Is this sentence correct?

Question

I strolled downtown, hungry, exhausted.

Hoa Thai · Accepted Answer

Futurehuman11I strolled downtown, hungry, exhausted.

Hi,

Grammatically, it is ill-formed; hungry and exhausted are adjectives which are used either after verb to be or to modify nouns.

I, however, have heard people verbally use such a bad structure with an elliptical 'and I am / was'. I do not use it that way.

Best,
Hoa Thai

Philip · Answer

Futurehuman11I strolled downtown, hungry, exhausted.

Grammatically, it is fine. It doesn't seem to me that "strolled" goes very well with "exhausted", however. Perhaps "stumbled" or something similar?

BarbaraPA · Answer

Good point, Philip. "Strolled" is a nice, leisure activity.

Anonymous · Answer

Philip
Futurehuman11I strolled downtown, hungry, exhausted.
Grammatically, it is fine. It doesn't seem to me that "strolled" goes very well with "exhausted", however. Perhaps "stumbled" or something similar?

Hi Philip,

You said, "It is grammatically fine,"

go hungry, get hungry, feel hungry, become hungry, stroll hungry, come out of the cave hungry. Is that the idea?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

BarbaraPA · Answer

No, it's that "strolling" is a leisure activity. If you are exhausted and starving, you are not likely to be taking a stroll. You may stagger down the street or stumble down the street, as Philip suggested.

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi Grammar Geek,

Maybe my question is not clear.

Semantically, stroll and exhausted seem dipolar. However, grammatically, besides a few idiomatic expressions, can we use hungry with any verb as long as they don't fight? (e.g. come out of the cave hungry)

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

BarbaraPA · Answer

Yes, I guess so. You mean "in a state of hunger."

Hoa Thai · Answer

Grammar GeekYes, I guess so. You mean "in a state of hunger."

Yes! "in a state of hunger" is what I think the speaker means. However, I've had a tough time to accept hungry acts as an adverb in "come out of the cave hungry," because none of the grammar or usage books that I have (even those made available on the Internet) mentions that hungry is an adverb. Althought, that what it seems to be when it is used with verb feel or become, and is treated as a part of idiomatic usages.

If hungry could be treated as an adverb, "leave the party blue / empty / etc..." would be acceptable! That troubles me. Therefore, I concluded that using hungry in this kind of construct is grammatically incorrect. One way to correct its seemingly bad grammatical structure is either add feeling before the adjectives as in "he comes out of the cave feeling hungry" or insert an elliptical phrase "and he is/ feels" between hungry and the preceding clause as in " he comes out of the case and he is hungry."

Am I fighting a lost cause?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

BarbaraPA · Answer

Hi Hoa Thai,

Would it make you feel more comfortable if you just thought of it is "feeling blue" or "feeling empty" with the "feeling" part ellipted (is that the right term) because it's understood? It's not really an adverb - it doesn't describe the way you left; it's still an adjective, desribing you.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Great - we bothlearned something new in this one!

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