【Abstract】Ergative sentence is considered as a special pattern， has received lots of attention in both western and Chinese linguistics. The thesis systematically make a comparative study on English and Chinese ergative sentences from a new perspective-CG， which is the short form of Construction Grammar， and this theory was built up in the 1990s by Adele E. Goldberg and Paul Kay， etc.
　　【Key words】construction grammar； ergative sentences； ergativity
　　1. Literature Review
　　Generally speaking， verbs are usually divided into transitive verbs， which take objects， and intransitive verbs， which don’t take. However， there are some verbs can be used as transitive verbs to focus on the persons who perform an action， and as intransitive verbs to focus on the thing affected by the action. Such verbs are divided into a new category-ergativity. And in recent years， ergativity as a special language form has been paid more and more attention by both western and Chinese linguists. For Chinese linguists， it is a comparatively new area to study. And this thesis adopts a new perspective to make contrasts between English and Chinese ergative sentences from Goldberg’s CG theory.
　　2. Studies on English ergative sentences and Chinese ergative sentences
　　2.1 English ergative sentences
　　（1） The snow melted.
　　This sentence indicates that the snow changed into liquid from solid state. Obviously， the cause didnot come from the snow （the patient）. It must be kind of external power. The sentence may be written like： the sun melted the snow.（Subject+V+Patient）.
　　（2） The window broke.
　　In transitive form， Tom broke the window is acceptable. The window broke. is an ergative pattern showing there is no internal cause of the effect 'broke'. The structure type is 'Patient+V'.
　　（3） The kettle boiled.
　　'Boil' can be either a transitive verb or an intransitive one， however， the kettle boiled. belongs to the ergative sentence. 'kettle' is lifeless， and this expression indicates there's external cause to the effect.
　　（4） The car can't move.
　　This sentence can be correspond with table 3.4-1， X move. It shows that the change of the state 'car → can't move' is caused not by car's motion， but by external power.
　　（5） The books are printing.
　　In fact， the normal sentence pattern may be 'The books are being printed. In this sentence， it is emphasized that action of 'printing' is happening right now.