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Springmeans Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

adv vs. adj

Hi, all. Hope you guys are having a great weekend.

I came here with a question about adverb and adj that comes at the end of a sentence.

example: I beat him senseless.
-> I noticed an adverb often comes at the end of sentences instead of an adjective. Would it mean any different if adj is used instead?
How can you tell if you can use an adv instead of adj?

Thanks for your answer.
  

Top answer

Hello, Springmeans: I also wish you a great weekend. The word "senseless" in "I beat him senseless" is, IMHO, an adjective. " It means something like: I beat him so that he was senseless.

— Anonymous

  • Hello, Springmeans: I also wish you a great weekend.
  • The word "senseless" in "I beat him senseless" is, IMHO, an adjective.
  • " It means something like: I beat him so that he was senseless.
  • " ***** If you wanted to use the adverb "senseless ly ," you would need a sentence something like: The police say that the bad man beat his victim senselessly.
  • )
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7 Answers
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Hello, Springmeans:

I also wish you a great weekend.

The word "senseless" in "I beat him senseless" is, IMHO, an adjective. It describes "him." It means something like:

I beat him so that he was senseless. Grammar books call "senseless" an objective complement because it "completes" the meaning of the object "him." Compare: "I painted the house"; "I painted the house
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Hi James. Thanks for your reply.
I got your point about 'senseless' as an objective complement. Thanks.

I beat him senseless. (o)
I senselessly beat him. (o) -> Correct because adv describes a verb (beat)
I beat him senselessly.(x)

Am I right?
The last sentence is incorrect because 'him' (object) cannot be described using an adverb (senselessly), whereas an adj
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It is OK to put the adverb at the end of the sentence.

These two are fine, but they have different meanings:

The policeman beat the suspect senseless.
The policeman beat the suspect senselessly.
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Oh, thank you both!

1.The policeman beat the suspect senseless.
2.The policeman beat the suspect senselessly.

Each underlined word describes the word in bold. Am I right?
Actually, they (1 and 2) sound the same to me...
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Could you please explain, what the difference?
"The policeman beat the suspect senseless.
The policeman beat the suspect senselessly."
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Hello, A Cup of Tea:

IMHO,

"The policeman beat the suspect senseless." = The policeman beat the suspect so badly that the suspect became senseless. (Maybe the suspect was so badly beaten that he was left in a coma.)

"The policeman beat the suspect senselessly." = There was no sense (reason) for the policeman to beat the suspect. The suspect was not resisting, bu
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