A general semantic relation is the orientation to patient for transitive verb objects, and to agent for intransitive verb subjects, e. g. if we have the general meaning of ‘moving’ (intransitive semantics), and the subject isa man,the verb will begoes;for the subjecta bird,the verb becomesflies,and so on. When, however, the general meaning is intransitive (e. g. ‘creating’), the patient (and not the agent) influences the lexical form of the verb:a letter→to write, a picture→to draw, a house→