Basic English Syntax with Exercises

three-place predicate

1.3.2 Predicates and arguments

What arguments are involved in any situation is determined by the meaning of the predicate. Sleeping can only involve one argument, whereas placing naturally involves three. We can distinguish predicates in terms of how many arguments they involve: sleep is a one-place predicate, see is a two-place predicate involving two arguments and place is a three-place predicate.

1.3.2 Predicates and arguments

36) clearly represents that sleep is a one-place predicate, hit and see are two-place predicates and place is a three-place predicate.

1.3.4.1 Verbs

To some extent, this is connected to the properties of the verb as a predicate: laugh is a one-place predicate and its only argument, an agent, tends to precede it, while defeat is a two-place predicate and takes its agent to the left and the patient to the right. If we consider a three-place predicate, a pattern begins to emerge: