tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 01 10:55:37 1994
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Adjectival verbs
- From: [email protected] (Bill Willmerdinger)
- Subject: Adjectival verbs
- Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 19:44:12 -0500
I would sooner die in battle than face uucp & Bill Willmerdinger over
"Adjectival verbs"!
uu> From: "William H. Martin" <ur-valhalla!jm.acs.virginia.edu!whm2m>
uu> According to Bill Willmerdinger:
> I've been assuming that adjectival verbs, like "tuj" be hot or "boch" be
> shiny, could not be used as the main verb in a sentence, but only as
> modifiers on a noun. Looking at the examples in my TKD, however, I see
uu> I had a different problem with these verbs early on, but I can
uu> still empathize with your confusion. Basically, if these verbs
uu> are not really "adjectival verbs". They are verbs that CAN be
uu> used adjectivally. This means that they can either be used as
uu> intransitive verbs or they can be used adjectivally. The
uu> difference has to do with word order.
jIyaj.
uu> {Doq taj} is a complete sentence. "The dagger is red." {taj
uu> Doq} is not a sentence at all. It means, "red daggar". See the
uu> difference? Since it is an intransitive verb (you don't "red"
uu> something), then, as a verb, you can't justify having it FOLLOW
uu> a noun, since that makes the noun the OBJECT of the verb, and
uu> intransitive verbs don't take objects. Meanwhile, the
uu> adjectival use of a verb is a different grammatical
uu> construction altogether.
So, {Doq taj} is a complete sentence: "The dagger is red." {taj Doq} is, by
itself, not a complete sentence, but {taj Doq vIghaj} *is*.
Got it.
Qob
... A Klingon's mother wears combat boots.