He died young.

[Rollercoaster1]

He died young.

Isn't 'young' an adjective? I learned 'Adverbs describe or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs'.

Here above 'young' is modifying 'died'.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

No. It's modifying 'he'. He was young when he died. He did not die youthfully.

Omission of words really causes a fuss sometimes.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

No. It's modifying 'he'. He was young when he died. He did not die youthfully.

And you would call it 'He died happy' incorrect. We could also assume 'He was happy when he died'.

 

[Tdol]

He died slowly works.

 

[TheParser]

Here above 'young' is modifying 'died'.

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Rollercoaster:

I believe that my favorite grammarian agrees with you.

*****

"I came home tired."

1. Professor George Oliver Curme agrees that an "adjective does not usually modify a verb," but it does in this kind of sentence.

2. He feels that "tired" adds "a remark about the subject but also has the force of an adverbial clause (my emphasis), thus sustaining relations to both the subject and the principal verb."

a. He believes that "Tired and hungry​, we went home" = "As we were tired and hungry (my emphasis), we went home."



From his A Grammar of the English Language (1931), Vol. I (pages 43 and 77); Vol. II (page 30).

 

[jutfrank]

"I came home tired."

Professor George Oliver Curme ... feels that "tired" adds "a remark about the subject but also has the force of an adverbial clause (my emphasis), thus sustaining relations to both the subject and the principal verb."

I can't follow this at all. The tired does not really relate to the verb at all, but only to the subject. It's not that the coming home was done in a tired way.

The Parser—does Curme go into the precise nature of this relation between the adjective and the principal verb? I'd really like to know what he thinks it might be.

 

[TheParser]

The Parser—does Curme go into the precise nature of this relation between the adjective and the principal verb? I'd really like to know what he thinks it might be.

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Jutfrank:

Thank you for your comments.

1. If you are able to read the pages that I cited, I am confident that Professor Curme will convince you.

2. As for me, I assume that "He died young" is simply a shorter way to say something like "He died while he was young."

a. If you agree that "die" cannot be a linking verb, then "young" cannot be a subjective complement, can it?

3. The professor reminds us that this kind of sentence is most frequent with participles being used as adjectives.

a. He feels that "He was drowned bathing in the river" is short for "He was drowned while he was bathing in the river."

4. I will end with his explanation on page 77 of Volume I: "An adjective, adjective participle, or a noun is placed near the verb, before or after it, to modify it as to some relation of time, manner, attendant circumstance, cause, condition, concession, etc."



Have a nice day!

 

[Rollercoaster1]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Jutfrank:

Thank you for your comments.

1. If you are able to read the pages that I cited, I am confident that Professor Curme will convince you.

2. As for me, I assume that "He died young" is simply a shorter way to say something like "He died while he was young."

a. If you agree that "die" cannot be a linking verb, then "young" cannot be a subjective complement, can it?

3. The professor reminds us that this kind of sentence is most frequent with participles being used as adjectives.

a. He feels that "He was drowned bathing in the river" is short for "He was drowned while he was bathing in the river."

4. I will end with his explanation on page 77 of Volume I: "An adjective, adjective participle, or a noun is placed near the verb, before or after it, to modify it as to some relation of time, manner, attendant circumstance, cause, condition, concession, etc."



Have a nice day!

Is the phrase 'bathing in the river' adverbial? I guess it's modifying the participle telling 'how/when he drowned'. Am I right?

 

[jutfrank]

If you are able to read the pages that I cited, I am confident that Professor Curme will convince you.

Thank you very much. Unfortunately, I'm unable to find an online version of the book.



(Piscean—you don't happen to have a copy by any chance, do you?)

 

[TheParser]

Is the phrase 'bathing in the river' adverbial? I guess it's modifying the participle telling 'how/when he drowned'. Am I right?

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Rollercoaster:


To simplify things, let's look at "He was drowned bathing."

If you accept the professor's analysis, then "bathing" is an adjective participle that modifies the verb "was drowned."

