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Everything about Dative construction

Grammatical way of constructing a sentence

The dative construction is a grammatical way of constructing a sentence using the dative case. A sentence is also said to be in dative construction if the subject and the object can switch their places for a given verb, without altering the verb's structure. The latter case is not to be confused with the passive voice, where only the direct object of a sentence becomes the subject of the passive-voiced sentence, and the verb's structure also changes to convey the meaning of the passive voice. The dative construction tends to occur when the verb indicates a state rather than an action. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Dative constructionA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Effect of chemical substitution on the construction of boroxine-based supramolecular crystalline polymers featuring B←N dative bondsInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Introduction to Attic GreekThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: The rise of Dative Substitution in the history of Icelandic: A diachronic construction grammar accountCited 47 times
  5. Go sideways: Quirky subjectA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Split ergativityA closely related topic

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🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

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