Learn English – Active vs passive voice with inanimate object as the subject

grammar

I have asked the same question in ELL Stackexchange forum. There all the answers and comments I received was really helpful, but still I was looking for something more. So I have decided to ask this same question here also.

I have seen some sentences like this –

  1. The film was announced to be released on this coming Friday.
  2. The film was announced to release on this coming Friday.

Both the sentences are used, and I know they are interchangeable and does bear the same meaning. But I have some doubt about the second sentence – why is it "to release", when the film cant release itself.

Some other sentences of similar structure that arises my confusion –

  1. The product sells well.
  2. The book reads well.
  3. The glass broke.

The sentences are understandable, but in each of the sentences the subjects can't perform any job, as they all are inanimate object. The verbs are active, but they acts like they are used as passive.

Now my question is how to decide which verb to use this way and which not?

Best Answer

Verbs such as break, sell, and read are examples of what are commonly called ergative verbs. Wikipedia's article on this topic defines an ergative verb as:

... a verb that can be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject when intransitive corresponds to its direct object when transitive.

There is a comprehensive list of ergative verbs on Wiktionary.

Note, however, that the designation of such verbs as ergative is somewhat problematic. The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, for example, states: "Some linguists caution against the use of this term". The Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics is more forthright, stating: "The term could perhaps with benefit be avoided". A related Wikipedia article about ergative-absolute languages refers to such verbs in English as "so-called ergative verbs".

Nevertheless, it is important for English language learners to know that many common verbs behave in this way in English, that this is the term they should search for on the internet, and that pedagogic grammars also use the term. For example, here is what the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (p156) says:

Verbs which can have the same thing as their object, when transitive, or their subject when intransitive, are called ergative verbs. For many students of English, the ergative verb is a new idea, and may take a little time to learn. However, it is an important type of verb, as the common examples below make clear. There are several hundred ergative verbs in regular use in current English.

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