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middle verb. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
middle verb, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
middle verb in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
middle verb you have here. The definition of the word
middle verb will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
middle verb, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
| Examples (grammar)
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- I read the book (transitive, expressing an action)
- The book reads well (intransitive, expressing a state)
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Noun
middle verb (plural middle verbs)
- (grammar) A verb which expresses an action when used transitively and a state when used intransitively.
2005, Geert Booij, The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 60:Formation of the middle verbs mentioned above illustrates that derivational processes are used to create specific subclasses of verbs. Middle verbs in English are intransitive verbs, whereas their base verbs are transitive, that is, require a direct object to be present. Middle verb formation is therefore a case of change in syntactic valency.
See also