thematic role
Argument relation type
Thematic role is a concept in linguistics describing the semantic relationship between a verb and its associated nouns.
In The dog bit the mailman, the dog fills the agent role (the one doing the action) while the mailman fills the patient role (the one affected by it).
Other common thematic roles include experiencer, instrument, and location.
The framework helps explain why The hammer broke the window and The window broke feel related—hammer is the instrument, window the patient, regardless of grammatical subject.
One who acts independently
- patientAble to wait calmly
- instrumentDevice for specific tasks
- beneficiaryDesignated asset receiver
- recipientOne who receives something
source · goal · location · stimulus · cause · possessor · manner · path
agent
One who acts independently
- patientAble to wait calmly
- instrumentDevice for specific tasks
- beneficiaryDesignated asset receiver
recipient · source · goal · location · stimulus · cause · possessor · manner · path · direction
protagonist
Story's central figure
- antagonistOne who opposes another
- heroOne admired for courage
- villainWicked story antagonist
mentor · sidekick · foil · confidante · archetype · nemesis · antihero · ingenue · trickster · guardian
plot
Storyline or land parcel
- conflictOpposition between parties
- arcCurved line segment
- resolutionFormal decision or determination
climax · motif · foreshadowing · backstory · twist · genre · tone · setting · pacing · narrative structure
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- semanticsmeaning, denotation, sense, connotation, reference
- grammar termsnoun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun