Robert and all,
The whole idea of "different" in "think different" being a noun is very hard to swallow. I keep thinking of the fact that many phrases can be understood better if we try to fill in suppositions that are left out. In this case we might say, "Something may be different from something else; you may think of this thing; you must think in this way." If this analysis is correct, then "you must think in this way." suggests that the complement to the "think" that is closest to the surface is a manner adverb (without an "-ly."). The proposition "you may think of this thing," where "something different" is presupposed, is in some sense below the surface. The first proposition has "different" as a predicate adjective with its understood subject and complement supplied. I am wondering if it is the absense of the "-ly" that is what emphasizes the second supposition "you may think of this thing."
For me the phrase "act professional and speak professional" is a little awkward. I think it is because the first phrase fits this pattern better. "You may be a professional; you must act in this way." Here the underlying descriptive phrase is a noun of occupation and we may get a full manner phrase: "act as a professional." "Speak as a professional" seems semantically to be included in the other phrase. Speaking is a part of acting. It is possible that this is a cause of my dis-ease. It's like saying "walk carefully and step carefully." Maybe this interpretation could be avoided with "if you act professional you will speak professional."
Bruce D. Despain
[P.S. I am in the process of writing an English Grammar that describes clausal structure by using paraphrase and I hope someday to find principles that will allow phrases to be analyzed in a similar fashion. If any of you are interested you may find several dozen chapters on my web site at www.burgoyne.com/pages/bdespain. ]
>>> [log in to unmask] 02/06/01 06:55PM >>>
Date sent: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 18:43:07 -0800
Send reply to: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>
From: "Paul E. Doniger" <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: The Total Tutor
Subject: Re: Query about "act professional and speak professional"
To: [log in to unmask]
>couldn't we look at the word, 'different' as a quotation,
> which would make it a 'thing' and therefore a kind of noun? Not that the
> word itself is a noun, but a response or a thought is a noun.
I agree with the general line of reasoning here, since word usage is
very flexible in terms of the part of speech function. Most words
can function as several different parts of speech simply by using
them that way in a sentence. For example, I didn't like the tone of
the phrase "linguistic rhythm" (a little too clinical for my purposes),
and I was racking my brain for an adjective corresponding to
"language" instead of "linguistics," and finally I came up with ...
"language," a noun that I simply used as an adjective: "language
rhythm." Seems to work!
However, there does seem to be a limit to this flexibility. "different"
could be used as a noun but it seems to be stretching it (to me
anyway). Can you have a "different," can you see the "different"
walking down the street? Just barely. And then it doesn't seem to
mean "different" any more.
But to Paul Donninger, I just want to say "keep on thinking big!"
-----------------------------------------------------
Sincerely, Robert Einarsson
please visit me at
www.artsci.gmcc.ab.ca/people/einarssonb
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