What Is a Participial Adjective

In  English grammar, participial adjective is a traditional term for an adjective that has the same form as the participle  (that is, a verb  ending in -ing or -ed/-en) and that usually exhibits the ordinary properties of an adjective. Also called a verbal adjective or a deverbal adjective.  In the text English Grammar: A University Course (2006), Downing and Locke use the term pseudo-participial adjective to characterize the â€Å"increasing number of adjectives [that] are coined by adding -ing or -ed not to verbs but to nouns.† Examples include enterprising, neighboring, talented, and skilled. Comparative and superlative forms of participial adjectives are formed with more and most and with less and—not with the endings -er and -est. Examples and Observations Present-Participial Adjectives â€Å"The  present participle can be used as an adjective. Known as a participial adjective, it replaces verb clauses: the show that annoys me → the annoying showa story that moves her → a moving story (Marcel Danesi, Basic American Grammar and Usage. Barron’s, 2006) â€Å"What kind of a man was he to fall in love with a lying thief?†(Janet Dailey, â€Å"The Hostage Bride.† Bantam, 1998)â€Å"She gave the passersby a fetching tune, a ballad soft as down, and gathered a crowd.†(Owen Parry, â€Å"Honor’s Kingdom.† Stackpole Books, 2002)â€Å"Bruce Catton believed that the removal of Johnston and the appointment of Hood in his place was perhaps the gravest mistake made by either administration during the entire war. This is a sweeping judgment.†(Charles Pierce Roland, â€Å"An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War,† 2nd ed. University Press of Kentucky, 2004)â€Å"Borge’s boastful remarks were disturbing in a context where women were under attack.†(Ilja A. Luciak, â€Å"After the Revolution: Gender and Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.† Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) Past-Participial Adjectives â€Å"Participial adjectives end in -ed because they are derived from past participles of verbs. ...The meanings of participial adjectives depend on the participle they come from. The -ing adjectives (boring, interesting, amazing, exciting, following) have a progressive or active meaning. The -ed adjectives (advanced, alleged, bored, complicated, excited, exhausted) have a completed or passive meaning.† (Barbara M. Birch, â€Å"English Grammar Pedagogy: A Global Perspective.† Routledge, 2014) â€Å"[Johannes Kepler] was such a wonderfully interesting and complicated character, with genius, neurosis, comedy, tragedy, and triumph intertwined throughout a life set against a background of the tumultuous times of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.†(Rocky Kolb, â€Å"Blind Watchers of the Sky: The People and Ideas That Shaped Our View of the Universe.† Basic Books, 1996)â€Å"These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two.†(George Orwell,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A Hanging.†Ã‚  Adelphi, August 1931)â€Å"Like an excited child playing with his favorite toy, twenty-nine-year-old Emil stroked the wheel of the white Cadillac with his strong hands.†(Ram Oren, â€Å"Gertruda’s Oath: A Child, a Promise, and a Heroic Escape During World War II.† Random House, 2009)â€Å"With his hair short like that his head looked too small for his body, so all summer he walked around with a shrunken head.†(Richard Ya ncey, â€Å"A Burning in Homeland.† Simon Schuster, 2003) Time Reference of Participial Adjectives â€Å"As regards the time reference of participial adjectives in general, [Otto] Jespersen (1951) was probably one of the first grammarians to caution us against the common assumption that the present participial adjective always refers to the present time and the past participial adjective to the perfective time. In the same vein, he also questioned the common belief that the present participial adjective has an active voice reading and the past participial adjective a passive voice reading. To remove these common errors, Jespersen introduced the terms ‘first participle’ and ‘second participle’ in the place of present (active) participle and past (passive) participle.†(K.V. Tirumalesh, â€Å"Grammar and Communication: Essays on the Form and Function of Language.† Allied, 1999) Gradability of Participial Adjectives â€Å"Participial adjectives are typically gradable, e.g., very loving parents (Compare: They are loving every minute of it; verb object)very exciting timesvery alarming thoughts However, the attributively used participles of some verbs are best analyzed as being verbal. For example, an escaped prisoner is a prisoner who has escaped,  a changing culture is a culture that is changing, and a knitted jumper is  a jumper that has been knitted. Such participles cannot be modified by very: *a very escaped prisoner*a very changing culture*a very knitted jumper However, modification by an adverb is possible in many cases: a recently escaped prisonera rapidly changing culturea deftly knitted jumper In some contexts, the status of a participle-like form is ambiguous. Thus, I was annoyed can be interpreted verbally (e.g.,  I was annoyed by their behavior) or as an adjective (e.g., I was very annoyed), or perhaps even as both (I was very annoyed by their behavior).†(Bas Aarts, Sylvia Chalker, and Edmund Weiner, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2014) Usage: Proved and Proven Although proved, as the participle, is the preferred form in written English, proven is widely used in the spoken language and cannot be set down as incorrect or improper. Even in the written, more formal language, proven is frequently used as the participial adjective preceding a noun, as in ‘a proven oil field’ or a proven fact.’†(Theodore M. Bernstein, â€Å"Miss Thistlebottom’s Hobgoblins.† Macmillan, 1971)â€Å"I have nothing against people of proven talent, but sometimes there may be no one in that category who is right for the part.