He ended his life
The announcer said (of Pavel Haas) that he ended his life in Auschwitz; and I began to puzzle over the ambiguity. One clear difference with that particular example is in the role of the subject: Agent with 'end' = "put a period to" and Experiencer in 'end' = "pass the end part of" (the intended meaning). Syntactically both seem to involve transitive verbs with direct objects, but do they? The "pass the end" sense complement seems semantically weaker (like a cognate accusative, or a time adjunct, though it isn't either of those). And agentivity and various tests seem to conflict . . .
He ended his life in a retirement home. - not an abrupt end, and no agentivity
He ended his life out of despair. - unambiguous
?His life was ended in a retirement home.
?His life was ended out of despair.
But the "pass the end" sense can be agentive:
He ended his speech with a rousing call to arms.
?He ended his speech by falling off the platform.
He ended his term in office with an amnesty to prisoners.
He ended his term in office by freeing prisoners.
?He ended his term in office with a rise in interest rates.
?He ended his term in office by resigning.
?He ended his term in office by being assassinated.
I'm not at all clear about my intuitions here, but there seem to be three distinct uses:
(a) a non-agentive sense with object such as "his days, his life", as in 'He ended his days in the retirement home, stricken by Alzheimer's disease and unaware of his surroundings.';
(b) an agentive sense of "get through the (scheduled) last part of", where the action itself can be voluntary but the termination is not in his immediate control;
(c) an idiom 'end one's life', which being lexical tends to override the constructive uses (a)-(b).
He ended his life in a retirement home. - not an abrupt end, and no agentivity
He ended his life out of despair. - unambiguous
?His life was ended in a retirement home.
?His life was ended out of despair.
But the "pass the end" sense can be agentive:
He ended his speech with a rousing call to arms.
?He ended his speech by falling off the platform.
He ended his term in office with an amnesty to prisoners.
He ended his term in office by freeing prisoners.
?He ended his term in office with a rise in interest rates.
?He ended his term in office by resigning.
?He ended his term in office by being assassinated.
I'm not at all clear about my intuitions here, but there seem to be three distinct uses:
(a) a non-agentive sense with object such as "his days, his life", as in 'He ended his days in the retirement home, stricken by Alzheimer's disease and unaware of his surroundings.';
(b) an agentive sense of "get through the (scheduled) last part of", where the action itself can be voluntary but the termination is not in his immediate control;
(c) an idiom 'end one's life', which being lexical tends to override the constructive uses (a)-(b).