82,889
edits
Verb: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
A doing word. For example, in the phrase “''the [[mediocre lawyer|solicitor]] butchered the English language'',” “butchered” is the {{tag|verb}}. | {{a|plainenglish|}}A doing word. For example, in the phrase “''the [[mediocre lawyer|solicitor]] butchered the English language'',” “butchered” is the {{tag|verb}}. | ||
A good way to butcher the language is to | A good way to butcher the language is to convert your {{tag|verb}}s to {{tag|noun}}s. You can do this easily: take an interesting {{tag|verb}} (like ''butcher''), castrate it by adding a duller verb in front of it (like “to ''subject'' to”<ref>Pendants will delight that the verb “to subject” itself started out life as a noun</ref>.) and then humiliate it by saddling it with an ugly {{tag|suffix}}. For example a ''y'', or an ''ification'' - upon which act of desecration it will be a [[noun]]. This is called [[nominalisation]], and lawyers do it all the time. | ||
''The solicitor butchered the English language'' <br> | ''The solicitor butchered the English language'' <br> | ||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
Extra points are available if you can convert an {{tag|active}} {{tag|noun}} into the {{tag|passive}} at the same time. For this, your best friends are ''[[obliged]]'' to be ''[[applicable]]''. | Extra points are available if you can convert an {{tag|active}} {{tag|noun}} into the {{tag|passive}} at the same time. For this, your best friends are ''[[obliged]]'' to be ''[[applicable]]''. | ||
For bonus points and a shot at the [[challenging stage]], take a verb you have nominalised, and convert it back into a verb again. As a [[lawyer]], you are ''[[obligated]]'' to ''action'' this sort of ''behaviour'' [[from time to time]]. | |||
{{ | {{plainenglish}} | ||
{{ref}} | |||