3.72 indicating unequal involvement

In the examples given above, the user of the language obviously believes that both people or groups are equally involved in the event, because both are the subject. However, the user may want to suggest that one person is responsible for the action or has initiated it. In this case, a noun group which refers to that person is put in subject position.

If the verb can be used transitively, a noun group referring to the other participant is put as the object of the verb.

• He embraced her.
• She married a young engineer.
• You could meet me at a restaurant.
• The Algerians were fighting the French army in their mountains.

If the verb needs a preposition after it, the other noun group is put as the object of the preposition.

• Our return coincided with the arrival of bad weather.
• Youths clashed with police in Belfast.
• The distribution of aid corresponds to need.

3.73

People sometimes make one person or group the subject when the event is a violent or unpleasant one, in order to make them appear aggressive or responsible for the violence. For example, the headline 'Police clash with youths' suggests that the police were responsible for the clash, even though the youths also clashed with the police.

• Paul collided with a large man in a sweat-stained shirt.
• The role of worker conflicts with the role of mother.
• She liked him even when she was quarrelling with him.