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Jo jo Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Verb or adjective

I'm struggling with verbs and adjectives - can anyone tell me, in the sentence "Then he sank trembling into a chair", is trembling a verb or an adjective and how do you decide if it is a verb or adjective? Thanks

  

Top answer

Then he sank trembling into a chair. I'd take "trembling" to be an verb since it denotes an action. Note that it's not fussy about its position -- it can be moved to the front of the clause: Trembling, he then sank into a chair or to the end: He then sank into a chair, trembling.

  • Then he sank trembling into a chair.
  • I'd take "trembling" to be an verb since it denotes an action.
  • Note that it's not fussy about its position -- it can be moved to the front of the clause: Trembling, he then sank into a chair or to the end: He then sank into a chair, trembling.
  • Its function is depictive adjunct , giving descriptive information about the referent of "he".
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1 Answers
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Then he sank trembling into a chair.

I'd take "trembling" to be an verb since it denotes an action. Note that it's not fussy about its position -- it can be moved to the front of the clause: Trembling, he then sank into a chair or to the end: He then sank into a chair, trembling.

Its function is depictive adjunct, giving descriptive information about th

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