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 #17 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:43 am Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
Hi, Tom
Thank you, but I'd rather that Amy answered my question ;) |
And why only Amy? |
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Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
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| #18 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:56 am Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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| Quote: |
| To me, saying 'I could hear music playing' in Tom's sentence is similar to saying something such as 'I could smell cookies baking.' Cookies don't actually bake themselves. |
We are talking about the middle voice, aren't we?
"An intransitive verb that appears active but expresses a passive action characterizes the English middle voice. For example, in The casserole cooked in the oven, cooked appears syntactically active but semantically passive, putting it in the middle voice."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_voice#The_middle_voice |
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Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
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| #19 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:33 am Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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Just to add a digression to what Molly said, English verbs sometimes really have "bifacial" usage in themselves. ex.
I read the book.
The book reads....
Sorry for the insipidity. |
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Haihao
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Location: Japan
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| #20 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:07 pm Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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More here.
"A middle verb is one that is grammatically active, though the meaning is closer to the passive. In some languages, this is recognised as a voice.
Porcelain breaks easily.
Porcelain doesn't break anything, though the sentence is active, but porcelain can be broken easily. This is an example of a middle verb, where it shows features of both the active and the passive.
See Also: Ditransitive Verb; Ergative Verb; Intransitive Verb; Transitive Verb"
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/middle-verb.html |
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Molly
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| #21 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 16:27 pm Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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| Molly wrote: |
| If it's OK here, why not in the past? |
Who said it was not OK in the past? :? Sorry, Molly, but you seem to be talking to yourself once again. Were you talking to one of your other online manifestations? :wink:
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee
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| #22 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 16:40 pm Expression: "I could hear the music playing." |
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[quote="Yankee"]
| Molly wrote: |
Sorry, Molly, but you seem to be talking to yourself once again. Were you talking to one of your other online manifestations? :wink:
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There's that "ba-baa!" again. |
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Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
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| Based on or basing on? | pronuncation of Monday |
