The previous sections have discussed the syntactic classification of verbs with nominal arguments. We argued that the traditional classification based on the adicity of verbs, results in grouping together verbs that in fact have very little in common; instead it is better to base the classification on the type of arguments the verb selects. This has led to the classification in Table 6. The unaccusative verbs in this table can be further divided into verbs taking the perfect auxiliary hebben and verbs taking the perfect auxiliary zijn. The class of undative verbs is usually not distinguished in the syntactic literature, but we have given some arguments for its existence.

For completeness’ sake, note that the classification in Table 6 is based on the hitherto unspoken assumption that the presence of a recipient/experiencer also requires the presence of a theme argument. This has to do with meaning; in order for a goal or an experiencer to be present, there must be some other argument that can be located or experienced. An external argument cannot take on this role, since if it is present, it functions as the agent, or better, the originator of the event (cf. Section 1.2.3, sub II, for this term); this implies that the located/experienced argument must be realized as a theme.