AGENT
AGENT. In grammar, the person or other being that instigates the happening denoted by the verb: Jenny in the sentences Jenny has written me a letter and Jenny made Henry angry refers to the doer of the action or the causer of the event. In English, the semantic role of the subject in active constructions is typically agentive, but not exclusively so: books in These books sell well is not the agent but the affected. In a passive construction, the agent may be represented in an optional by-phrase: Anita and Michael were mugged (by some louts) on their way home last night. The term agent or agentive is used in case grammar for one of the sematic cases.
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AGENT
