very giving

[Thomas Paikeday]

DOUG WILSON,

This is wonderful! "She sure seems giving and kind" is the kind of
citation I was looking for. But don't you need a special engine of some
sort to search the string through the long passages of the other four
websites? What's the secret? Finding citations seems a cinch with your
resources. Help appreciated.

TOM PAIKEDAY


"Douglas G. Wilson" wrote:
>
> >I was interested in "to seem giving," etc. because, as grammmarians
> >know, the four criteria for adjectives (See Quirk, et. al.:
> >_Comprehensive Grammar_, 1985) are (1) attributive use; (2) predicative
> >use with copula "seem"; (3) premodification by "very"; and (4)
> >comparability. "Giving" seems to fail the second criterion. I wonder if
> >there is a linguistic theory or model that covers this kind of
> >participial adjective formation.
>
> Examples of "seem giving" on the Web:
>
> http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/985/4344/14
>
> http://home.c2i.net/jos2001/eng/spinal.html
>
> http://www.wisdomsdoor.com/rc4/hrc4-17.shtml
>
> http://www.korealink.com/singles/female/newyork/profile/1992.shtml
>
> http://www.eyrie.org/ftp/lists/superguy/superguy.981221
>
> I don't like this usage very much, but that wasn't one of the criteria, was
> it? (^_^)
>
> -- Doug Wilson