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Soup That Eats Like a Meal



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
...when the adoptee would/will be 18 years old | thoughts vs thought
listening exercisestell a friend
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #1 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:48 am   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

Would you say this usage is correct?

Campbell’s Chunky - Soup That Eats Like a Meal

http://www.chunky.com/

And can you post a few similar examples?
Molly
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #2 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 14:20 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

This construction has a name, but I can't remember it right now. You can use it with a limited group of verbs. It's a bit unusual to use it with the verb "eat", which is why the Campbell's slogan gets stuck in people's minds.

Here are some more examples:

Headlines:
"Judge says gossip's complaint reads like a Spillane novel."
"Enron's ethics code reads like fiction."
"Phillip Shue case reads like a novel."
"Ex-spy's poisoning reads like a thriller"

Sentences:
"Good code reads like prose once it has been broken up into methods, functions, procedures, etc."
"This article on the Texas GOP reads like it should be from The Onion (dallasnews.com)."
"The New York Times reads like a gossip sheet."
"It cooks like bacon." (Referring to a vegetarian bacon substitute.)
"It cooks like any regular pasta."
"It cooks like rice, but cooks in half the time and expands to four times its size."
"It cooks like sweetcorn."
"And it cooks like chicken too."
Jamie (K)
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #3 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 14:24 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

Quote:
This construction has a name, but I can't remember it right now.


Is it "the middle voice"?

Thanks for the examples, Jamie.
Molly
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #4 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 14:34 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

They sound like Russian constructions and remind me of ergative verbs (the door opened, the soup thickened, etc.)
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #5 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 14:42 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

They are ergative in a way, or another term would be "non-accusative".
Jamie (K)
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #6 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 17:01 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

Perhaps

Quote:
The car can sit 10 people.
The room can sleep 10 people


Tom
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #7 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 17:05 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

Tom wrote:
The car can sit 10 people.

This should be, "The car can seat 10 people."
Jamie (K)
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #8 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 19:08 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

This has been much discussed in another forum. Here are two characteristic threads:

Put In The Shade.

Losing the Plot.

(We never did discover why Molly broke the china.)

MrP
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #9 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 19:19 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

Another example:

The product sells well.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting around a table
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Soup That Eats Like a Meal #10 (permalink) Thu Jun 19, 2008 21:52 pm   Soup That Eats Like a Meal
 

MrPedantic wrote:
(We never did discover why Molly broke the china.)

MrP


Or why Mr P broke wind. :wink:
Molly
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