April in WA Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Grammar ladies, Please help my son and I with a sentence in his grammar lesson today. The sentence reads: The children could hardly sleep, for they were excited. Our question deals with the last part of this compound sentence. We agree "were" is a verb, but what kind of verb-linking or helping? My answer key says "excited" is a verb, but my son feels it's a predicate adjective with "were" being a linking verb. I can't say for sure. I'm sure there is some rule we are forgetting. Please help. Thanks, April in WA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Our question deals with the last part of this compound sentence. We agree "were" is a verb, but what kind of verb-linking or helping? My answer key says "excited" is a verb, but my son feels it's a predicate adjective with "were" being a linking verb. I can't say for sure.Good for your son. :) I agree with him. "Excited" can be used as a verb, but in the sense that something/one excites something else. That isn't happening here. So, "were" is a linking verb and "excited" is a predicate adjective. they = excited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Agreeing with your son. "They" isn't actually exciting anything. Exciting describes "they." Good for your son! He found a mistake in the key!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plimsoll Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree with the other posters. Excited would be a past tense verb if it were used with a form of to have: have excited (something/someone), had excited (something/someone), would have excited (something/someone), etc. Another clue is that excite is a transitive verb, so when used as a verb, it needs a direct object, which it does not have in the clause we are examining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlifemom Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Another vote for your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree that it's a predicate adjective in this context. The sentence would need to say what the children had been excited by in order for "excited" to be playing a different role. As one poster said, "excite" is transitive, so you often see it in sentences like this one: "bright lights and happy music excite children." But if you instead had a sentence that said "the nerve endings were excited by electrical impulses," or "the children were excited from their naps by a loud bang," then "were" would be a helping verb (in a passive construction). This type of passive verb construction is just the inversion of the transitive verb-direct object construction. (The direct object in "electrical impulses excite nerve endings" becomes the subject of a passive verb in "nerve endings are excited by electrical impulses.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in WA Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 Thank you grammarians for the thorough explainations! My son is quite proud of himself. I am proud of him also. Blessings, April in WA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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