The professor says that, yes, "bathing" refers to "He," but it also tells you something about how he drowned. The professor feels that it is, therefore, appropriate to say that the adjective participle modifies the verb (as you said in your OP).

I am assuming (correctly, I hope) that "in the river" is a prepositional phrase that modifies the participle "bathing." And "bathing in the river" is by definition adverbial, for the professor tells us that it modifies the verb.

Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[TheParser]

Unfortunately, I'm unable to find an online version of the book.

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Jutfrank:

I assume (perhaps wrongly) that a good library might have a copy of his two-volume masterpiece.

If you do get a copy, you will treasure it. It is absolutely priceless.

 

[Phaedrus]

Thank you very much. Unfortunately, I'm unable to find an online version of the book.



(Piscean—you don't happen to have a copy by any chance, do you?)

I have a copy of it at home, Jutfrank, and shall make a point of checking those pages this evening. (I enjoy using "shall" here, by the way. As a speaker of American English, I have precious few opportunities to use "shall" like that.) I believe that I had a very interesting online discussion a long time ago with TheParser about this very type of construction. It wasn't at this forum, and we both had different display names. I've called these types of constructions "quasi-copulative constructions" ever since.

As far as I know, the term "quasi-copula" (in other words, a "quasi linking verb") comes from an article called "What are copula verbs?," by Bruce Horton (1996), which I was informed of in the above-mentioned online discussion and which I purchased a couple of years later. If it is possible to add attachments to threads here, I'll consider adding it as an attachment. However, I hesitate to do so, since it doesn't seem to be freely available online. That ups the risk of a copyright violation in my mind.

In addition to pointing me to the Bruce Horton article, the person with whom I had that discussion also referred me to George Curme's grammar for an alternate analysis. The key term from Curme's analysis which has stayed with me ever since is "predicate appositive." Thus, sentences like "Jesse died poor," "Kim married young," etc., have been analyzed both as quasi-copulative constructions (Bruce Horton) and as predicate appositive constructions (Curme).

In Horton's article, a sort of gradation or continuum is given, reminiscent of Quirk et al.'s spectrum of -ing constructions. Constructions which are at least closely related to the quasi-copulative or predicate appositive constructions include change-of-state resultatives like "The lake froze solid" and sentences like "She blushed crimson." I think it might be worth reminding ourselves that "go" works as a sort of linking verb in sentences like "He went insane," "The milk has gone sour," etc.

 

[jutfrank]

Hello, Jutfrank:

I assume (perhaps wrongly) that a good library might have a copy of his two-volume masterpiece.

If you do get a copy, you will treasure it. It is absolutely priceless.

Thanks a lot, James. I'm sure none of my local libraries are holding a copy, though. It's 87 years old!

 

[jutfrank]

I've called these types of constructions "quasi-copulative constructions" ever since.

Nice. As such is how I shall refer to them henceforth. :up:

I guess what I'm missing is how they could be described only as 'quasi-copulas'. What are the criteria of 'full-copulas' that are not satisfied?

(You don't have to answer if you don't want to—I'll try and find a copy of the Horton article some time.)

 

[Tdol]

I'm sure none of my local libraries are holding a copy, though.

You still have local libraries?

 

[jutfrank]

You still have local libraries?

We do, yes.

 

[Phaedrus]

I guess what I'm missing is how they could be described only as 'quasi-copulas'. What are the criteria of 'full-copulas' that are not satisfied?

Great question, jutfrank. I just tried to upload the article so that we could all look at it together. It's been several years since I last read it.

Unfortunately, the article exceeds the kilobyte limit for file attachments here. The copyright gods must be looking out for me.

The good news is that the Google Book preview (HERE) for the book the article is from does contain a good many pages of the article.

The full article is available from DeGruyter for forty-two dollars (U.S.). But I'll be happy to summarize what is missing in the preview.

Many august grammarians are cited in the article, including Professor Curme, Professor Jespersen, Professor Poutsma, Professor Kruisinga, etc.