What is the Semantic Role of "Harold" in the following sentence:

I gave Harold a cake.

Question

What is the Semantic Role of "Harold" in the following sentence:

I gave Harold a cake.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: What is the Semantic Role of 'Harold' in the sentence 'I gave Harold a cake'?

Option A: Agent
- The Agent is the doer of the action. In this sentence, 'I' is the one who performs the giving, not 'Harold'. Therefore, labeling Harold as Agent is incorrect.

Option B: Patient
- The Patient (or Theme) is the entity that undergoes an action or is affected by it, often the thing being moved or changed. In this sentence, the cake is the thing moved, while Harold is not undergoing the action itself. Thus, Harold is not the Patient.

Option C: Recipient
- The Recipient is the entity that receives something as a result of the action. Here, Harold receives the cake from the speaker, so Harold fills the Recipient role. This aligns with standard semantic role labeling for ditransitive verbs like give, where there is a distinct recipient for the transferred object.

Option D: Experiencer
- The Experiencer is the entity that undergoes an internal psychological state or sensation, such as perceiving, thinking, or feeling. There is no indication that Harold is experiencing a mental state in this construction; the action is about transferring an object, not an internal sensation. Therefore, Experiencer is not appropriate.

Putting the pieces together, the only option that correctly captures Harold’s function as the recipient of the cake is Option C, Recipient. The other choices misassign Harold’s role: Agent would be the doer (I), Patient would be the thing moved (the cake), and Experiencer would involve internal states rather than transfer of an object.

LIN 001Y A01-A12 SQ 2025 Semantics HW

What is the Semantic Role of "Harold" in the following sentence: I gave Harold a cake.

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