resultative nominals

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:13 am

Hi All

I'm looking for examples and an explanation of resultative nominals:

e-g.

Madge brought her cuttings inside.

Terry sent his winnings home

Can you help?

Harzer · Post by **Harzer** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 12:05 pm

On another forum I have been reading about "resultative adjectives":

the dog licked his dish clean
the butcher cut the meat thin

I can see why these might deserve a special name, as they have adjectival force (clean is a short cut for so that it was clean), but do not seem to behave either attributively or predicatively.

But I am unclear as to where the term "resultative nominals" comes from, when the words "home" and "inside" can hardly be regarded as having the force of nouns when they show location resulting from a verb of motion.

Clearer examples of the dilemma might be found in:

she took her gear off
he immediately asked her out

Harzer

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 5:00 pm

I'm sorry, I meant to highlight the nominals in question:

She brought her cuttings inside.

He brought his takings home.

Harzer · Post by **Harzer** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:37 am

Oh, I see now!

cuttings = things which have been cut
takings = things which have been taken

I expect there is a whole class of words like this: misgivings, sweepings, findings ...

But do they deserve a special classification because e.g. they behave strangely?

Harzer