30 10 / 2011
The grammatical patient is often confused with the direct object. However, there is a significant difference. The former is based explicitly on its relationship to the verb, whereas the latter is based primarily on its relationship to the subject. For example, in the phrase “The dog bites the man”, the man is both the patient and the direct object. By contrast, in the phrase “The man is bitten by the dog”, the man is still the patient, but now stands as the phrase’s subject; while the dog is only the agent. The term “theme” is often used to describe the same relation as patient.