sentence problem

Question

The convicted sniper, already sentenced to death for one of the murders in the 2002 killing spree that left 10 dead and three wounded, is now on trial in Maryland. I know whatever between in the commas just give you information which does not have to be a sentence, but I like to know what are the words missing between the commas. Could that be " who is already sentenced......" ?Is the word " wounded " a noun in the sentence ? I thought it was an adjective.  Could we say " three wounded victims " ?Thanks

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

wounded can be a noun too
and there's nothing missing.

BarbaraPA · Answer

But isn't wounded an adjective here? They are sick, tired, wounded, happy, dead...

Miriam · Answer

The clause highlighted in your sentence is a non-finite clause (a reduced relative clause); that's why you get the feeling that something is missing. Something is actually missing: the subject of the clause (who) and the auxiliary verb "to be".

So your guess was right: the finite version of that clause is "who was/has been/had been sentenced...". "Sentenced" is a past participle and it is the head of the reduced relative clause in your sentence.

"Wounded" can be a past tense, a past participle and an adjective. Sometimes, adjectives can be "nominalised", that is, they can act as nouns or occupy the place of nouns. This is the case with "dead" and "wounded" in your sentence.

Miriam.

Goodman · Answer

The first part was already explained clearly. I like to add my 2 cents for the word "wounded".

"wounded" in this context is a past participle being used as an adjective in a passive form.

A wouned wild boar is more dangerous than a hungry wolf.

Others examples of past participles used a adjuevtives:

John was wearing a stained shirt. (the shirt was stained)

My tired feet from the 10- k run are killing me.

Nomad04 · Answer

Goodman, thanks for the explanation.

By the way, why did you use "being used" in the following sentence:

"wounded" in this context is a past participle being used as an adjective in a passive form.

Could I use the past participle/present simple passive instead of the present participle passive (if I correctly determined):
1) "wounded" in this context is a past participle used as an adjective in a passive form.

2) "wounded" in this context is a past participle which is used as an adjective in a passive form.

or using of the past participle/present simple passive would be odd in that case?

Goodman · Answer

Hi Nomad04,

My pleasure to help.

That’s is a very good question and the answer is “being” carries a condition of now, and “at this minute”. It adds a little more accent to spice up the sentence, so to speak. That’s all. But you can take “being” out of the sentence and still retains the meaning of the sentence.

In this context, both # 1 and # 2 expressed the same meaning.

In # 1, “used as an adjective in a passive form” is an adverbial phrase. Whereas # 2 “which is used as an adjective in a passive form” is clause.

Mind you, there are times, a clause may not work well and thus can not substitute for a adverbial phrase in a given context. That’s the reason adverbial phrase is used. Consider the following examples:

A- Where is Mary, did her flight arrive?

B- Mary is held at the immigration counter being questioned because of her expired passport.

If I were to follow along your line of thinking using “who” to connect the sentence and replace “being questioned” with a “who” clause, it will sound something like this:

Mary is held at the immigration counter who is questioned because of her expired passport. It just does not sound right, or does it?

Nomad04 · Answer

Yeah, the sentence with "who is questioned" sounds odd for me too, although I'm not a native speaker.

It seems I caught the idea of using present participle passive “at this minute”. It something like:

The software being produced/created by our department are very popular among oil producing companies.

Thanks for such clear explanation.

Joeviee · Answer

Hi Goodman,

In sentence B- Mary is held at the immigration counter being questioned because of her expired passport.

Can I say, Mary is held at the immigration counter being questioned of her expired passport.

Is it gramatically correct?

Thanks:)

Marius Hancu · Answer

>Can I say, Mary is held at the immigration counter being questioned of her expired passport.
Mary is held at the immigration counter being questioned on her expired passport.

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

I think more commonly said would be being questioned about her expired passport.

Best wishes, Clive

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