LINGUIST List 11.1643

Wed Jul 26 2000

Disc: Queen's English/American English

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Douglas G. Wilson, Re: 11.1624, Disc: Queen's English/American English

Message 1: Re: 11.1624, Disc: Queen's English/American English

> To my knowledge, "gone" is the only past participle ... which can
> take a form of "be" as the Aux verb.

"He is risen." I am finished.

> This would be explicable if "gone" were ambiguous between an
> adjective and a past participle, but it fails every other test I can
> think of for adjective-hood.

My dictionary (RHUD) shows "gone" specifically as an adjective (with
many sub-entries).

Consider:

My friend is completely gone on his new girlfriend.
She is already three months gone. [= '3 months pregnant', or ...?]

By midnight, the whiskey was gone.
The drinkers were far gone by the time the police arrived.

That's about all for now. I'm gone.

- Doug Wilson