<br>
The property Verb Object Subject has the value "yes" when the order Verb Object Subject can be used in a <a href="/glossary#neutral-context">neutral context</a>. The clause in this property is an active (non-passive) declarative (non-interrogative) clause. In this property, the subject and object are not pronouns. Furthermore, the verb must be clause initial (see German example below). As with all word order properties, we restrict our attention to <a href="/glossary#productive">productive word order</a> patterns.<br><br>


<b><a href="/glossary#subject">Definition of Subject</a></b>
<br><b><a href="/glossary#object">Definition of Object</a></b><br><!--In an active sentence with an action verb (e.g. "Bill pet the dog") and two noun phrase arguments, the subject is the noun phrase argument referring to the one who performs the action (agent) and the object is the other noun phrase argument.<br>--><br>

<b>General Note on Word Order Properties</b>:<br>
A "yes" value for Verb Object Subject does not exclude a "yes" value for any other order of these categories.<br><br>

<b>NA (Not Applicable)</b>: All known languages have subjects and objects in the defined sense, so this property is always defined and never has the value NA.
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Examples:<br><br>
1.<br>
Malagasy is "Yes" for Verb Object Subject (AT = Agent Topic): <br>
<br>
Manasa ny lamba amin' ny savony ny reny.<br>
PRS.AT.wash the clothes with the soap the mother.NOM<br>
'The mother washes the clothes with the soap.' (Sabel 2002) <br>
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<strong>Reference</strong><br>
Sabel, J. 2002. Wh-questions and extraction asymmetries in Malagasy. <i>MIT Working Papers in Linguistics</i> 44:309-323.<br>
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2.<br>
English is "no" for the property Verb Object Subject since this order is always ungrammatical:<br>
<br>
*sees the airplane John<br>
(* means ungrammatical)<br>
<br>
3.<br>
Japanese is "no" for Verb Object Subject, since this order is always ungrammatical:<br>
<br>
*otosi-ta koppu-o dareka-ga.<br>
drop-PST scup-ACC someone-NOM<br>
'Someone dropped a cup.'<br>
