
I thought no more about the incident until two days later when the
newspaper carried a long article about Winnie having had a picnic with her
husband. The article claimed that the two had sat beneath a tree, spread a
cloth on the ground, eaten bread and cheese and had a cool drink.