Apparent Intransitive Objects

 

He slid the length of the building

 

He waited six months

 

He swam the river

 

He ran the race of his life.

 

Intransitive verbs can appear to have an object, making a mess of relation building. Some verbs, such as ToSlide, can be transitive or intransitive.

 

It slid through

He slid it through

 

These constructions will be changed to prepositional forms, by inserting a measure or time preposition, as

 

He slid (for) the length of the building.

 

He swam (in) the river.

 

A person would normally swim across the river, while sharks swim in the river. The preposition will need to figure this out.

 

The verbs are seen without objects, and are made an intransitive form. The prepositions may create a transitive form, where the verb supports it, as

 

He cut six minutes from his time.

 

This will initially be changed to

 

He cut (TimePreposition) six minutes from his time.

 

The TimePreposition will recognise that the ToCut relation can operate on time, and make six minutes the object of the relation.

 

The mechanism is just as necessary for transitive verbs.

 

He shot six times in quick succession.

 

This will be changed to

 

He shot (for) six times in quick succession.

 

The implied preposition will handle cases where the verb can accept a count (such as ToCount).