†(Stanley Kubrick, quoted in â€Å"Stanley Kubrick: Interviews,† ed. by Gene D. Phillips. University Press of Mississippi, 2001) Word Histories: Melted and Molten â€Å"The modern English verb melt is the reflex of two different Old English verbs. One was a strong verb, meltan, and was intransitive, with the meaning ‘to melt, become liquid’ (e.g., ‘the butter melted’). ... The other was a weak verb, ... and it was transitive, with the meaning ‘to melt (something) liquid’ (e.g. ‘the heat of the sun melted the butter’). ...â€Å"Gradually  in the course of the Middle English period (if not earlier) the strong verb melten (Old English meltan) ‘to become liquid’ began instead to show weak inflections. This is a pattern shown by many originally strong verbs which gradually moved over to the numerically much larger class of weak verbs. ...  [T]he result in modern English was a single verb melt, with both intransitive and transitive meanings, and with regular, weak inflections ... although the originally participial adjective molten is still found in specialized semantic use desig nating liquefied metal or glass.†(Philip Durkin, The Oxford Guide to Etymology. Oxford University Press, 2009)â€Å"After a certain volume of feedstock has been melted, the molten metal flows over the wall of the hearth into the water-cooled copper crucible where it is heated from above with a second plasma torch.†(Fritz Appel et al., â€Å"Gamma Titanium Aluminide Alloys: Science and Technology.† Wiley, 2011)

The Ongoing Energy Debate - 631 Words

The Ongoing Energy Debate As we all know, the energy debate has been ongoing for decades. There is a laundry list of opinions concerning energy use and production. When it comes to oil we are all too aware of the price and demand for what has proven to be the most valued resource on the planet. Advocates of alternate energies insist that the end of oil is nearer than most of us may think, while proponents of petroleum assure us that due to technological advancements there are still large untapped reserves which promise to see us through the next century despite our increasing demand for this black gold. One proponent of alternate energies, James Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency outlines the need for an alternative fuel source, but also explains the pit falls of alternate energy sources. The reason oil is such a valued and highly used commodity is because of its efficiency and wide range of uses compared to other energy sources. The truth is that no matter what proponents of alternate energies say, there is no good substitute at this time for oil which is largely the reason were still using it. Kunstler explains the pitfalls of hydrogen energy, coal and solar. The hydrogen used in fuel cells is largely derived from natural gas resources, coal is less versatile and solar energy is expensive to produce. Considering the cost of oil at the consumer level it seems common sense that if there was a cheaper, comparably efficient substitute we would be jumping at theShow MoreRelatedEssay Conducted Energy Weapons: An Ongoing Debate1090 Words   |  5 PagesThe use of the Conducted Energ y Weapon (CEW) has been a subject under heavy debate throughout its history. A Conducted Energy Weapon is a device that works by â€Å"incapacitating volitional control of the body† (White Ready, 2009), thus rendering the target unable to resist arrest. The TASER ® in particular is the most widely used CEW. 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Rise of Drones Free Essays

The Rise of Drones in the United States Kayla Mazzoni SOC 120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility Instructor: Nadine M. Acevedo March 4, 2013 , Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are aerial systems that can be remotely controlled for short and long range military and civilian purposes. There are all different types of drones with different shapes and sizes and different capabilities. We will write a custom essay sample on Rise of Drones or any similar topic only for you Order Now They are usually equipped with a camera and can also be armed with missiles. Drones can be a very useful tool for the military. Bringing them into the United States to use against U. S. citizens may be very helpful, but it may do more harm than good. Drones can be put into five different categories including, target and decoy, reconnaissance, combat, research and development, and civil and commercial UAV’s. Target and decoy drones provide ground and aerial gunnery a target that simulates an enemy aircraft or missile. Reconnaissance drones provide battlefield intelligence. Combat drones provide attack capability for high-risk missions. Research and development drones are used to further develop UAV technologies to be integrated into field deployed UAV aircraft. Civil and commercial drones are specifically designed for civil and commercial applications. If drones are used properly, they could bring a lot of good to the United States. They can be used to help protect the public, monitor wildlife, manage resources, and promote scientific research. Small drones can provide immediate situational awareness to first responders; transported in the trunk of a police vehicle, the back of a fire truck, or carried in a backpack, drones give them a birds-eye view of the situation, day or night, to save lives and protect property. Drones are already being used to monitor sensitive wildlife areas and populations. Small drones are increasingly providing a means of collecting important information in inaccessible areas to facilitate more effective resource management. Dams, pipelines, offshore oil platforms, microwave transmission towers, power plants and ports are some examples of large, sometimes remote infrastructure that can be accessed easily and safely by small drones to provide color and thermal video for convenient visual inspection. Peering into a volcano is made easier and safer with small drones and is just one example of the new ways they can help scientists gain a better understanding of the way earth and its biosphere operate. In recent news, a former LAPD police officer and ex-United States Navy reservist by the name of Christopher Dorner was charged a