resultives

Resultives are a class of syntactic constructions in which the action described by a verb is followed by a phrase that denotes the resulting state of the object. The complement can be an adjective phrase (flat, blue, open), a participial adjective (folded, dried), a small-clause element, or a prepositional phrase indicating a state (into a state). English examples include John hammered the metal flat; Mary painted the door blue; She dried the clothes flat; The wind blew the door open. In each case, the verb’s event yields a change of state in the object described by the following expression.

Analyses of resultives vary. Many grammars treat the resultive as a small clause or as a dedicated resultative head that attaches to the main verb, yielding structures like V + Object + Result. The result phrase often takes the form of an adjective or participle that predicates a state of the object after the event. Resultatives are often contrasted with depictives, which describe the subject’s manner or ongoing characteristics during the event rather than a change to the object’s end state.

Semantics and typology. Semantically, resultives express that the event causes a transition from a prior state to a new state, though some uses are idiomatic or only weakly entailed. Cross-linguistically, resultatives are common in many languages, especially Germanic ones, but the exact form and availability vary. Some languages use serial verb constructions or dedicated resultative morphemes; others rely on predicative adjectives or small-clause-like structures.

Significance. Resultatives have been a central topic in the study of event structure, causation, and the syntax–semantics interface, contributing to debates about how languages encode changes of state and the relation between verbs and their complements.