1

Consider (Source):

  1. A goldfinch flew across the field, struck the glass and was knocked inert.
  2. The large birds flew together and struck the glass; they were knocked into a stupor.

Question 1 : Would you tell me how the adjective can be used after verb in sentence #1? I am saying that since I never saw the verb knock being used as a linking verb.

Question 2: As far as I know, stupor is a state and knock someone into something means to make someone strike something. Has the verb knock used figuratively? I want to know more about it.

Cardinal
  • 6,025
  • 11
  • 52
  • 114
  • 1
    He was knocked out. He was knocked unconscious. The baseball player knocked the ball out of the park. They slapped him silly. – TimR Jun 25 '16 at 12:58
  • 1
    You have transitive knock being cast in the passive. The birds were knocked unconscious by the collision. – TimR Jun 25 '16 at 13:03
  • 1
    unconscious and out are complements of the verb indicating the resulting state of that which got knocked. – TimR Jun 25 '16 at 13:04
  • (+1) @TRomano So far, The only thing that came to my mind, in terms of multiple parts verbs, was phrasal verbs. That is great – Cardinal Jun 25 '16 at 13:11
  • The blade must be honed sharp. The wrinkles need to be ironed out. But the wrinkles don't need to be made unconscious. – TimR Jun 25 '16 at 13:14
  • 1
    1 See this question 2. 'knock' is not being used figuratively. You are can use 'knock into (a state)'–for example, knocked into a stupor; just like you can say 'knocked senseless' (see 1). – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 13:52
  • 1
    Similar patterns: The coffee was served hot. He was caught off guard. She left the room angry. – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 14:24
  • @DamkerngT. Why would someone say She left the room angry rather than She left the room angrily? – Cardinal Jun 25 '16 at 16:27
  • @Cardinal Because they didn't mean to talk about how she left the room, but rather what she was like when/after she left the room. (BTW, the first question of this question is pretty similar to this question: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/6275/is-it-possible-to-use-adjectives-as-adverbs.) – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:15
  • 2
    She left the room angry is ambiguous, as it could be the room that was left angry, as in 'the people who stayed in the room'. @DamkerngT. Also, angry could be used as a flat adverb here, and thus equivalent to angrily. So maybe Cardinal's comment asking about the two sentences is best covered as a new question and answer. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:18
  • @AlanCarmack That interpretation would be rather strange. It was like saying This is the car red we were talking about yesterday (instead of the red car). I'd say though reading that angry as a flat adverb may be possible, it's unlikely. This comment is just my opinion, anyway. – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:24
  • 1
    She left the room angry (with angry applying to room) is the same form as Her departure left the room speechless. @DamkerngT. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:29
  • @AlanCarmack and Cardinal, I'm a bit too tired to explain this myself. I'll let this grammar book explain this point instead: English Grammar: A Resource Book for Students by Roger Berry, page 169. – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:34
  • Cardinal, it is not mainly a matter of verbs (like in the case of which verbs takes to-infinitive and which takes -ing form or gerund and which can take both). It is a matter of sentence construction. See this comment and also google "predicative complements" or "predicate complements". Also, I hate to link the Is it possible to use adjectives as adverbs? for the third time in one comment trail, but there you go. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:48
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – WendiKidd Jun 26 '16 at 01:21

1 Answers1

1

Question 1 : Would you tell me how the adjective can be used after verb in sentence #1? I am saying that since I never saw the verb knock being used as a linking verb.

  • A goldfinch flew across the field, struck the glass and was knocked inert.
    • 'Knock' is used as a linking verb in the sense that two objects collided and therefore produced a result, this result being the "inert" state which the bird now finds himself. With a verb like this, you need the adjective to describe how he was knocked - was he knocked silly? Knocked unconscious? Knocked simply off-balance? The adjective describes which state the thing being knocked becomes as a result of the knocking.

Question 2: As far as I know, stupor is a state and knock someone into something means to make someone strike something. Has the verb knock used figuratively? I want to know more about it.

  • The large birds flew together and struck the glass; they were knocked into a stupor.
    • Again, this is the same thing as above, just a little different. Because they knocked the glass, they went into a stupor. The implied meaning here is the word 'upon,' in two cases. The new sentence might read like this: "The large birds flew together and struck upon the glass; upon doing so, they were knocked into a stupor."
      • It can be used figuratively. The example you linked to is very literal, and closest to the actual definition of the word 'knock.' It's a very active verb in the sense that there is only one thing that can happen when someone is knocked - they are knocked, literally. They fall over. They stumble, etc. But with idioms and phrases, this verb acts completely different. Some examples are: knock into shape, knock the habit, etc. Keep in mind though that there are multiple definitions of knock, such as which apply only to what you'd do to a door, for example. Some mean 'punch.' Some are lighter than that and only mean 'tapped,' or something similar. It's all about context, unfortunately.
user24986
  • 11
  • 1
  • Thank you for the answer. Just for curisity, are you native? I checked your profile, but it seems you did not edit your prifile. – Cardinal Aug 07 '16 at 19:30