Which two are classic theta roles illustrated by the example 'The girl kicks the ball'?

Which two are classic theta roles illustrated by the example 'The girl kicks the ball'?

• A. Agent and Patient
• B. Subject and Object
• C. Actor and Theme
• D. Doer and Receiver

Answer: (A)

This question tests how verbs assign semantic roles to participants: who does the action and who is affected by it. In “The girl kicks the ball,” the girl is the one who initiates and controls the kicking, so she is the agent. The ball is the thing that is kicked and thereby moved and affected, so it is the patient (also called the theme in some formulations). These two roles—agent for the initiator and patient for the affected object—are the classic theta roles illustrated here. Other pairings mix syntactic labels with semantic ones. Subject and Object are about grammatical position, not the underlying action-directed roles. Actor and Theme are similar ideas but aren’t the standard terms used for this concept. Doer and Receiver don’t fit because the ball isn’t receiving something; it’s the entity undergoing the action.

This question tests how verbs assign semantic roles to participants: who does the action and who is affected by it. In “The girl kicks the ball,” the girl is the one who initiates and controls the kicking, so she is the agent. The ball is the thing that is kicked and thereby moved and affected, so it is the patient (also called the theme in some formulations). These two roles—agent for the initiator and patient for the affected object—are the classic theta roles illustrated here.

Other pairings mix syntactic labels with semantic ones. Subject and Object are about grammatical position, not the underlying action-directed roles. Actor and Theme are similar ideas but aren’t the standard terms used for this concept. Doer and Receiver don’t fit because the ball isn’t receiving something; it’s the entity undergoing the action.