walks the ramp

Status
Not open for further replies.

payal desai

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
1.That model walks on the ramp.
2.That model walks the ramp.

Why in the second sentence 'on' is not used?
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
In what context did you see these sentences?
 

mykwyner

Key Member
Joined
May 13, 2005
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
It is idiomatic. "Walking the ramp" means being a clothing model at a live show in the same way that "treading the boards" means acting on stage in a theater.
 

Coolfootluke

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I am not a teacher.

The first "walk" is intransitive, and the second is transitive. A models walks the catwalk, runway or ramp, she does not walk on it.
 

payal desai

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
It is idiomatic. "Walking the ramp" means being a clothing model at a live show in the same way that "treading the boards" means acting on stage in a theater.


If it is an idiom then why can't I find it any book of idioms like this can be found -'tread the boards'.
:cry:
 

payal desai

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
I am not a teacher.

The first "walk" is intransitive, and the second is transitive. A models walks the catwalk, runway or ramp, she does not walk on it.

k but even if the second one is transitive then how can anyone walk something like catwalk, runway or ramp.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
k but even if the second one is transitive then how can anyone walk something like catwalk, runway or ramp.
I don't think it is transitive, any more than 'run' in the slightly different 'run a mile'.

However, whether or not it is transitive, the idiomatic expression is used as mykwyner explained in post #3.
 

Coolfootluke

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
k but even if the second one is transitive then how can anyone walk something like catwalk, runway or ramp.
I am not a teacher.

Of course it is transitive. It has an object: ramp. You could look in a dictionary, too. It is not idiom, it is a straightforward definition of the word. "Tread the boards" is an expression meaning "act in a play", "to walk the floor" is to fret, but we can run a race, walk the streets, climb every mountain, ford every stream---there is nothing odd here.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Of course it is transitive. It has an object: ramp.
To a learner there is no question of 'of course' it is transitive. There is are qualitative differences between building a ramp, walking the dog and walking the ramp.
You could look in a dictionary, too.
My COD gives 8 intransitive uses of walk and one transitive, covering: - cause to walk with one, accompany in walking, ride or lead an animal, take charge of a puppy at walk. So, no help in the dictionary there.
It is not idiom, it is a straightforward definition of the word.
Well it's not definition, and it is not particularly straightforward to a learner meeting it for the first time.
"Tread the boards" is an expression meaning "act in a play", "to walk the floor" is to fret,That is a new one on me. but we can run a race, walk the streets, climb every mountain, ford every stream---there is nothing odd here.
There's nothing odd to you, but many people reading this are learners. When they have probably learnt that 'run' and 'walk' are intransitive then they may well wonder if some words are ellipted in 'run a race' (in), run a mile (for), walk the boards (on).

If we claim that 'of course' certain things are true, or that things that appear strange to them are not at all odd, then we are not helping build their confidence.
 

Coolfootluke

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I am not a teacher.

I apologize to payal desai if I seemed harsh. As penance, I will try to explain more fully.

There are two kinds of verb: transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb takes an object. In "the dog ate the bone", "bone" is the object of the verb "ate". An intransitive verb has no object. In "the dog ate", "ate" has no object. Not only do we not know what the dog ate, we do not care. All we want to say is that the dog consumed food.

The same verb can be either transitive and intransitive, depending on what you mean, like "to eat" above, but many verbs are always either one or the other. "To die" is intransitive (you cannot die anything). "To recognize" is transitive (you cannot simply recognize, you have to recognize something).

"Walk" is normally intransitive. We can walk "around" (adverb). We can walk "to the corner" (adverbial phrase). We can simply walk (or not, if we have broken our leg).

The "walk" you see in "walk the ramp" is transitive. There are many definitions of "walk" under the transitive rubric. We can walk the dog. We can walk a friend home. We can walk a batter in baseball. These are active---we make the object walk. But we can also walk the streets. This is somewhat different. It is we who are doing the walking.

You can think of it like there is a word missing: walk [upon] the ramp, walk [upon] the battlements. But there is no word missing, you just have to adjust your idea of the verb "to walk" to include this definition, which is plain English. It is no more strange than "run the mile" or "swim the Channel" or "go the distance" or "jump the fence".
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 5jj

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
I apologize to payal desai if I seemed harsh. As penance, I will try to explain more fully.
And I apologise to you for the aggressive tone of my post. I must learn to count to ten before posting.

I don't completely accept your views on transitive verbs, but that is irrelevant to this post, so I shall say no more.

payal desai, as far as your original question is concerned, Coolfootluke's words are helpful:

'You can think of it like there is a word missing: walk [upon] the ramp, walk [upon] the battlements. But there is no word missing, you just have to adjust your idea of the verb "to walk" to include this definition, which is plain English. It is no more strange than "run the mile" or "swim the Channel" or "go the distance" or "jump the fence".
 

payal desai

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
I am not a teacher.

I apologize to payal desai if I seemed harsh. As penance, I will try to explain more fully.

There are two kinds of verb: transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb takes an object. In "the dog ate the bone", "bone" is the object of the verb "ate". An intransitive verb has no object. In "the dog ate", "ate" has no object. Not only do we not know what the dog ate, we do not care. All we want to say is that the dog consumed food.

The same verb can be either transitive and intransitive, depending on what you mean, like "to eat" above, but many verbs are always either one or the other. "To die" is intransitive (you cannot die anything). "To recognize" is intransitive (you cannot simply recognize, you have to recognize something).

"Walk" is normally intransitive. We can walk "around" (adverb). We can walk "to the corner" (adverbial phrase). We can simply walk (or not, if we have broken our leg).

The "walk" you see in "walk the ramp" is transitive. There are many definitions of "walk" under the transitive rubric. We can walk the dog. We can walk a friend home. We can walk a batter in baseball. These are active---we make the object walk. But we can also walk the streets. This is somewhat different. It is we who are doing the walking.

You can think of it like there is a word missing: walk [upon] the ramp, walk [upon] the battlements. But there is no word missing, you just have to adjust your idea of the verb "to walk" to include this definition, which is plain English. It is no more strange than "run the mile" or "swim the Channel" or "go the distance" or "jump the fence".




It didn't seem harsh to me and your views now helped me clearly understand the concept.
Lots of thanks to you and fivejedjon.
 

payal desai

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
And I apologise to you for the aggressive tone of my post. I must learn to count to ten before posting.

I don't completely accept your views on transitive verbs, but that is irrelevant to this post, so I shall say no more.

payal desai, as far as your original question is concerned, Coolfootluke's words are helpful:

'You can think of it like there is a word missing: walk [upon] the ramp, walk [upon] the battlements. But there is no word missing, you just have to adjust your idea of the verb "to walk" to include this definition, which is plain English. It is no more strange than "run the mile" or "swim the Channel" or "go the distance" or "jump the fence".



Yes coolfootluke's words are helpful to me and I got the concept now.

Thanks a lot.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top