series of shooting attacks on police officers and their families. From February 3rd, to February 12th, four people were killed, including two police officers. Three police officers were wounded as well. He was the subject of one of the largest manhunts in LAPD history, spanning two U. S. states and Mexico. Before Dorner died during a standoff with police at a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains, there was talk that Dorner was being hunted by U. S. drones. Some agencies flatly denied drone use in this case, but others have refused to confirm or deny whether drones were being used. If drones were used to help find Dorner, it should not be covered up or overlooked. There are significant barriers to the Army’s use of unmanned aerial systems within the United States. Use of DOD intelligence capabilities for DSCA missions -such as incident awareness and assessment, damage assessment, and search and rescue – requires prior Secretary of Defense approval, together with approval, together with approval of both the mission and use of the exact DOD intelligence community capabilities. Certain missions require not only approval of Secretary of Defense, but also coordination, cert ification, and possibly, prior approval by the Attorney General of the United States. As a general rule, ‘Military forces cannot use military systems for surveillance and pursuit of individuals’. This is precluded by the Posse Comitatus Act, as reflected in DoD Directive 5525. 5. (John Glaser, February 18, 2013) The Pentagon now has over seven thousand aerial drones, compared with fewer than fifty a decade ago. Last year’s budget included nearly five billion for drone research, development and procurement. The CIA has about thirty Predator and Reaper drones, which are operated by Air Force pilots from a U. S. military base in an undisclosed state. The cost per flight hour varies by the type of drone. Predator and Reaper drones cost about $2500 – $3500 per flight hour. Larger armed systems such as the military’s Global Hawk cost about ten times as much. The use of drones by the United States Government is constantly evolving. Currently, the U. S. military, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Central Intelligence Agency own and operate drones overseas and along the U. S. -Mexico border. In the last decade, the U. S. government has come to rely increasingly on drones for surveillance and air strikes. Even local law enforcement agencies have begun to use drones for surveillance. It is unlikely that domestic drones will be armed, but as use rises, there are growing concerns related to privacy and civil rights. The USA has been legally defined as the new â€Å"battlefield† by the National defense authorization act which also allows for the arrest and indefinite detention of American citizens without trial, without legal representation and even without the ever being charged. Drone strikes are completely silent because the Hellfire missiles they are armed with arrive faster than the speed of sound. You would not even hear the missile until after its explosion. The blast radius of a Hellfire missile is fifteen to twenty meters and everything inside that radius is completely obliterated. This is more than enough to destroy entire homes, apartments and office buildings, not to mention vehicles and light bunkers. There is virtually no citizen defense against drones and they can strike targets anywhere in the country with zero warning. Currently, the two primary agencies using drones abroad are the U. S. military and the CIA. Decisions to use drones for surveillance are generally made within the usual military and civilian chain of command structures. The process for deciding to use drones for strikes in countries that are not declared combat zones are less well known. Most of the drones that have begun to appear in the skies above the U. S. don’t resemble the Predators or Reapers flown by the U. S. military and CIA above Afghanistan and Pakistan. Instead, these smaller versions of flying unmanned vehicles almost rival the animal kingdom in their diversity. Government agencies such as NASA and U. S Customs and Border Protection operate aircraft-size military drones that take off from runways like airplanes. Labs in the United States have even built tiny drones that look like hummingbirds. Most drones resemble the radio-controlled aircraft and toy helicopters flown by hobbyists for decades. They are capable of taking off horizontally, vertically, or being throw into the air. Jim Williams, a Federal Aviation Administration official, stated that no armed drones would presently be permitted in U. S. airspace. But what good are the promises of government officials when the Constitution, especially the Fourth Amendment, has been gutted? â€Å"More than one thousand four hundred applications to use drones in U. S. airspace have been approved for police, universities, and at least seven federal agencies. † (Ron Paul, February 18, 2013) Emotivism offers a perspective on our ethical claims that eliminates much of the traditional kind of argument based on reason. â€Å"Something is good, on this view, if it is something about which we feel good, something is wrong if it is something about which we feel bad. † (Mosser, K. 2010) When it comes to drones, some people may feel good about them and others may think that they will be wrongfully used. Our world can be turned upside down completely by misuse of drones. Yes, they can help us find criminals and missing people, but they can also be used to do a lot of harm. Do we want to live in a society where the government is constantly above us watching? The East Germans and Soviets could only dream of such technology in the days of their dictatorships. We might ask ourselves how long before â€Å"extraordinary† circumstances will lead to decision to arm those drones over US territory? Refrences Ron Paul (2/18/2013) Infowars. com John Glaser (2/18/2013) Antiwar. com Mosser, K (2010) Introduction to ethics and social responsibility. San Diego, Bridgepoint Education, Inc. How to cite Rise of Drones, Papers