In some languages every verb is either strictly transtive [...] or strictly intransitive [...]. Other languages have a number of ambitransitive (or "labile") verbs [...]. There are two varietes of ambitransitives: (i) S = A, e.g. "knit" in English, as in "Mary" (S) "is knitting", and "Mary" (A) "is knitting a scarf" (O). (ii) S = O, e.g. "trip" and "spill" in English, as in "John" (A) "tripped" and "Mary" (A) "tripped John" (O); and in "John" (A) "spilled the milk" (O) and "The milk" (S) "spilled".
- Dixon (2004), a pag.339