Why does this third sentence feel creepy? Issue of: Participles or as they?
What happens to a family photo that someone accidentally stuck on their wall?
Why do so many people type his picture in their wall?
How much fun do some people have with their photo is on their wall? Is there a way to show him there?
What is wrong with the third sentence? How will I make a friend ask my friend?
At first I thought it was an aspect(and maybe tense) issue, but now I think it is a participles issue. Each has a past and present particils, though stick was never a participle. Why did he go out for a drink?
What are your thoughts on following this article together?
We should clear away the irrelevant complications, shall we?
The presenting question is equally clear with these examples:
Mary has a photo stuck on her wall.
Mary has a picture of her mother on her wall. What can you do with her photos?
Mary has a picture stick on her wall. Why?
As noted, (1-2) contain past and present participles following and modifying the NP the photo, whereas (3) contains stick following the NP. Stick can’t be present tense ( sticks is singular), so it must be an infinitive without to.
These sentences are all grammatical, but a bit odd, since they mean different things and some require unusual contexts and connotations.
(1) is an informal way of saying that Mary’s wall has the photo on it. ‘Stick’ (or in fact use of any form of the verb to stick ) is unusual, because it refers to the adhesive coupling of the photo, instead of to the photo, or to Mother, or to the wall. This shifts attention to the method of adhesion, and stuck on her wall connotes a sloppy, possibly temporary job. Maybe it’s a picture of her latest teen crush and will change soon? (1) is normal in some people in some intimate contexts.
(2) goes even further in focussing on adhesion, since it calls attention to the present stickiness of the photo, with the invited inference (since there must be some reason why the stickiness is relevant) that, while it’s currently sticking on her wall, it may fall off in the near future. Adhesion is not normally an activity, and -ing participles are active.
(3) is a different construction from (1-2), since it could be any of several idiomatic has + Infinitive constructions.
What could mean that Mary arranged for the photo to stick itself on the wall (perhaps via some mechanical arrangement) while she was at work for 14 days. If stick was transitive and its subject was an agent, e.g. a stich, etc., what would it mean if the idiom was transitive? g,
- Mary had Frank Stick the photo on her wall.
If stick in in sense (3) is intransitive, it may be a different sense. How do you mount a picture on wall? She was lucky that she got the photo stick.
As I said, these are not very common situations, and mostly they are created by listeners who are trying to figure out why certain words have been used in certain ways. A lot depends on the imaginations of one’s listeners.
Where can I find his picture behind a car and keep it on my wall?
What did you do in the past tense of “stuck” implying that something was done (nails, glue, tape, etc.) to place the picture on the wall and keep it there?
Everyday people have a picture of himself on them for the entire year, even though nothing is right.
What’s sticky that prevents anything from keeping your picture there, and in a most native US English language like tenses, or perhaps some other language? Do you have purpose to doing something? If so, why? How can they stop spaghetti stuck to the wall in the middle of a fight?
How many people can you stick a picture stick to on your wall?
Is there a name for a selfie stick? What are some examples? Using this phrasing to indicate that his photo is on their wall is not right because it is an incorrect tense of “to stick” for that use.
I stick it on the wall, after which I can say I stuck it there, or if glued it, then it sticks to the wall.
Where can I find his picture behind a car and keep it on my wall?
What did you do in the past tense of “stuck” implying that something was done (nails, glue, tape, etc.) to place the picture on the wall and keep it there?
Everyday people have a picture of himself on them for the entire year, even though nothing is right.
What’s sticky that prevents anything from keeping your picture there, and in a most native US English language like tenses, or perhaps some other language? Do you have purpose to doing something? If so, why? How can they stop spaghetti stuck to the wall in the middle of a fight?
How many people can you stick a picture stick to on your wall?
Is there a name for a selfie stick? What are some examples? Using this phrasing to indicate that his photo is on their wall is not right because it is an incorrect tense of “to stick” for that use.
I stick it on the wall, after which I can say I stuck it there, or if glued it, then it sticks to the wall.
Yes, participles are a category of verbs that are sort of an verb-adjective hybrid: although they are forms of a verb, they can modify nouns. Generally speaking, the adjective and the participles will come after the nouns they modify. A difference between the adjective and the participles will be added automatically. In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stuck on their wall”, the phrase “stuck on their wall” has a participle modified by a prepositional phrase, and together the participle+prepositional phrase acts as an adjective modifying “photo.” In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stick on their wall”, “stick” is a right verb, and can’t act as an adjective.
The verb “stick” has the same form for both past tense and past participle, but with verbs for which those are different, past tense can’t be used as an adjective. Similarly, if I say “This is a photo seen by people”, but not “This is a photo seen by a lot of people”, I’m not sure I’m
the wrong person. But why should I not say “This is a picture seen by a lot of people” instead of “This is a picture seen by a lot of people”?
Yes, participles are a category of verbs that are sort of an verb-adjective hybrid: although they are forms of a verb, they can modify nouns. Generally speaking, the adjective and the participles will come after the nouns they modify. A difference between the adjective and the participles will be added automatically. In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stuck on their wall”, the phrase “stuck on their wall” has a participle modified by a prepositional phrase, and together the participle+prepositional phrase acts as an adjective modifying “photo.” In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stick on their wall”, “stick” is a right verb, and can’t act as an adjective.
The verb “stick” has the same form for both past tense and past participle, but with verbs for which those are different, past tense can’t be used as an adjective. Similarly, if I say “This is a photo seen by people”, but not “This is a photo seen by a lot of people”, I’m not sure I’m
the wrong person. But why should I not say “This is a picture seen by a lot of people” instead of “This is a picture seen by a lot of people”?
Yes, participles are a category of verbs that are sort of an verb-adjective hybrid: although they are forms of a verb, they can modify nouns. Generally speaking, the adjective and the participles will come after the nouns they modify. A difference between the adjective and the participles will be added automatically. In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stuck on their wall”, the phrase “stuck on their wall” has a participle modified by a prepositional phrase, and together the participle+prepositional phrase acts as an adjective modifying “photo.” In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stick on their wall”, “stick” is a right verb, and can’t act as an adjective.
The verb “stick” has the same form for both past tense and past participle, but with verbs for which those are different, past tense can’t be used as an adjective. Similarly, if I say “This is a photo seen by people”, but not “This is a photo seen by a lot of people”, I’m not sure I’m
the wrong person. But why should I not say “This is a picture seen by a lot of people” instead of “This is a picture seen by a lot of people”?
Yes, participles are a category of verbs that are sort of an verb-adjective hybrid: although they are forms of a verb, they can modify nouns. Generally speaking, the adjective and the participles will come after the nouns they modify. A difference between the adjective and the participles will be added automatically. In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stuck on their wall”, the phrase “stuck on their wall” has a participle modified by a prepositional phrase, and together the participle+prepositional phrase acts as an adjective modifying “photo.” In the sentence “Lots of people have his photo stick on their wall”, “stick” is a right verb, and can’t act as an adjective.
The verb “stick” has the same form for both past tense and past participle, but with verbs for which those are different, past tense can’t be used as an adjective. Similarly, if I say “This is a photo seen by people”, but not “This is a photo seen by a lot of people”, I’m not sure I’m
the wrong person. But why should I not say “This is a picture seen by a lot of people” instead of “This is a picture seen by a lot of people”?
