Patrick Farrell explains how grammatical relations are characterized in modern theories of grammar. He describes the historical development and conceptual precedents of competing theories and, ranging across a wide variety of languages, considers what their merits and limitations are in different contexts. He examines their conceptions of relations such as subject, object, indirect object, agent, patient, and actor, and their accounts of such syntactic phenomena as ergativity, split intransitivity, voice alternations, and case marking. Professor Farrell compares mainstream generative-transformational approaches with both formalist and functionalist alternative approaches, revealing points of convergence and divergence. He identifies and discusses problems and issues of continuing concern and considers how these might be resolved. This is an ideal introduction for graduate students and will be a valuable reference for theoretical linguists of all persuasions. "Oxford Surveys in Syntax and Morphology" - General editor: Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.; Advisory editors: Guglielmo Cinque, University of Venice; Daniel Everett, University of Manchester; Adele Goldberg, Princeton University; Kees Hengeveld, University of Amsterdam; Caroline Heycock, University of Edinburgh; David Pesetsky, MIT; Ian Roberts, University of Cambridge; Masayoshi Shibatani, Rice University; Andrew Spencer, University of Essex; and Tom Wasow, Stanford University. This series provides surveys of the major approaches to subjects and questions at the centre of linguistic research in morphosyntax. Its volumes are accessible, critical, and up-to-date. Individually and collectively they reveal the value of the field's intellectual history and theoretical diversity. The books provide graduate students of syntax, morphology and related aspects of semantics with a vital source of information and reference, and are designed for use in graduate courses. They give the context by which specialist articles can be fully understood. They provide useful background reading for advanced undergraduates researching a specific area. It is published as "Grammatical Relations" by Patrick Farrell. In preparation: Phrase Structure by Andrew Carnie; Syntactic Categories by Gisa Rauh; Morphology and the Lexicon by Daniel Everett; The Phonology-Morphology Interface by Sharon Inkelas; Argument Structure: The Syntax-Lexicon Interface by Stephen Weschler; The Syntax-Semantics Interface by Jean-Pierre Koenig; Information Structure: the Syntax-Discourse Interface by Nomi Erteschik-Shir; Language Universals and Universal Grammar by Anna Siewierska; Syntactic Change by Olga Fischer; Computational Approaches to Syntax and Morphology by Brian Roark and Richard Sproat; and The Acquisition of Syntax and Morphology by Shanley Allen and Heike Behrens.