With his hair combed and shaved

Question

Hi teachers,A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair combed and shaved, moved to a nursing home.1.  I am guessing that he had shaved his beard, not his hair, i.e, "The man was shaved" is it correct?2.  But if the sentence was written as "with his hair combed and styled (gelled).  Styled would immediately described hair, not the man, is it correct?3.  Is the writer's sentence grammatical?Thank you.Tinanam

Kevin Brown · Accepted Answer

1.Yes you are correct.
2.Correct again.
3.It is a good example of poor writing. It is not well formed.

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102Is the writer's sentence grammatical?

It's technically grammatical, but doesn't say what it means, which is a different problem. Here's how I would rewrite it:

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his face shaved and his hair combed, moved to a nursing home last Thursday.

I added the time because the sentence seems to be missing some sort of conclusion.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi CalifJim,

Thank you for your own version. It's much clearer for an English learner.

Hi Kevin Brown.

Thank you for your help.

Avangi · Answer

A native speaker would take "his hair combed and shaved" to mean that his hair was combed and shaved
(he, or someone else, had combed and shaved his hair), which seems like an inefficient way to go about it.

Your assumptions are all correct.

tinanam0102 "The man was shaved" is it correct?

This no doubt describes the reality of the situation.

I was unable to decide if this is your sentence or someone else's, but as an aside, I think "petite" should be avoided in referring to male type individuals - especially to their faces, shaved or otherwise.

Best regards, - A.

CalifJim · Answer

Yes, Tinanam. I didn't want to distract you from the main point of your post by mentioning it, but Avangi's observation is quite right. The adjective petite is almost exclusively reserved for describing the stature of women and girls.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi, Hi CalifJim,

I'm sorry that I had to go back to one question.

1. The man is shaved. If I'm a man and I just shaved my beard a minute ago, can I say "I am shaved and I look clean?" Or should it be "the beard is shaved"?

2. The taxi has arrived. (action involved?)

The taxi is here. (Is it stative?)

3. "These same people are most heavily invested in the market." I understand it "invested" is an adjective and being stative. Which of the following sentences correct If I were to paraphrase it:

These same people have heavily invested themselves in the market.

These same people have heavily been invested in the market.

4. The plane just landed 5 minutes ago. Can one say: The plane is landed. Or As one of the passengers can she say: I'm landed?

Thank you.

Tinanam

Avangi · Answer

tinanam01021. The man is shaved. If I'm a man and I just shaved my beard a minute ago, can I say "I am shaved and I look clean?" Or should it be "the beard is shaved"?

Both are used. (usually, my beard)

tinanam01022. The taxi has arrived. (action involved?)
The taxi is here. (Is it stative?)

Right on both counts.

tinanam01023. "These same people are most heavily invested in the market." I understand it "invested" is an adjective and being stative. Which of the following sentences correct If I were to paraphrase it:
These same people have heavily invested themselves in the market.
These same people have heavily been invested in the market.

The first one is an action (not stative).
The second one (to my ear) is ambiguous (may be taken either way.)
It could be a passive action: Someone has invested me/us/them. (has put money in the market on my behalf)

It could be stative: I am invested. ("I have been in this state for quite some time.")

tinanam01024. The plane just landed 5 minutes ago. Can one say: The plane is landed. Or As one of the passengers can she say: I'm landed?

It's not idiomatic to say "The plane is landed."
We'd say, "The plane is on the ground." "I'm/we're on the ground."

We do, however, say "The plane is grounded" (stative), meaning it is not allowed to fly.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi,

Thank you for your explanation.

Best wishes,

Tinanam

With his hair combed and shaved

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