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aol.com>In a message dated 7/26/00 6:57:10 AM, Mike Maxwell writes: >To my knowledge, "gone" is the only past participle (as opposed to passive >participle) in modern English which can take a form of "be" as the Aux >verb. I too have noticed this fact, though I have never researched it whys and wherefores. To continue the quotation with specific examples: >Thus, for me "I am gone" is at least as good, and probably better than,"I >have gone"...if a destination follows "gone"..., "have gone" is better; "is >gone" is better when there is no destination. That is: > > I am/ ?have gone. > > I ?am/ have gone to the store. > > Where ??are/ have they gone? > >Note also "He has been gone for several hours now." > >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. And of course it seems unlikely to be a passive. >Has anyone looked into this? My edition (1979) of Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech >and Svartvik, which discusses nearly everything else about English :-),has >says nothing to say about this.... I have not seen any published research on this matter, but I can offer one 'off the cuff' suggestion as to the possible reason for this. Here it is: Up through the time of Early Modern English, verbs might have taken one of two verbs as temporal auxiliaries: "to have" or "to be." The choice was governed by the consideration of whether or not the main verb was one involving motion or some other change of state. In the latter case, the verb "to be" was indicated. Thus, "He *has* seen," but "He *is* come," for example. (This, incidentally, is still the rule today in German.) At any rate, this business of "I *am* gone," and so forth just might be a holdover from that era. Again, this is not by any means a definitive statement on this issue; it is merely a suggestion. Cordially yours, Richard S. Kaminski <Nitti45Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
omni.cc.purdue.edu>We've seen a number of examples from (American) English in which a participle verb form follows BE, e.g. "I am gone", etc. Mike Maxwell points out that BE+gone is generally not used if followed by a "destination", as in: I have gone to the store. ? I am gone to the store. Doug Wilson points out examples of BE+participle containing RISEN and FINISHED. We could also add DONE to the list. The question arises whether these participle forms are really verbs or adjectives; Mike's observation above suggests that they are adjectives. Along the same lines, we may argue that DONE can be a transitive verb when HAVE is the AUX, but not with BE: Have you done your homework? Are you done with your homework? After you've done this side, start on that one. After you're done on this side, start on that one. I haven't done it yet. I'm not done with it yet ...as opposed to: *Are you done your homework? *After you're done this side, start on that one. *I'm not done it yet. But wait! Although the common assumption when using the term "American" seems to be specifically United States, if we think of the label in continental/hemispheric terms, it is relevant to note that I have heard the three starred sentences above spoken by three different Anglophone Canadians (all from Ontario, I believe). As far as I could tell, the meaning was identical to that expressed by HAVE+participle in my dialect; i.e., "I'm not done it yet" did not imply that the speaker had started, whereas "I'm not done with it yet" does carry such an implication. I cannot recall hearing this construction with any participle other than DONE, but it would be interesting to know if others have studied this and what implications it has for our discussion. Robert Kurtz Graduate Student Department of Audiology and Speech Science Purdue University USAMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
UCMAIL.UC.EDU>Mike Maxwell notes sentences like: "He has been gone for several hours now." Sentences like this frequently reduce to "He's been gone for several hours now." And such sentences, when re-stressed, at least in North America, are frequently uttered as: He is been gone for several hours now." Carl MillsMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
grammar2.demon.co.uk>Mike Maxwell asks about adjectival active past participles like 'gone'. I think there is actually a whole small group of non-passive past participles which can be used more or less adjectivally when the reference is to a state rather than an action/event/whatever. Examples (from my British usage): RETIRED Compare: My parents are both retired now. Three of the directors have retired this year. ADVANCED Compare: Her English is very advanced. His command of the language has advanced a good deal. FADED Compare: Those flowers are all faded. Over the years, the colours have faded. SWOLLEN Compare: My ankles are swollen. His leg has swollen up to twice its size. FINISHED Compare: 'How's the painting going?' 'I'm finished.' I've finished the painting. (Compare also: I'm done.) GROWN UP Compare: She looks very grown up now. The children have grown up and left home. RECOVERED Compare: I hope you are fully recovered. They have all recovered and returned to work. STOPPED Compare: Why are all those cars stopped at the roadside? Why have we stopped? CAMPED Compare: We're camped in a field by the river. We've camped here for the last three nights. PARKED Compare: Where are you parked? I've parked the car behind the house, OK? Some of these can be used as prenominal adjectives: 'a retired colonel', 'an advanced student', 'faded glory', 'swollen ankles'. And there are others that be used adjectivally before nouns but maybe not (at least in my dialect) after a copula: 'fallen leaves', 'developed countries', 'an escaped prisoner', 'vanished civilisations', 'a collapsed lung'. And there are others that can be used prenominally, but only when when modified: 'a well-read person' (but not *'a read person'), 'a much-travelled man', 'recently-arrived immigrants'. There's a note on this in my 'Practical English Usage' (second edition OUP 1995). Michael SwanMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue