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a. My bike is lost.

b. My bike is stolen.

Both lost and stolen are adjectives here.

I think the usual meaning of (a) is "I have lost my bike, so I don't have it"

But I think the usual meaning of (b) is not "Someone has stolen my bike, so I don't have it" but "My bike is stolen property."

What's stopping (b) from meaning "Someone has stolen my bike, so I don't have it"?

listeneva
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    'My bike is stolen' sounds unnatural no matter what the speaker is trying to communicate. Most Google hits for the string in a are false positives like 'What shall I do if my bike is stolen?' 'My bike has been stolen' is idiomatic for sense b1, and 'My bike is stolen property' or perhaps 'I admit that I stole the bike I have' for sense b2 (your ordering). When deciding on default interpretations and possible ambiguities to avoid, one has to start with an idiomatic sentence. – Edwin Ashworth May 05 '22 at 10:47
  • @EdwinAshworth I agree with all of what you said. And the question is based on the observation that sentence (b) is unidiomatic. – listeneva May 06 '22 at 02:37

2 Answers2

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I lost my bike implies that I no longer have it. I stole my bike means that I acquired it by stealing it, so it is not really "mine". The adjectives follow the same pattern: a lost bike is a bike that somebody has lost, while a stolen bike is one that somebody has stolen. The most obvious meanings for My bike is lost and My bike is stolen would be that I lost my bike and I stole my bike. However if I heard it from somebody who was looking at an empty bike stand with a security chain lying in pieces on the ground, context would suggest that My bike is stolen means that somebody else has stolen it and they no longer have it. It might also suggest that they are not a native speaker of English, as in my experience most native speakers would say My bike has been stolen.

Peter
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There is a lot going on here with context (or lack thereof) and intended meanings.

Also, try different version of this sentence like "This bike is stolen"

Is the bike in front of you? Do you or who you are talking to know where the bike is?

If the bike is right there in front of both of you, then "My bike is lost" or "This bike is lost" make no sense at all. And "My bike is stolen" means something like "I stole this bike".

If the bike is not in front of the two of you, then "My bike is lost" and "My bike is stolen" are explanations of what it is not there. Both sentences are legitimate but would be more naturally said as

I lost my bike.

and

Someone stole my bike.

Trying to extract a consistent meaning from a single sentence is not always easy - real world context should disambiguate.

Mitch
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