tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 27 19:30:57 2009

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Re: Similies - <sentence expressing quality>; <noun phrase> rur

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

Terrence Donnelly wrote:
> --- On Mon, 7/27/09, qe'San (Jon Brown) <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> So I could say - [pe'moH; nItlhDu' rur] for "cut; like fingers" as
>> it's just a verb in the quality position but the moment I add a
>> noun depending on it's position I either create a sentence or make
>> the verb act adjectively on the noun. Both being incorrect useage??
> 
> Not exactly. The problem with your original phrase was that {-bogh}
> verbs can't be the main verb in a sentence. {'oQqar pe'lu'bogh} lacks
> a main verb, so it is not a sentence, only a noun phrase, noun +
> relative verb.
> 
> But although {pe'moH} is a main verb, it is not the one you want.
> {pe'} means "to cut something", and {pe'moH} is the causative form of
> that: someone causes someone to cut something. What you want is
> {pe'lu'}. Omitting the {-bogh} makes it a main verb: {'oQqar pe'lu';
> nItlhDu' rur}.

That's not right either. If we're to stick strictly to the form Okrand 
uses for similes, it's

	<sentence with verb of quality>; <noun phrase> rur

not

	<any sentence>; <noun phrase> rur

In other words, the purpose of the simile is to compare the *quality* of 
something with a noun phrase that inherently has that quality.

    The first [sentence] attributes a quality to someone or something;
    the second makes use of the verb {rur} ("resemble") to link the
    quality to something that presumably epitomizes the quality.
    (KGT, p. 27)

{pe'} is not a verb that expresses a quality; it expresses an action. So 
unless you want to describe the *quality* of the tubers, a simile is not 
the right tool.

-- 
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush

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