What on Earth is an ergative verb?
How can I recognize one?
Do I need them?
There are some verbs in English that don’t work in way you might think.
In this podcast, we’ll take a dive into the weird, but useful, world of ergative verbs in English.
These verbs are very handy if in these situations:
- When the subject isn’t important (but the passive sounds wrong)
- When things do things to themselves (like technology)
- When we want to avoid responsibility
Use them well and you will sound more natural in English.
And who doesn’t like avoiding responsibility! 🙂
Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Acast / Stitcher / SoundCloud
Download the show notes (PDF).
- Podcast Episode 8 – Grice’s Maxims: An Interview with Ali Uygur Erol
- Podcast Episode 1 – Say vs Tell … What’s the difference?
- Podcast Episode 2 – Buffalo Buffalo
- Podcast Episode 3 – What on Earth is an Ergative Verb?
- Podcast Episode 4 – Interview with Hugh Dellar – “One phrase at a time”
- Podcast Episode 5 – Cambridge Cambridge Cambridge
- Podcast Episode 6 – The English Verb
- Podcast Episode 9 – Enjoy Studying Again with the Self-Study Menu
- Podcast Episode 13 – Tips From A Polyglot – Interview With Lindsay From Lindsay Does Languages
- Podcast Episode 15 – English Articles and the Stock Market Dance
- Podcast Episode 10 – Interview with Christian from Canguro English – The paint is still wet
- Podcast Episode 7 – How to Sound Smart (and Witty) in English
- Podcast Episode 11 – Three Things That Surprised Me About the UK
- Podcast Episode 12 – How Not to Die in an English Conversation
- Podcast Episode 14 – Teaching English Through Storytelling – An Interview With Ariel Goodbody
- Podcast Episode 17 – Don’t Destroy the Universe! Word Order in English
- Podcast Episode 16 – Does Business English Really Exist? An Interview with Shanthi Cumaraswamy Streat
- Podcast Episode 18 – Grammar for a Full Life – A Weird and Wonderful Interview with Professor Lawrence Weinstein
- Podcast Episode 19 – The Back of 2020: A New Year’s Ramble
- Podcast Episode 20 – What Should I Read in English?
- Podcast Episode 21 – Watch Movies and Improve Your Listening in English – An Interview with Cara Leopold
- Podcast Episode 22 – Grammar, Perception and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Podcast Episode 23 – Why You’re Not Free in English (and How This Can Help You)
- Podcast Episode 24 – International Communication in English with Chia Suan Chong
- Podcast Episode 25 – Actionable English Mindset Advice with Krisia Justesen
- Podcast Episode 26 – The Beatles and Your English Learning Journey
- Podcast Episode 27 – Why Pragmatics Gives You Superpowers – An Interview with Andreas Grundtvig
- Podcast Episode 28 – Talking about Comedy with Luke from Luke’s English Podcast
- Podcast Episode 29 – I’ll have a beer and a wife, please.
- Podcast Episode 31 – Cooking Verbs in English
- Podcast Episode 30 – Do You Need Grammar to Understand What People Are Saying?
- Podcast Episode 33 – Reported Speech, True Love and Why Lawyers Speak Trashy English
- Podcast Episode 32 – Schrödinger’s Adjective and Three Other Pieces of Grammar Philosophy
- Podcast Episode 34 – Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears and Pattern Grammar
- Podcast Episode 36 – 10 English Proverbs
- Podcast Episode 35 – A chat with Zdenek from Zdenek’s English Podcast | DELTA, Native Speakerism & Dogme
- Podcast Episode 37 – Three Hot Takes About English (And Why We Use “Some”)
- Podcast Episode 38 – Tithead! Swearing with Emma from the Procrastination Podcast
- Podcast Episode 39 – The Cat and the Cornflakes – 5 English Pronunciation Hacks
- Podcast Episode 40 – 2 English teachers, 10 phrasal verbs. English with Rob Interview
- Episode 41 – ’90s Slang vs ’40s Slang | A Chat With My Dad in the Garden
- Episode 42 – When is a Mistake a Mistake? Errors Innovations And Angloversals
- Episode 43 – Some, Any, Metal Bands and Why You’re Not Talking To Someone’s Leg
- Episode 44 – The Quest for the Holy Grail of English Grammar | An Interview with Christopher Walker