Re: Number and noun terminology questions
| From: | Muke Tever <hotblack@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, February 8, 2004, 9:29 |
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On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 14:59:43 -0800, Costentin Cornomorus
<elemtilas@...> wrote:
>> "Agent."
>>
>> And is there such a thing as patient nouns?
>
> Sure. "Teacher" etc.
rofl :)
Patient nouns exist, yeah, and sometimes even in forms matching the agent
nouns; for example, |employer, employee| (both from the verb |employ|). I
dont think they're too common in English though; AFAICT in many languages
it's usually formed from past participles of the verb, but in English,
this is more adjective-like than noun-like, except in collective senses
("benefits for teh unemployed"). There are some exceptions, though;
|beloved| comes to mind.
(You could be picky and say these are verb forms, but even the PIE
agent-noun-former -t-r shows up as a verbal form in Skt., so the line is
slightly thin.)
*Muke!
--
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