Thanks, Johanna, for this explanation. It is really helpful. The examples really help clarify, and I love the idea of using visualization with students. I'm certainly going to try it. Thanks for taking the time to explain this. Carol > ---------- > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Johanna Rubba > Reply To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar > Sent: Saturday, February 5, 2005 1:20 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Past participle as Adjective or Verb > > Carol, > > The ambiguity of sentences like "The curtains were closed" is > well-known. The subject-complement reading is stative: the curtains are > in a closed state. The act of closing them took place at an unspecified > time prior to the arrival of the person viewing the scene. This sense > evokes a static picture in one's mind; there is no movement of the > curtains, no change from an open to a closed position. The listener or > reader doesn't even necessarily think about the closing action. > > The passive versions are processual: they evoke a picture (maybe even a > movie) of the whole action, from start to finish. > > Note that passive sentences rarely occur in real texts with a "by" > phrase identifying the agent of the action. The context sorts out which > reading is most plausible. Consider: > > Thanks to high-powered explosives, the huge building was demolished > within seconds. (underwent the process of demolition from start to finish) > > I didn't walk fast enough; by the time I got there, the building was > already totally demolished. (was in the resulting state of demolition) > > With verbs like "admire", which are not particulary dynamic, it can be > really hard to decide which reading is most plausible, and in most > cases, it probably doesn't matter. > > But maybe using verbs of dynamic action will help. Another good example > is "surround". Compare: > > 1. The castle was surrounded by a moat. > 2. The castle was rapidly surrounded by the enemy hoard. > > The "moat" of #1 is clearly not an agent in any sense, and the scene is > static. In #2, there is clearly action; we visualize the army starting > their maneuver and follow the action through to its conclusion. > > Using adverbials can really help the students see the difference between > the readings: words like "gradually", "rapidly", "suddenly" -- which > signal a change over time -- aid the passive reading, while time-point > adverbials like "by the time I ..." or "already" aid the stative reading. > > The example sentence "When I arrived, the curtains were always closed by > the attendant on duty" does not sound right to me. It seems a more > accurate expression would be "When I arrived, the curtains would always > be closed by the attendant". Using paraphrase ("in a closed state") and > visualization can help a great deal. I use this with my college > students. For example, in explaining the difference between a present > and past participle, I ask them merely to form an image in response to a > phrase that I say, e.g.: > > 1. A falling tree vs. > 2. A fallen tree > > After saying #1 and before saying #2, I ask them what they saw with > their mind's eye: Was the tree moving? Did they see it hit the ground? > Did they see it start to fall? Did they see it lying on the ground after > the fall? Most students answer yes, no, no, no. > > For #2, I ask the same questions, but the answers are then no, no, no, yes. > > Students already know the subtle meaning differences between verb forms, > but the knowledge is subconscious. You have to use tricks like > paraphrase and visualization to bring the knowledge to consciousness. > Then they can apply the terminology to it. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics > English Department, California Polytechnic State University> > One Grand Avenue > *> San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 > Tel. (805)-756-2184 > *> Fax: (805)-756-6374 > *> Dept. Phone. 756-2596 > *> E-mail: [log in to unmask] > *> Home page: > http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/