Sentence analysis

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CalifJim

#76331 Thu, 24 Feb 05 05:33 PM

She wasn't impressed (verb)
She was unimpressed (adjective)

I'm not convinced. I remain unconvinced that "impressed" is a verb in the first sentence.

Note that verbs don't take "very": *He was very shot at dawn.

And yet we have the perfectly fine "She wasn't very impressed". Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,792)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Verbs

MrPedantic

#76334 Thu, 24 Feb 05 05:45 PM

Actually, I'm not sure I can hear 'impressed/unimpressed/not impressed' any more. I'm slightly puzzled by my own comments.

I may have to take them off the shelves for a while.

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Wed, Oct 13 2004

Veteran Member (12,168)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

paco2004

#76363 Thu, 24 Feb 05 10:12 PM

Hello

I consulted with OED and Webster and found the description is in agreement to CJ's comment.

To summarize the description, the senses of the verb 'impress' are sorted into two categories.
1) physically impress .. to exert pressures on something (to make a mark)
2) mentally impress ... to affect someone's mind (give a strong impression)

The adjective "impressed" can be either "physically impressed" or "mentally impressed".
But the adjective "unimpressed" is always "mentally unimpressed".
(Ex) He did this sort of thing remarkably. But she was quite unimpressed.

The phrase "be impressed" in the mental sense seems to be taken either as a passive construct or as [be + adj] depending on the context. And it can be followed by 'by' and ''with'.
(Ex) I could not be but solemnly impressed by the appearance of the temple.
(Ex) I am very impressed with your exceptional customer service.

"Be impressed by a person/persons" is rarely used, although I found some on the web
(Ex) There is no question that they were impressed by President Bush personally.
(Ex) I was impressed by every salesperson with whom I came in contact via E-mail.

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Verbs, Whom

MrPedantic

#76367 Thu, 24 Feb 05 10:55 PM

Hello Hela

I would qualify my previous remarks a little – now I read the two versions as follows:

1. 'The girls were impressed with Max's friendly approach.'
– any time after the approach, e.g. when they're discussing Max later.

2. 'The girls were impressed by Max's friendly approach.'
– either at the time of the approach, or quite soon after.

I have a sense of a longer 'state of being impressed' in #1.

Thanks for your comments, Paco – I'd begun to think I'd imagined 'impressed with'.

MrP

MrPedantic

CalifJim

#76422 Fri, 25 Feb 05 03:16 AM

And Billy Budd was impressed by pirates, wasn't he? Or by some government or other? I forget. He was impressed, however, not 'very impressed', i.e., it's a verb!

Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Verbs

Casi

#76479 Fri, 25 Feb 05 11:18 AM

Cas wrote:
She wasn't impressed (verb)
She was unimpressed (adjective)

I'm not convinced. / . . . that "impressed" is a verb in the first sentence.
CJ

Neither am I. Allow me to add in the essentials:

She wasn't impressed (verb)
She was unimpressed (adjective)

"not" attaches to the aux and "un-" to the participle.

Sorry for the confusion.

Casi

Joined on Sat, Sep 25 2004

Regular Member (547)

Verbs

Hela

#77874 Wed, 02 Mar 05 06:53 PM

Dear teachers,

What do you think of the following analysis, is it correct ?

The children looked at the boy inquisitively.

FORM: FUNCTION:

The children = noun phrase subject
looked at = verb phrase transitive (phrasal) verb (?)
the boy = noun phrase direct object
inquisitively = adverb phrase adverbial of manner

"at the boy" cannot be considered as an adverbial of place, can it?

Many thanks,
Hela

Hela

Joined on Mon, Nov 15 2004

Tunisia

Regular Member (831)

Verbs, Nouns, Adverbs, Noun Phrases, Direct Objects

equivocal

#77886 Wed, 02 Mar 05 07:45 PM

1. She wasn't impressed
2. She was unimpressed
3. She impressed them.
4. *She unimpressed them.

I propose that 1 and 2 contain verbs in passive form with a null subject. 3 contains a verb in active form. 4 is ungrammatical because english doesn't have the negative counterpart of the verb impress. You can verify this:

1a. She wasn't very impressed (by the show)
1b. The show didn't impress her.
2a. She was totally unimpressed (by the show)
2b. *The show totally unimpressed her.

Note the oddity that verbs usually don't take very:

3a. *She very impressed them.
3b. She easily/quickly/totally impressed them.

3b is okay with an adverb but not with an intensifier.

The adjectival counterpart is "impressive" and the adverbial counterpart "impressively":

4. The impressive performance impressed her.
5. The impressively performed show impressed her.

Impressed belongs to a special class of known as "amuse" verbs that allow null subjects in their passive construction. In the process they take on some properties of adjectives. They are not adjectives however because they need to be verbs in order to be passivised. Take for example a pure adjective:

6a. She was happy.
6b. Happy was she.
6c. *Happy was she by the show

The verbs in this class consist of words like: amuse, enchant, mesmerise, hypnotised etc. A non-exhaustive list can be found here in Joanis' paper:

[link]

Hope this helps Smile [:)]

equivocal