Three quick questions on a sentence.

Question

I know it is neither poetic, nor gripping, but it will suffice for my question:

Staring intently into the foggy distance, eyes scanning the ocean floor, I sat, exhausting for how long I'd been waiting, waiting for the imminent attack, preparing for battle, preparing for my foe's demise, petrified, as I finally looked face-to-face at my enemy, scarred and unsightly.

Below are the terms for the phrases and clause used:

1)Would you agree that I'm correct?

Pariticple phrase, absolute phrase, independent clause, participle phrase X4, adjective, dependent clause, appositive adjective.

2)Would you say the word in bold would be better as exhausted?

3)What do you think of this sentence, in terms of style, rather than in terms of word choice? (honesty, as I wrote it in seconds).

Thanks in advance.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

Eddie88 2)Would you say the word in bold would be better as exhausted?

"Exhausting for" is wrong. You could say "... I sat, exhausted by how long I'd been waiting ...", though some people might consider this grammatically very slightly iffy and prefer the more laborious "... I sat, exhausted by the length of time I'd been waiting ...". Alternatively, you could just say "... I sat, exhausted by/from waiting ...", since it's obvious that it's the length of the wait that's caused the exhaustion.

Eddie883)What do you think of this sentence, in terms of style, rather than in terms of word choice? (honesty, as I wrote it in seconds).

I'd find reading a whole page of sentences like this tiresome, but, if used sparingly, I think the style is OK in the right context. Obviously it's a fairly literary style that wouldn't be suitable for, say, a business letter or instruction manual, but I'm sure you already know that.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Eddie883)What do you think of this sentence, in terms of style, rather than in terms of word choice? (honesty, as I wrote it in seconds).

It is a typical style for romance and sci fi novels.

Here are some examples of "exhaust"

Work on the southern farms is labor-intensive and exhausting.
The pentathlon is a grueling sport. Just thinking about it exhausts me.
Although his present daily exercise regime is exhausting, he insists on increasing its intensity a bit more each day.
I was exhausted at the end of the day's march.

Eddie88 · Answer

Thanks, guys.

I do know how to use the word exhausted; I think, in this case, all that is confusing me is the participle form. Exhaust is a verb, exhausting is the present participle for active voice, showing continuous voice, whereas the past participle is either used for the passive voice or for the active voice showing something that has happened. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Could you please explain why I'm incorrect?

Is it simply because it is passive voice? the agent is the phrase 'by waiting'?

I was trying to make the phrase active voice; that is why I used the present participle.

Could you please help me on this.

Thanks!

Mr Wordy · Answer

You may be thinking that the verb "exhaust" can be intransitive. It can -- but not in the sense you want here. (If it could, you could say something like "~~... I sat, exhausting after the long wait ...~~".)

In the sense you want it, "exhaust" is transitive, with a subject doing the exhausting and an object suffering the exhaustion. So (with a totally different meaning, obviously), you could say something like:

"... I sat, exhausting my companion with my lengthy anecdotes ..."

For the meaning you want, though, "I" has to be the object of the verb "exhaust". In the active voice you could write:

"... I sat, the long wait exhausting me ..."

Turning this round the other way (passive voice or adjectival used of "exhausted", depending on how you look at it), it becomes:

"... I sat, exhausted by the long wait ..."

Eddie88 · Answer

Thanks, MrWordy

So if I want it in passive voice, obviously it is exhausted by...

But the way I'm using the verb there is no object and therefore it has to be in passive voice. Is this correct?

Cheers.

Eddie88 · Answer

Venus Williams assured the victory over her exhausted opponent, who slumped to

the ground, unable to attempt a return.

2)The students ran out of the classroom the moment the bell rang, eager to escape

the **** of their grammar lesson.

I have had another opinion agreeing that these are adjective appositives (in bold). Would you also agree?

I walked home with my friends, slowly and quietly.

And this one? What wuld you call the phrase in bold? It's like an adverb appositive. Would it be simply callled an unbound (free modifier) adverb phrase?

Cheers for your thoughts.

Mr Wordy · Answer

Eddie88
So if I want it in passive voice, obviously it is exhausted by...

But the way I'm using the verb there is no object and therefore it has to be in passive voice. Is this correct?

That sounds right... a transitive verb in the active voice would need an object. However, it's a bit of a grey area to me whether a construction like "I sat, exhausted by..." should be classed as a passive use of the verb "exhaust" or whether "exhausted" is behaving more as an adjective. Certainly, in the sentence "I was exhausted", the word "exhausted" seems to me to be purely adjectival (even though structurally the sentence is identical to the passive use of "exhaust").

Perhaps someone more skilled in grammatical analysis will be able to give you a better answer.

(By the way, I noticed something in my earlier post that might have been potentially confusing. When I said "... 'exhaust' is transitive, with a subject doing the exhausting and an object suffering the exhaustion." I was talking about the active voice. In the passive, the original object becomes the grammatical subject.)

Eddie88 · Answer

Thanks again. Yes, I understood what you meant there.

Would you be able to help me with the post directly above your previous post?

Cheers.

Mr Wordy · Answer

Eddie88Would you be able to help me with the post directly above your previous post?

Eddie88Venus Williams assured the victory over her exhausted opponent, who slumped to the ground, unable to attempt a return.

2)The students ran out of the classroom the moment the bell rang, eager to escape

the **** of their grammar lesson.

I have had another opinion agreeing that these are adjective appositives (in bold). Would you also agree?

Grammatical terminology is not my strongest suit, but since these seem to be both adjectival and in apposition, and since they are analogous to other examples labelled as such (e.g. at http://www.jjuriaan.com/The_Big_Four.htm ), yes, I'd agree.

Eddie88
I walked home with my friends, slowly and quietly.

And this one? What wuld you call the phrase in bold? It's like an adverb appositive.

By analogy with "adjective appositive", this seems reasonable, but whether "adverb appositive" is a commonly used term I'm not sure.

Eddie88Would it be simply callled an unbound (free modifier) adverb phrase?

Sorry, I'm really not sure.

Eddie88 · Answer

Hi, thanks for that.

Although we both agree that the phrases discussed may be 'appositive adjectives,' I'm still not certain because definitions of appositive always state that they are next to the word they modify, whereas the phrases we are discussing are not.

But, for piece of mind, until I hear otherwise, I will classify them as such.

The reason I'm asking is not simply to know the name of the phrases, but to know the flexibilty of this phrase's use and placement in a clause; if I get a name for this phrase, I may be able to read and learn of this.

but whether "adverb appositive" is a commonly used term I'm not sure.

I have come accross a site that says such a phrase exists, but other sites do not classify such a phrase as such.

I'd love to know of a book/site that discusses this topic!

Cheers.

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