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Jobb Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

The usage of maroon

(1)I was marooned on a lonely country road. (Wrong. Because the writer wanted to say that "I" was wandering on a road", not being marron there.)
I was marooning on a lonely country road. (Okay)

(2) The travelers were marooned by the blizzard. (Ok)
  

Top answer

' This is good usage; it is passive-- marooned by the breakdown. ' (2) Yes, this is fine.

— Mister Micawber

  • ' This is good usage; it is passive-- marooned by the breakdown.
  • ' (2) Yes, this is fine.
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3 Answers
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Not sure what you meant to say in (1), Jobb:

(1) 'I was marooned on a country road; my car broke down and no one came along to help me.' This is good usage; it is passive-- marooned by the breakdown.

The progressive has no meaning without an object: 'I was marooning my boss on the islet, but he noticed the boat leaving, ran to it and jumped in.'

(2) Yes, this is
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Sidenote: though the definition of maroon is to "isolate without resources," it is typically used in the context of sailing, as in the cliche "marooned on a desert island." The words "maroon," "stranded" and "deserted" have their own methods of transport loosely associated with them. Marooned is associated with ships and sailors, stranded with cars and drivers, and deserted with hikers. In cases
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Because my Chinese-English dictioanry gave me (1) and explained it as "I was wandering...", I thought that was wrong.

Thank you MM and Mod.
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