implicit/implied (was Re: PSAT Glitch)

[P2052 at AOL.COM]

I look at a possessive noun in the same way I look at a verb(al).  While a
verbal retains the properties of a verb (It can take an object; it can have a
subject; it retains the characteristic the verb ending [-ing, -ed, -en]), it no
longer functions as a verb.  It functions as another part of speech--a
nominal, an adjectival, or an adverbial.

Except in some nonstandard dialects, one cannot say, "She sewing."  But,
"Sewing is her favorite hobby" is acceptable.  We even have special names for
these "tricky" phenomena (gerunds, participles, infinitives).  When a word has
both the form and function of a verb, it is finite and there should be no
confusion.  But when it has the form of a verb and the function of other parts of
speech, do we still dare teach it as a verb?  Or do we teach it as what it is
functioning as?  Many textbooks discuss the verbal only briefly at the end of the
chapter on verbs.

There is a similar reaction to the possessive noun (Maybe it should be called
a "nounal" to capture that inconsistency between form and function.)  While
it still obviously has characteristics of a noun (One can easily recognize that
it began as a noun), it is no longer functioning as a noun.  It now functions
adjectivally.  Like the verbal, which looks like a verb but functions as a
nominal, adjectival or adverbial, the possessive noun is no longer considered to
be functioning as a nominal.  Thus, just as the verbal retains
characteristics of the verb itself, but loses the verb's key defining quality--finiteness--,
the possessive noun retains the recognizable (surface) features of a noun;
however, it loses the essence of a noun.  That is, it can not be pluralized; it
can not serve in a nominal position (as subject or object), nor, consequently,
can it be the antecedent of a pronoun).  Of course, if you drop the
apostrophe s ('s), the word regains its "nounness," but then you are back to square
one.

I think these authors use the word implicit to capture the discrepancy
between form and function--that is, between how it looks (form) and how it behaves
(function).
P-A-T