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Old 25-Jul-2005, 09:33
Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim is offline
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Default Re: Grammatical Metaphor

Hi Tdol
The idea of, as for example, "broken leg" can be expressed as follows:

I have broken my leg. (who's the agent)
My leg has been broken. (who's the agent)
I broke my leg. (who's the agent)

These sentences are fuzzy (I am not refering to past simple and present perfect differences) as in the case with metaphorical meaning. If I say I have broken my leg.
Can the meaning be I took a sledgehammer and hit my leg. In addition, to the likely meaning that the agent isn't "me" but sth else. Is the agent inanimate because it might carry the idea of "unitentional". This is definitely not mathematical language.
Regards
Jamshid

Last edited by Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim; 25-Jul-2005 at 09:37.
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