Part 2: Verbs
Agent
Examples
The burglar ran away.
The Normans invaded England in 1066.
We put water in the test tube.
The earliest technology behind GPS systems was invented by Hedy Lamarr.
Definition
In functional grammar, the Agent is the participant who is responsible for the action in the verb. Often, the Agent is the subject, but not always! The Agent can also be found in the by phrase of a passive clause.
Heddy Lamarr invented the earliest technology behind GPS systems.
The earliest technology behind GPS systems was invented by Heddy Lamarr.
Many subjects are not Agents: they have other functional roles. However with an action verb in the active voice, the subject will usually be the Agent.
Careful!
When an Agent is a pronoun, readers may need to track back to find its referent.
The earliest technology behind GPS systems was invented by Heddy Lamarr. She also starred in many Hollywood movies.
Discovery
Function
It’s helpful to track Agents in order to understand who a text presents as responsible for the actions it describes. This is especially important in journalism and social studies. As noted above, not every subject is an Agent. Many intransitive verbs have subjects that are affected by the verb; they are not responsible for performing it. Here are some sentences adapted from a chapter in a US History textbook about urbanization:
(1) Urbanization occurred rapidly for a number of reasons. (2) The new technologies of the time led to a massive leap in industrialization. (3) New electric lights allowed factories to run 24 hours a day. (4) Workers were forced into grueling 12-hour shifts, requiring them to live close to the factories. (5) Problems ranging from famine to religious persecution led a new wave of immigrants to arrive from central, eastern, and southern Europe. (6) Immigrants sought solace and comfort among others who shared the same language and customs.
In Sentence 1, occur is an intransitive verb. Urbanization is not the Agent – it is the result of what happened, not its cause. In Sentence 2 – the Agent is “the new technologies of the time”, suggesting they were responsible for industrialization. This pattern continues in Sentence 3, where the Agent is “new electric lights.” Sentence 4 is different because it’s in the passive voice: workers were forced into long shifts by some other Agent (presumably factory owners). In Sentence 5, the Agent is once more not the people but the “problems.” Finally in Sentence 6, the Agent is the subject, “immigrants,” highlighting their agency in choosing to live in immigrant communities.
