Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ShoHiro]

Hello,

I'm sorry I ask the similar questions on this site. But I would like to know how the native English speakers interprete about the following sentences:

(1) a. John photographed Mary happy.
b. John photographed Mary naked.
c. John drew Mary naked.
d. John drew Mary happy.
e. John counts on Mike even drunk.
f. John gave Mary the dog sick.

In these sentences, which does the italic word(happy, naked, even drunk, sick) modify intuitively? For example, in (1a) happy is John or Mary? Or ambiguous?
I know I should use when-clause to avoid the ambiguous. But I would like to know how the sentences in (1) are interpreted out of context.

Sincerely,
ShoHiro

[/i]

[Lorikeet]

Answering your exact question, which is what a native speaker would think of these sentences out of context:

John photographed Mary happy. (Ambiguous sentence, doesn't sound very natural to me, but I'd expect it to be Mary with no context.)
John photographed Mary naked. (Ambiguous sentence, but I'd sure expect Mary to be photographed naked rather than the photographer appearing that way.)
John drew Mary naked. (Same as above.)
John drew Mary happy. (Same as above.)
John counts on Mike even drunk. (Ambiguous, but I'd lean toward Mike being the drunk one because of "even". Mike is helpful even if he's drunk. Someone else could lean the other way.)
John gave Mary the dog sick. (Doesn't sound natural.)

[ShoHiro]

Hello, Lorikeet!

Thank you very much!! May I ask six more questions?

(2) a. The policman punched John drunk.
b. I kicked John depressed.
c. John hit Tom naked.
d. John met the mayor naked.
e. Mary praised the professor drunk.
f. He painted the general seated.

In each sentence, which does the italic word modify, the subject or the object?

Best wishes,
ShoHiro

[Hinzega]

[ShoHiro]

Hello, Hinzega,

Thank you very much for answering my questions.

(2a) means not "as a result of punching, John became drunk," but "the policeman punched John when the policeman or John was drunk."

I hear drunk is used in the following way: She went home dead drunk. So I would like to know who is drunk in the sentence (2a). Similarly, naked is used as follows: She was standing there naked.

The exmaples you told me are the resultative constructions, aren't they? I would like to know the sentences as in He ate the fish raw/whole. In this sentence, raw/whole is, of course, the fish. But in the sentence He ate the fish naked ,naked is he. Then, if Mary praised the professor drunk, who is drunk? I would like to know that.

Sincerely,
ShoHiro

[Hinzega]

Hi ShoHiro,

Oh ... I see now. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no clear cut answer to which noun is being referenced. Different circumstances would be interpreted differently. For example, "John ate the fish raw" refers to the fish, but "John ate lunch naked" obviously refers to John.

"Mary praised the professor drunk" is awkward. I would word it as "Mary praised the professor while drunk" and even that does not give a clear idea of which person is drunk. Personally, I would assume Mary, but believe it could be interpreted the other way too.

The same goes with "The policman punched John drunk." "The policman punched John while drunk." is more clear. I would assume the policeman is the drunk one, but an argument could be made for John too.

I wish I could give you a simple A, B, C, way to do it. Hope this helps.

[ShoHiro]

Hello, Hinzega,

Thank you very much again!
It seems that most native English speakers tend to assume the subject not but object is so. It is very interesting to me.

Best wishes,
ShoHiro