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Surfer Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

participle adjectives

Hello, everyone.

the followng sentence is a typical example of an -ing adjective:

"Many people find snakes frightening."

My question is: can such adjectives follow the verb to be directly? For example, can we use frightening from the previous sentence and say:

This snake is frightining.

while still regard it as adjective, not the progressive tense?
  

Top answer

Surfer My question is: can such adjectives follow the verb to be directly? Yes. while still regard it as adjective, not the progressive tense?

  • Surfer My question is: can such adjectives follow the verb to be directly?
  • Yes.
  • while still regard it as adjective, not the progressive tense?
  • Yes.
  • You can tell it is a modifier if you can use an adverb: This snake is very frightening.
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3 Answers
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SurferMy question is: can such adjectives follow the verb to be directly?
Yes.
SurferThis snake is frightining.while still regard it as adjective, not the progressive tense?
Yes. You can tell it is a modifier if you can use an adverb:

This snake is very frightening.
This snake is rather f
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Yes, that's fine. It would be analysed as a progressive aspect verb, for example, if it had an object:

This snake is frightening. (participial adjective)
This snake is frightening the children (verb, progressive)

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