The word "ergative" as a grammar term sounds rather unfammiliar and puzzling to me when it constantly crops up in an article I have been reading lately. Would anyone give me any example sentences, preferably with a little explaining? Thanks.
What is "an ergative construction"?
Here Wikipedia might have a better explanation than I can give myself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative-absolutive_language. This is difficult to explain in English, but makes more sense in languages where different parts of speech are marked by specific endings. Since I don't speak any such languages, I refer you to the article.