The paper aims to explore the class of the English light verb give, as in She gave a sigh. Drawing on the standard and novel arguments and evidence, it is argued that the class is internally complex, assuming a structured cline. This cline is primarily divided into so-called true light verb and vague action verb types, each of which is further separated into two subtypes. These are GIVE A SIGH, GIVE X A KISS, GIVE X ADVICE, and GIVE X A DESCRIPTION (OF Y). The paper also offers a supplementary analysis of the two subtypes of the vague action verb, using the hybrid model of lexical conceptual structure and syntactic argument structure.
1. Introduction
2. A Class of the Light Verb Give
3. A Previous Analysis
4. A Proposal
5. Concluding Remarks
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