disappointed / disappointedly

[Mc_fong]

Hi,
I found in an article: " The concert was cancelled due to heavy rain. About 300 pp who were waiting at the BA Grand Hall returned home disappointed "
I think this would be" returned home disappointedly " ( verb + adv), right?
Thank you!

 

[Tdol]

Disappointed works for me. It could be a resultative adjective here as it doesn't necessarily describe the way they returned, but the end result- what they were like when they got back. The adverb would also work for for me, but would describe their journey rather than the state they were in when they got back.

 

[GoesStation]

I would not use the adverb.

The concert-goers returned home, disappointed. (The comma is optional; I added it for emphasis.) They were disappointed when they got back home.

 

[emsr2d2]

They didn't wait until they got home to be disappointed. They were disappointed as soon as it was announced that the concert had been cancelled and they remained disappointed throughout their journey home.

 

[GoesStation]

I should have written "They were in a disappointed state as they returned home."

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Mc_fong:

This kind of sentence used to confuse me, too, until I found an explanation from a great scholar. I have accepted his explanation. I shall share it with you, and then you can decide for yourself whether you want to "buy" it.

"They returned home. They were disappointed."

"They returned home disappointed."

Which example do you think is more natural and smoother? I think that you have chosen the second.

IF (if!) I understand him correctly, the great scholar would explain your sentence this way:

a. Yes, "disappointed" is an adjective that refers to the subject "they."

b. But the adjective "disappointed" modifies the verb "returned."

c. He quickly agrees that an adjective does not usually modify a verb, but it does in this kind of sentence.

d. Therefore, the adjective has the force of an adverbial element.

*****

Here is a sentence from the scholar's book: "He was drowned bathing in the river." ("Bathing" is an adjective in that sentence, he says. It describes the subject and modifies the verb. In other words, it is a shorter way to say "He was drowned while he was bathing in the river." "While he was bathing in the river" is an adverbial clause that modifies the verb, isn't it?)


Credit goes to George Oliver Curme, A Grammar of the English Language (1931), Vol. I, pp. 42 - 43; Vol. II, p. 30.

P.S. Thanks to Professor Curme, I was able to parse this sentence recently: "He mounted the scaffold steps unaided." (Gavin Mortimer, Double Death)