'die' is used as an adjective?

I have looked up with some dictionaries and couldn't find any says that 'die' is an adjective but I saw this sentence on CNN tv channel, that 'die' is used as an adjective : 'Parents to be die in a car accident' ?

Is that an idiom or simply a kind of speaking or informal English?
I think 'dead' should be used instead.

Thank you!

VipHaLong

It's a mistake- rolling news is produced at speed, so language errors get through. It's such a mess that it's hard to see what they wanted to say without the context of the article.

:up: And a verb can behave adjectivally; for example in ''kill order' or 'go command' or 'launch routine' the verb is used in each case to say what sort of order/command/routine it is. But it seems to me that 'die' is an unlikely candidate for this sort of treatment (except maybe in a war comic ;-))

b

Parents-to-be (Pregnant woman and partner) die (verb) ...

5jj said:

Parents-to-be (Pregnant woman and partner) die (verb) ...

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Wow, I think this is what they want to mean, but I'm sure that there are no dashes connecting 3 words "Parents to be" from that news report. Thank you, if so 'die' in this case is actually used as a verb.

That's what they meant, and 'die' is a verb. As Tdol said, rolling news is produced at speed. Some of the errors are laughable.

'Parents to be arrested'. Are some parents expected to be arrested, or have some prospective parents been arrested? Nobody knows.

5jj said:

Parents-to-be (Pregnant woman and partner) die (verb) ...

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What a difference a hyphen makes.

b

The hyphens make all the difference and dig out a meaning I hadn't seen. ;-)

I was chuffed to bits that I worked out the hyphens were missing in order to work out the meaning and then saw I'd been beaten to it. I need to be quicker off the mark.

emsr2d2 said:

I was chuffed to bits

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Another new one for me!

Barb_D said:

Another new one for me!

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Well chuffed!
Chuffed to bits.
Chuffed to pieces.
As chuffed as a chuffed thing in a chuffed competition.

Chuffed, so common in BrE, is never heard and probably would not be understood in North America.

Posh: Absolutely delighted/thrilled.
Normal: Happy. Chuffed.
Informal/Slang: 'S'all right. I'm made up, innit.

Can chavs be chuffed?

SoothingDave said:

Can chavs be chuffed?

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Possibly.

Yes, 'chuffed to bits' and 'dead chuffed' are both well established - and are informal rather than vulgar.

Sometimes - and probably unrelated to this use of 'chuffed' - 'chuffing' is used as a euphemism for a word that uses many of the same letters and sounds. ;-)

b

BobK said:

and are informal rather than vulgar.

b

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Even users of the RP, such as Her Majesty, are capable of being chuffed at least on rare occasions, one imagines, but they would be unlikely to speak the word. ;-)

probus said:

Chuffed, so common in BrE, is never heard and probably would not be understood in North America.

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It seems to me that we rarely or never hear from our Strine and Kiwi speaking colleagues on this sort of thing. I for one would be interested in hearing from them. I try to give the Canadian viewpoint when there is a distinct one.

emsr2d2 said:

I was chuffed to bits that I worked out the hyphens were missing in order to work out the meaning and then saw I'd been beaten to it. I need to be quicker off the mark.

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I was tickled to think that you were too slow this time.

5jj said:

I was tickled to think that you were too slow this time.

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By the looks of the avatar, Probus was tickled pink too! :lol: :lol:
Regards
R21