Bruce, 

That usage certainly does involve an adjectival participle! I had started scanning for "constitute as" sequences, saw they used to be a bit more common, started looking at fun examples, and association-chained myself right into a corner. I can read it as verbal, but only by ignoring the 'so' that is so very obstinately there.

--- Bill Spruiell



Sent from a mobile device

On Oct 10, 2012, at 11:59 PM, "Bruce Despain" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I hope you meant that the 1830 quote was not an example of a prepositional verb.  I interpret that use of "constituted" as an adjective and the "so ___ as" (+ comparative clause or infinitive phrase) occurs regularly as an adverbial modifier to many an adjective.  You are right that it does not paraphrase to "to such an extent that" but here instead to "in such a way that."
> Bruce
> 
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
> 
> From: "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: constitutes as or constitutes
> Date:         Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:00:26 +0000
> 
> An additional possibility is that the writer has seen 'constitute' in sentences in which it is followed by an 'as' for additional reasons, and then came to the conclusion that the verb "wants" that particular preposition. From a students' perspective, it's very easy to believe that highly formal verbs demand particular prepositions — after all, a lot of them do. There are a few uses of that verb that do get a following "as":
> 
> The committee was constituted as a means to provide input to the process.
> The committee constitutes as great an impediment to getting work done as a middling case of the flu would.
> 
> Apparently, "to constitute as" used to be slightly more frequent (based on a quick search of http://corpus2.byu.edu/coha/ ), particularly in the sense of "be the kind of _____ that":
> 
> A modern critic remarks, that it was a great piece of folly in so wise a man, to allow himself to be so much affected by so slight a cause; but he did not recollect that if Racine had been so constituted as to support with indifference the attacks of critics and the displeasure of Louis XIV, he could not possibly have written [h]is exquisite tragedies.  (from "Tone of British Criticism," The American Review, July 1830, pp. 27-66).
> 
> 
> --- Bill Spruiell
> 
> 
> From: John Dews <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Reply-To: ATEG English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 12:11 PM
> To: ATEG English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Subject: Re: constitutes as or constitutes
> 
> My initial impression is that the writer simply may not have a strong grasp on the meaning of "to constitute." He or she may have semantically mixed the traditional meaning of "to constitute" with a more complex verb such as "to pass off" + a PP beginning with "as." Perhaps the intended meaning was something more akin to "Reading a lot illuminates what passes itself off as good and bad writing..." It's just a theory, but my students often produce these types of unintended semantic mash-ups. I'm sure there are a number of other possible explanations though.
> 
> John
> 
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 9:16 AM, Martha Galphin <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> Why would one write "what constitutes as" as opposed to simpler and in my opinion the correct "constitutes"?
> "Constitutes" is a transitive verb not an intransitive verb. Example sentence where the incorrect use was found follows: "Reading a lot illuminates what constitutes as good and bad writing. . . ." Why not Reading a lot illuminates what constitutes good and bad writing."
> 
> I'd really appreciate a direct answer responding to "constitutes as" vs. "constitutes"
> for use in class today.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Martha Galphin
> 
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