1

Consider (Source):

  1. A goldfinch flew across the field, struck the glass and was knocked inert.
  2. The large birds flew together and struck the glass; they were knocked into a stupor.

Question 1 : Would you tell me how the adjective can be used after verb in sentence #1? I am saying that since I never saw the verb knock being used as a linking verb.

Question 2: As far as I know, stupor is a state and knock someone into something means to make someone strike something. Has the verb knock used figuratively? I want to know more about it.

Cardinal
  • 5,965
  • 11
  • 45
  • 109
  • 1
    He was knocked out. He was knocked unconscious. The baseball player knocked the ball out of the park. They slapped him silly. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jun 25 '16 at 12:58
  • 1
    You have transitive **knock** being cast in the passive. The birds were knocked unconscious by the collision. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jun 25 '16 at 13:03
  • 1
    **unconscious** and **out** are complements of the verb indicating the resulting state of that which got knocked. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jun 25 '16 at 13:04
  • (+1) @TRomano So far, The only thing that came to my mind, in terms of multiple parts verbs, was phrasal verbs. That is great – Cardinal Jun 25 '16 at 13:11
  • The blade must be honed sharp. The wrinkles need to be ironed out. But the wrinkles don't need to be made unconscious. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jun 25 '16 at 13:14
  • 1
    1 See [this question](http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/6275/is-it-possible-to-use-adjectives-as-adverbs) 2. 'knock' is not being used figuratively. You are can use 'knock into (a state)'–for example, *knocked into a stupor*; just like you can say 'knocked senseless' (see 1). – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 13:52
  • 1
    Similar patterns: *The coffee was served hot. He was caught off guard. She left the room angry.* – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 14:24
  • @DamkerngT. Why would someone say **She left the room angry** rather than **She left the room angrily**? – Cardinal Jun 25 '16 at 16:27
  • @Cardinal Because they didn't mean to talk about how she left the room, but rather what she was like when/after she left the room. (BTW, the first question of this question is pretty similar to this question: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/6275/is-it-possible-to-use-adjectives-as-adverbs.) – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:15
  • 2
    *She left the room angry* is ambiguous, as it could be the *room* that was left angry, as in 'the people who stayed in the room'. @DamkerngT. Also, *angry* could be used as a flat adverb here, and thus equivalent to *angrily*. So maybe [Cardinal's comment](http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/94723/two-questions-about-the-verb-knock?noredirect=1#comment184840_94723) asking about the two sentences is best covered as a new question and answer. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:18
  • @AlanCarmack That interpretation would be rather strange. It was like saying *This is the car red we were talking about yesterday* (instead of *the red car*). I'd say though reading that *angry* as a flat adverb may be possible, it's unlikely. This comment is just my opinion, anyway. – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:24
  • 1
    *She left the room angry* (with *angry* applying to *room*) is the same form as *Her departure left the room speechless*. @DamkerngT. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:29
  • @AlanCarmack and Cardinal, I'm a bit too tired to explain this myself. I'll let this grammar book explain this point instead: *[English Grammar: A Resource Book for Students](https://books.google.com/books?id=dSnjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA169)* by Roger Berry, page 169. – Damkerng T. Jun 25 '16 at 17:34
  • Cardinal, it is not mainly a matter of verbs (like in the case of which verbs takes *to-infinitive* and which takes *-ing form* or *gerund* and which can take both). It is a matter of sentence construction. See [this comment](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2716#comment-89224) and also google "predicative complements" or "predicate complements". Also, I hate to link the [Is it possible to use adjectives as adverbs?](http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/6275/is-it-possible-to-use-adjectives-as-adverbs.) for the third time in one comment trail, but there you go. – Alan Carmack Jun 25 '16 at 17:48
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/41671/discussion-on-question-by-cardinal-two-questions-about-the-verb-knock). – WendiKidd Jun 26 '16 at 01:21

1 Answers1

1

Question 1 : Would you tell me how the adjective can be used after verb in sentence #1? I am saying that since I never saw the verb knock being used as a linking verb.

  • A goldfinch flew across the field, struck the glass and was knocked inert.
    • 'Knock' is used as a linking verb in the sense that two objects collided and therefore produced a result, this result being the "inert" state which the bird now finds himself. With a verb like this, you need the adjective to describe how he was knocked - was he knocked silly? Knocked unconscious? Knocked simply off-balance? The adjective describes which state the thing being knocked becomes as a result of the knocking.

Question 2: As far as I know, stupor is a state and knock someone into something means to make someone strike something. Has the verb knock used figuratively? I want to know more about it.

  • The large birds flew together and struck the glass; they were knocked into a stupor.
    • Again, this is the same thing as above, just a little different. Because they knocked the glass, they went into a stupor. The implied meaning here is the word 'upon,' in two cases. The new sentence might read like this: "The large birds flew together and struck upon the glass; upon doing so, they were knocked into a stupor."
      • It can be used figuratively. The example you linked to is very literal, and closest to the actual definition of the word 'knock.' It's a very active verb in the sense that there is only one thing that can happen when someone is knocked - they are knocked, literally. They fall over. They stumble, etc. But with idioms and phrases, this verb acts completely different. Some examples are: knock into shape, knock the habit, etc. Keep in mind though that there are multiple definitions of knock, such as which apply only to what you'd do to a door, for example. Some mean 'punch.' Some are lighter than that and only mean 'tapped,' or something similar. It's all about context, unfortunately.
user24986
  • 11
  • 1
  • Thank you for the answer. Just for curisity, are you native? I checked your profile, but it seems you did not edit your prifile. – Cardinal Aug 07 '16 at 19:30