ABSTRACT
The history of English shows that many ditransitive verbs have a causative start, expected if telicity is central to this class. This chapter providess a definition and an analysis for Modern English, as in and, which the chapter then adapt while keeping in mind the difficulties with this class of verbs. It describes some details on what has been discovered about the history of English ditransitives and how this relates to their structure. The chapter examines a group of Old English ditransitives in detail, showing that the verbs are either durative or telic. It outlines one of the current proposals for the basic ditransitive, i.e. the one with a Recipient, and its two alternating guises. The chapter argues that the inner aspect of the ditransitive verbs is not uniform. It talks about some simple stability and change and will examines causality and light verbs.
