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Taka Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

spread

0 01font01i00The field is enourmous; the stands must be huge to enclose the field. The majority of us were pretty remote from where most of the game takes place. On the outer edge of it were we-01del00we, the great human crowd02del00-01font00spread 01font00like a parabola around the field.02br
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02font02font02i01font01font00About 'spread' above, grammatically, is it;02br
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00 (1) Part of plain passive (be+...ed)02br
00 i.e 01font01i00we-01del00the great human crowd02del00-were 01font00spread 01font00on the outer edge of it, like a parabola around the field.02br
02br
02font02font02i01font01font00or02br
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00 (2) An adverbial participle02br
00 i.e 01i01font00we-01del00the great human crowd02del00-were on the outer edge of it, 01font00spread 01font00like a parabola around the field.02br
02br
02font02font02font02i01font01font01font00?02br
02font02font02font01i01font01font01font02br
02font02font02font02i01font01font01font02br
02font02font02font02font02font02font02font02font02font00 0-
  

Top answer

1font 00Hi,02font 02br 02br 01font 01i 00The field is eno01font 00u02font 00rmous; the stands must be huge to enclose the field. The majority of us were pretty remote from where most of the game takes place. 02br 02br 02font 02font 02font 02i 02font 02font 02font 02font 02font 01font 01font 00OK, I'll bite.

— Clive

  • 1font 00Hi,02font 02br 02br 01font 01i 00The field is eno01font 00u02font 00rmous; the stands must be huge to enclose the field.
  • The majority of us were pretty remote from where most of the game takes place.
  • 02br 02br 02font 02font 02font 02i 02font 02font 02font 02font 02font 01font 01font 00OK, I'll bite.
  • Either way is a reasonable meaning.
  • 02i 00 02font 02font 02font 01font 00This is clearly option #1.
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6 Answers
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1font00Hi,02font02br
02br
01font01i00The field is eno01font00u02font00rmous; the stands must be huge to enclose the field. The majority of us were pretty remote from where most of the game takes place. On the outer edge of it were we-01del00we, the g
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0 I'd go for the second interpretation. Nobody actually spread the people, so if by "plain passive" you mean something that has an active counterpart with "spread" used transitively and "human crowd" as the object of "spread", then I don't see how it can be the first interpretation. Maybe it depends on what you're calling a "plain passive", however.02br
02br
00 Withou
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0Dear friends,02br
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00It is a most unusual simile. It is my opinion that a parabola in geometry is a line. It is possible to say «spread like a parabola» therefore?02br
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00Kind regards, 05002br
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00Goldmund010id1
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0 So it could be either way anyway...Hmm...0-
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0I would choose the second interpretation ("participle").02br
02br
001. On the outer edge of it were we—we, the great human crowd—spread like a parabola around the field.02br
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00We can end the sentence at "we":02br
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002. On the outer edge of it were we. 02br
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00(Cf. "On the outer edge of it were three tou
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0Hi,02br
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01font00If I were writing this myself, without the interpolation, I'd write it with a comma after we, ie00 02font02br
02br
01font01i00On the outer edge of it were we, 02i02font01font01font01i
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