Editing Lexical semantics (section)

=== How lexical items map onto events ===
Event structure is defined as the semantic relation of a verb and its syntactic properties.<ref>
 {{Citation
 | last = Malaia
 | title =Effects of Verbal Event Structure on Online Thematic Role Assignment
 | journal =Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
 | volume =41
 | issue =5
 | pages =323–345
 | year =2012
 | doi =10.1007/s10936-011-9195-x| pmid =22120140
 | s2cid =207201471
 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>
Event structure has three primary components:<ref name=Pustejovsky>{{cite journal | last1 = Pustejovsky | first1 = James | year = 2012 | title = The syntax of event structure | url = http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/james/Papers/Pustejovsky-event-structure.pdf | journal = Cognition | volume = 41 | issue = 1–3| pages = 47–81 | doi = 10.1016/0010-0277(91)90032-y | pmid = 1790655 | s2cid = 16966452 }}</ref>
* primitive event type of the lexical item
* event composition rules
* mapping rules to lexical structure
Verbs can belong to one of three types: states, processes, or transitions.
{|
|-
| 
 ''(1) a. The door is '''closed'''.''<ref name=Pustejovsky />
 ''    b. The door '''closed'''.''
 ''    c. John '''closed''' the door.''
|}
(1a) defines the state of the door being closed; there is no opposition in this [[Predicate (grammar)|predicate]]. (1b) and (1c) both have predicates showing transitions of the door going from being implicitly ''open'' to ''closed''. (1b) gives the [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]] use of the verb close, with no explicit mention of the causer, but (1c) makes explicit mention of the [[Agent (grammar)|agent]] involved in the action.