"has sold very well"

[kwsue]

What is the grammar structure underlying the sentence: "This product has sold very well"?

Is this sentence written in the passive form, as a product cannot really "sell" itself? Or can "sold very well" be considered an adjective modifying "this product"?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[2006]

Welcome!

What is the grammar structure underlying the sentence: It is just as it appears to be.

"This product (subject) has sold (present perfect verb) very well (adverbs)"?

Is this sentence written in the passive form, no as a product cannot really "sell" itself?
But we do say things like 'This car is so good it sells itself.'

Or can "sold very well" be considered an adjective modifying "this product"? no

The answer is simply that we do speak of inanimate objects doing things.

That movie made me laugh so much.
The sun rises in the east.
The theory has stood up to scrutiny very well.
Thank you in advance for your help!

2006

[corum]

What is the grammar structure underlying the sentence: "This product has sold very well"?

Is this sentence written in the passive form, as a product cannot really "sell" itself? Or can "sold very well" be considered an adjective modifying "this product"?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Mediopassive voice is a passive voice in which the

* verb has stative meaning, and
* actor is not expressed.

[corum]

The woolens wash (well). -- washable; woolens do not perform the washing
The book reads well. -- readable (for the animate readers)
Books sell well. -- successful on the market; books do not sell anything

[TheParser]

What is the grammar structure underlying the sentence: "This product has sold very well"?

Is this sentence written in the passive form, as a product cannot really "sell" itself? Or can "sold very well" be considered an adjective modifying "this product"?

Thank you in advance for your help!

***** NOT A TEACHER / ONLY MY OPINION


Kwsue,

May I contribute something to this thread? I found it in

Professor George O. Curme's extremely scholarly A Grammar

of the English Language.

(1) It seems that your idea of the passive is right on.

(2) Professor Curme writes:

[P]assive force is often associated with intransitive

form.

(1) The professor gives this example:

Such houses sell easily.

He says that the sentence = Such houses can be sold easily.


Thank you

[2006]

***** NOT A TEACHER / ONLY MY OPINION


Kwsue,

May I contribute something to this thread? I found it in

Professor George O. Curme's extremely scholarly A Grammar

of the English Language.

(1) It seems that your idea of the passive is right on.

(2) Professor Curme writes:

[P]assive force is often associated with intransitive

form.

(1) The professor gives this example:

Such houses sell easily.

He says that the sentence = Such houses can be sold easily. This sentence is passive voice, but I'm not convinced that the one above it is. Rewording a sentence by using the passive tense doesn't mean the original sentence is passive tense.

Thank you

Further to the above, I'm not sure that what you say applies to the sentence in the OP and to my examples in my first post, especially the sentence "This car is so good (that) it sells itself.".