toloue_man
Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Persian
- Home Country
- Iran
- Current Location
- Iran
Hi!
I have rather a strange question to ask. I have been thinking about it, then I decided to post it here.
Let's start off with this description: There are a lot of adjectives in English, most of them, not all of them, do not have a specific entry in the dictionary.
When you look up an adjective in a dictionary, mostly the related entry shows up with the corresponding noun form. Seemingly, an example clarifies the point. Take a look at the following picture. As you can see in the picture, there is one entry and the adjective form which is highlighted in yellow is presented with the corresponding noun form. As you can see the noun form has four senses, but the adjective has not any senses. I want to know that how can one determine the meaning of the adjective form? Is the adjective meaning the same as sense 1 which is the first sense? Or it is the same as 2? Or maybe the same as third sense or probably fourth one? What determines the meaning of this kind of adjectives? Does it depend on the context?
But as far as the other side of the coin is concerned, there are adjectives that have an entry in a dictionary such as "conversational" although it has a noun form such as the above-mentioned.
And also, I have the same issue about present and past participle adjectives. Consider this example: Imagine that there is a verb that has five senses. Now, imagine further that someone uses the present/past participle of the verb+ a noun. How can we determine that to which sense that present/past participle refers to? Does it depend on the context again?
To put my two questions in a nutshell:
1) How can one determine the meaning of an adjective that has not an entry in the dictionary and the corresponding noun has more than one sense?
2) How can one determine the meaning of a past/present participle that has not an entry in the dictionary and the corresponding verb has more than one sense?
And to put the tentative answer(s) in a nutshell:
It depends on the context or other criteria should be taken into account?
I have rather a strange question to ask. I have been thinking about it, then I decided to post it here.
Let's start off with this description: There are a lot of adjectives in English, most of them, not all of them, do not have a specific entry in the dictionary.
When you look up an adjective in a dictionary, mostly the related entry shows up with the corresponding noun form. Seemingly, an example clarifies the point. Take a look at the following picture. As you can see in the picture, there is one entry and the adjective form which is highlighted in yellow is presented with the corresponding noun form. As you can see the noun form has four senses, but the adjective has not any senses. I want to know that how can one determine the meaning of the adjective form? Is the adjective meaning the same as sense 1 which is the first sense? Or it is the same as 2? Or maybe the same as third sense or probably fourth one? What determines the meaning of this kind of adjectives? Does it depend on the context?
But as far as the other side of the coin is concerned, there are adjectives that have an entry in a dictionary such as "conversational" although it has a noun form such as the above-mentioned.
And also, I have the same issue about present and past participle adjectives. Consider this example: Imagine that there is a verb that has five senses. Now, imagine further that someone uses the present/past participle of the verb+ a noun. How can we determine that to which sense that present/past participle refers to? Does it depend on the context again?
To put my two questions in a nutshell:
1) How can one determine the meaning of an adjective that has not an entry in the dictionary and the corresponding noun has more than one sense?
2) How can one determine the meaning of a past/present participle that has not an entry in the dictionary and the corresponding verb has more than one sense?
And to put the tentative answer(s) in a nutshell:
It depends on the context or other criteria should be taken into account?
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