Adjective or past participle

[ian2]

In a fashionably dressed young person", is the word "dressed" an adjective or a past participle? Thanks.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Ian,

I would take it as a past participle used adjectivally. It is slightly defective, though, as it requires a qualifying adverb, e.g.

1. A well dressed man
2. He was badly dressed

So you might take the whole phrase (adverb + dressed) as the true unit.

It differs from another sense of "dressed":

3. Are you dressed?

"Dressed" in #3 refers to the state of wearing clothes; whereas "dressed" in #1 and #2 refers to the style in which those clothes are worn.

All the best,

MrP

[ian2]

Hello Ian,

I would take it as a past participle used adjectivally. It is slightly defective, though, as it requires a qualifying adverb, e.g.

1. A well dressed man
2. He was badly dressed

So you might take the whole phrase (adverb + dressed) as the true unit.

It differs from another sense of "dressed":

3. Are you dressed?

"Dressed" in #3 refers to the state of wearing clothes; whereas "dressed" in #1 and #2 refers to the style in which those clothes are worn.

All the best,

MrP

Thanks a lot. Will talk to you soon.

[stuartnz]

Hello Ian,

I would take it as a past participle used adjectivally. It is slightly defective, though, as it requires a qualifying adverb, e.g.

MrP

(not a teacher) Isn't "fashionably" serving as the qualifying adverb in the quoted phrase "a fashionably dressed young man"?

[MrPedantic]

Hello Stuart,

Yes, I would agree with you:

1. A well dressed man
2. A fashionably dressed man
3. A fashionably well dressed man

etc.

All the best,

MrP

[stuartnz]

Hello Stuart,

Yes, I would agree with you:

1. A well dressed man
2. A fashionably dressed man
3. A fashionably well dressed man

etc.

All the best,

MrP

I thought so, that's why I wondered why you said there was something missing when it was right there.

[MrPedantic]

Sorry, now I see what you mean. "Defective" related to "dressed", not Ian's particular example. (The intended but probably obscure parallel was with "defective verbs", which are incomplete in conjugation.)

MrP