Verbs of Influence and Semantic Inference
A verbed B to X
verb=taught
E1=Barney taught the
twins to swim.
Primary inferences:
At time E1, P(Barney knows how to swim) = high
Before time E1, P(twins know how to swim)=low
After time E1, P(twins know how to swim)=high
Secondary inferences:
At time E1, P(twins swam)= high
At time E1, P(Barney enjoys swimming) = medium
Before time E1, P(twins enjoy swimming) = low (drowning)
After time E1, P(twins enjoy swimming) = medium
E2=Barney taught the twins to vacuum the house.
Primary inferences unchanged: knowledge is prerequisite for teaching
Secondary inferences: might be seen as affected by desirability or
difficulty of activity.
verb = Made
E3=Mildred made Barney
vacuum the house her way.
Primary inferences
At time E3, P(Mildred knows how to vacuum the house her way) =
high
At time E3, P(Barney vacuumed the house Mildred's way)=high
Secondary inference:
Before time E3, P(Barney knows how to vacuum the house
Mildred's way) = medium
verb=Stopped
E4=Barney stopped the
twins from bickering.
E5=Barney stopped the twins from playing.
Primary inference:
Before E{4,5} P(twins were verbing) = high
After E{4,5} P(twins were verbing)=low
P(twins wanted to Verb)
and
P (Barney wanted twins to Verb)
and
P (twins wanted to Verb)
are affected by P(Verb is desirable to participants and
observers)
Verb= helped
E=Mildred helped the
twins get down from the tree
E=Mildred helped