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Milky Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

dinner is cooking

0 Do you these are acceptable English?02br
02br
00"The 1972s, at only $800 a bottle, are drinking so much better at the moment."02br
02br
00"Dinner is cooking and I'm watching tele."0-
  

Top answer

0Yes. "0-

— Forbes

  • 0Yes.
  • "0-
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10 Answers
0
0Yes. The verbs are displaying ergativity.02br
02br
00"Dinner is cooking" is equivalent to "Someone is cooking dinner."0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Forbes12cite10Yes. The verbs are displaying ergativity.12br
12br
10"Dinner is cooking" is equivalent to "Someone is cooking dinner."12br
12br
12blockquote
10Yes, but do you accept the "wine" example?0-
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0hi milky,02br
02br
00both should be examples of so called medio-passive.02br
02br
00other examples would be 01i00His books read well./ His plays act well.02i02br
02br
01i00cocoon02i0-
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1i00The 1972s, at only $800 a bottle, are drinking so much better at the moment02i00.02br
02br
00A little trickier to analyse - that's why I avoided it in my earlier reply.05002br
02br
00If we simplify it we get:02br
02br
01i00The wine is drinking.02i02br
02br
00This does not seem
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0I have been considering the issues raised in this thread further. 02br
02br
001. I am having some difficulty in distinguishing between instances of ergativity and the middle voice. Are they (in English at least) the same phenonemon described from two different perspectives? 02br
02br
002. At first sight these two sentences seem to have some sort of equiva
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0 I think this is also called the 05000:01blockquote
02br
10(1)a The butcher cuts the meat.12br
10 b The meat cuts easily.12br
12br
10 (2)a The janitor broke the crystal. 12br
10 b Crystal breaks at the slightest touch.12br
12br
10 (3)a Kelly adores French fabrics.12br
10 b
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0>> I also note that whilst "Dinner is cooking" can be said to be equivalent to "Someone is cooking dinner", <<02br
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00Interesting. When I hear "Dinner is cooking", I imagine that the dinner is in the oven, being cooked by the oven. At that moment, no one is fixing dinner. 0-
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0<This does not seem to be equivalent to 01i00Dinner is cooking02i00. However, as soon as we add in an adverb it does not sound anywhere near as odd: 02br
02br
01i00The wine is drinking well.02i02br
02br
00Unfortunately we cannot say that this is equivalent to:02br
02br
01i00Someone is dri
0
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0<Compare:02br
02br
01i00Harper's Lager, when lightly chilled, drinks so much better.02i02br
02br
00This sounds all right to me, but I cannot imagine anyone saying it.>02br
02br
00How about:02br
02br
00"Chunky, the soup that eats like a meal."02br
02br
00Go Campbell's, go!02
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0<When I hear "Dinner is cooking", I imagine that the dinner is in the oven, being cooked by the oven. At that moment, no one is fixing dinner. >02br
02br
00Me too.0-
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