drive "slow" or drive "slowly": the diff

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by tdol

I like eating raw horse meat????

Yuk!

:wink:

Originally Posted by RonBee

(I have never heard the expression play safe.)

:)

Actually, I did a search in Google and it came up 59,000 results of "play safe". Some of them were extracted from news reports. It seems to me as very common usage. Might it be a shorthand for "play it safe"?

Upon consulting a dictionary, I found:

17: behave in a certain way; "play safe," "play it safe";

WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

My original question is raised again.

[RonBee]

Play it safe

From a Google search:

• "play it safe" = 66,000
  "play safe" = 25,000
  "play safe"+UK = 5,910
  "play it safe"+UK = 6,420
  "play safe"+USA = 2,650
  "play it safe"+USA = 6,750
  "Let's play safe" = 28
  "Let's play it safe" = 51

The phrase play safe does seem to be an alternative to play it safe. That seems to be especially true in the UK.

Miscellaneous returns for play safe:

• Fun Play, Safe Play
  Play Safe Thong
  play safe be safe!
  PLAY SAFE, PLAY FAIR
  Play Safe Surfacing, Inc.
  Fun Play, Safe Play
  "England plan to play safe" (headline)
  Play Safe in Maryland State Parks
  Sponsor a play safe! be safe! Workshop.
  Play safe (Australia)
  Health Food producers play safe with nuts (UK)
  300 Play Safe Stay Safe Temporary Tattoos

It does seem likely that a newspaper story with play safe in it is more likely to be in a UK newspaper than it would be in a US newspaper. Perhaps a poll is in order?

:)

Originally Posted by infinikyte

Actually, I did a search in Google and it came up 59,000 results of "play safe". Some of them were extracted from news reports. It seems to me as very common usage. Might it be a shorthand for "play it safe"?
Upon consulting a dictionary, I found:

My original question is raised again.

play safe = act with a (safe) approach = prep + (adj) + noun
play safe = act with (no) risk = prep + (adj) + noun
play dumb = act like a (dumb) fellow = prep + (adj) + noun
play stupid
play innocent
all are adjectives.
english is funny and likes to break the rules. :wink:

alternatively, one can view it as an adjective born of a noun (since nouns can act as adjectives), because play is both transitive and intransitive, as in: play the fool. :wink:

Thanks Chang.

Originally Posted by jwschang

alternatively, one can view it as an adjective born of a noun (since nouns can act as adjectives), because play is both transitive and intransitive, as in: play the fool. :wink:

This makes me think of another issue: when a noun's acting as an adjective, is it true that it could be used only in the attributive position?

e.g. I'm an office lady. ("office" as adj. before noun "lady")

On the other hand, if someone plays basketball as well as Michael Jordan does, does it sound right to say "He's so Michael Jordan."??

Originally Posted by infinikyte

Thanks Chang.

This makes me think of another issue: when a noun's acting as an adjective, is it true that it could be used only in the attributive position?

e.g. I'm an office lady. ("office" as adj. before noun "lady")

On the other hand, if someone plays basketball as well as Michael Jordan does, does it sound right to say "He's so Michael Jordan."??

You're welcome to the bit I know! :wink:
Adjectives (not just nouns acting as adjectives) can be used predicatively by placing it directly after linking verbs like Be, Became, etc.

He is young.
He is English.
He looks tired.
He's so Michael Jordan.
He's fun.
Other than linking verbs:
He turned green (with envy).
That's what I can think of.

[RonBee]

Nouns used in apposition can be said to be acting as adjectives. Example:

• Mrs. Green, the principal's wife, teaches third grade.

:)