Re: The Conversive
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, November 3, 2004, 1:43 |
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On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 19:57:39 +0000, caeruleancentaur
<caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> What is also interesting is the English past participle with un- when
> the verb denotes a concept that can't be reversed. Unaccompanied,
> but one can't unaccompany someone. Uncounted, but one can't uncount
> something. Etc.
They're cases like un(counted), though, not like (uncount)ed. The "ed" is
doing something like deriving an adjective from a verb, and is not really
deriving a tense, except insomuchas the form *looks* like a past form,
physically. The "un" is then added, to mean something like "lack of". The
"un-x-ed" forms can be used in non-past tenses, quite freely.
Paul