Lakoff [Lakoff, G., 1966b, “Some Verb of Change and Causation”, Cambridge] argues that the distinction between direct and indirect causation is a matter of use, not underlying structure; thus he argues that "a breeze stiffened John's arm" and "a breeze caused John's arm to stiffen" are generally used to indicate direct causation, while "a breeze brought it about that John's arm stiffened" and "a breeze made John's arm stiffen" are generally used to indicate indirect causation [...].
- Chomsky (2004), a pag.164