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Re: CHAT: (no subject)

From:Sheets, Jeff <jsheets@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 16, 1999, 21:06
As a description of an RPN based lang:

Nouns take no arguments, and are treated as nouns by all other words.

Adjectives must be preceded by a noun, modify the meaning of that noun, and
the adjective and the noun (whether a noun or a phrase of words resolving
into a noun) are considered to be just a single noun.

Verbs are tricky. For example:

I run

In this case the verb "run" can be considered to be a simple verb, which
takes only one argument, the person, or creature which runs, or the "Actor"

I home run-to

In this case the verb "run-to" takes two arguments, the Actor, and the place
to which the actor runs, or the "Focus" of the action.

Adding a tense system to this is simple.  The word "ed" is the past tense
adverb, and makes a preceding Verb past tense.  The word "will" is the
future tense adverb, and makes the preceding Verb future tense.  All adverbs
resolve as verbs, allowing multiple adverbs to be put together in a serial
construction following the verb.

I run ed
Which means "I ran."

I home run-to will
Which means "I'll run home."

Multiple adverbs are demonstrated in this example:
He run ed well fast
He run ed means "He ran"
He run ed well means "He ran well"
He run ed well fast means "He ran well and fast."

Now we get to transitivity, with examples represented by the verb to kill.

I he kill ed
Which means "I killed him."  "He" is the Patient of the verb kill, a patient
is the one who experiences a state of being, or a change of state of being.

he kill-was ed
The verb "kill-was" takes only a single argument, that being the Patient, or
that which is or was killed.  This phrase means "He was killed."

he kill-was ed knife by
"By" is an adverbial preposition, taking a verb (or verb phrase) follwed by
a noun or noun phrase.  It indicates the instrument of the verb.

This is just a basic look at an example RPN grammar.