[Grammar] I was extremely mortified

[hhtt21]

"I was absolutely mortified about making the mistake."

I would like to ask you that if mortified used above is an adjectives taking suffix -ed, or it is a verb used in a passive voice?

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/mortified

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would like to ask you [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] if mortified, used above, is an [STRIKE]adjectives[/STRIKE] adjective taking the suffix -ed, or [STRIKE]it is[/STRIKE] a verb used in [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the passive voice?

Note my corrections above.

 

[hhtt21]

Does it matter?

There is an undetermined situation here. So, I think, it is important.

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

What do you think the answer to your question is?

 

[GoesStation]

Note my corrections above.

I'd add one more: the quoted statement should not end with a question mark.

 

[hhtt21]

What do you think the answer to your question is?

I think the answer to my question is that because mortify is a verb, so it is passive.

But you are the teachers.

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

It doesn't have to be a choice. Adjective or past participle? These are different levels of description, or two ways of looking at it. It is both.

 

[PaulMatthews]

"I was absolutely mortified about making the mistake."

I would like to ask you that if mortified used above is an adjectives taking suffix -ed, or it is a verb used in a passive voice?

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/mortified

Thank you.

I was absolutely mortified about making the mistake.


"Mortified" can only be an adjective since it is being modified by the adverb "extremely", which does not modify verbs.

 

[hhtt21]

It doesn't have to be a choice. Adjective or past participle? These are different levels of description, or two ways of looking at it. It is both.

Can we say that all past participles are also adjectives and vice versa?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

Can we say that all past participles are also adjectives and vice versa?

I'm not a grammarian but I'm pretty confident the answer is "no".

 

[jutfrank]

Can we say that all past participles are also adjectives...?

No, by no means all, but commonly, where they appear after the verb be, as in passive constructions

I was shocked.
I was shocked by what I saw.

(How would you analyse the word shocked in the above examples? Adjective or verb?)

and after other copula verbs:

I don't feel loved.
It smells burnt.


Also commonly, when they are attributive, appearing before nouns, such as

the updated version
a broken man
altered states

Adjectives also very often take the present participle (-ing) form, too.

an interesting article
a tiring day
an exciting thought

My view is that although these adjectives take a participle form, which is technically a verb form, you should not try to understand them as verbs because they are not in fact verbs. They just look like verbs.

...and vice versa?

And definitely not vice versa!

 

[jutfrank]

I can see no way in which the third form (past participle) of the verb in perfect-aspect forms (active voice) can be considered an adjective.

I generally agree and I don't want to complicate the matter unnecessarily, but I think that there are some cases where the line between adjective and verb is blurry concerning past participles being used in the present perfect.

On hearing someone who has just completed a task announce "Finished!", in which of the following ways will we interpret this?

[I've] finished!
[I'm] finished!

Similarly, "He's gone!"

He [ha]s gone!
He s gone!

In both cases, the first of each pair feels like a verb, and the second an adjective. And if we take both to be valid, natural expressions, then what is the difference (if there is one) between them?