Is there such a thing as a proper verb, like a proper noun?
I was taught in school many years ago (in the 1960s) that there is no such thing as a proper verb. Example: I used the Xerox machine and xeroxed the document.
Or: I will use my bottle of Windex to windex the mirror.
Is this corrector not?
verbs
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
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asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
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I was taught in school many years ago (in the 1960s) that there is no such thing as a proper verb. Example: I used the Xerox machine and xeroxed the document.
Or: I will use my bottle of Windex to windex the mirror.
Is this corrector not?
verbs
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago
add a comment |
I was taught in school many years ago (in the 1960s) that there is no such thing as a proper verb. Example: I used the Xerox machine and xeroxed the document.
Or: I will use my bottle of Windex to windex the mirror.
Is this corrector not?
verbs
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I was taught in school many years ago (in the 1960s) that there is no such thing as a proper verb. Example: I used the Xerox machine and xeroxed the document.
Or: I will use my bottle of Windex to windex the mirror.
Is this corrector not?
verbs
verbs
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
edited 1 hour ago
Araucaria
35.6k1071149
35.6k1071149
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
asked 5 hours ago
Joyce LongJoyce Long
111
111
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Joyce Long is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago
add a comment |
I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago
I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago
I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
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The Cambridge Dictionary gives the capitalised verb:
On the basis that dictionaries are authorities on whether a word is a word or not—at least for pedants—English does indeed appear to have proper verbs, so to speak.
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
add a comment |
The word "xeroxed" is an example of conversion. Conversion means the change of a word class without a change in form. It is very productive in English. For example, I can use the noun bottle and turn it into a verb he bottled the milk, or the adjective green and turn it into a noun we went out into the green, an ungradable adjective like English and turn it into a gradable adjective, he is very English, etc. In your case, you took a proper noun, Xerox, and turned it into a verb, to xerox. That does not make the resulting word a "proper verb", which is not even a recognized category in linguistics. It makes it a verb converted from a proper noun.
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
add a comment |
Your examples illustrate metonymy
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metonymy)
Another example of the metonymy is
boycott.
According to Etymologyonline:
1880, noun and verb,
"to combine in refusing to have dealings with, and preventing or discouraging others from doing so, as punishment for political or other differences."
From Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897).
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
add a comment |
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The Cambridge Dictionary gives the capitalised verb:
On the basis that dictionaries are authorities on whether a word is a word or not—at least for pedants—English does indeed appear to have proper verbs, so to speak.
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
add a comment |
The Cambridge Dictionary gives the capitalised verb:
On the basis that dictionaries are authorities on whether a word is a word or not—at least for pedants—English does indeed appear to have proper verbs, so to speak.
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
add a comment |
The Cambridge Dictionary gives the capitalised verb:
On the basis that dictionaries are authorities on whether a word is a word or not—at least for pedants—English does indeed appear to have proper verbs, so to speak.
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
The Cambridge Dictionary gives the capitalised verb:
On the basis that dictionaries are authorities on whether a word is a word or not—at least for pedants—English does indeed appear to have proper verbs, so to speak.
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
answered 4 hours ago
AraucariaAraucaria
35.6k1071149
35.6k1071149
add a comment |
add a comment |
The word "xeroxed" is an example of conversion. Conversion means the change of a word class without a change in form. It is very productive in English. For example, I can use the noun bottle and turn it into a verb he bottled the milk, or the adjective green and turn it into a noun we went out into the green, an ungradable adjective like English and turn it into a gradable adjective, he is very English, etc. In your case, you took a proper noun, Xerox, and turned it into a verb, to xerox. That does not make the resulting word a "proper verb", which is not even a recognized category in linguistics. It makes it a verb converted from a proper noun.
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
add a comment |
The word "xeroxed" is an example of conversion. Conversion means the change of a word class without a change in form. It is very productive in English. For example, I can use the noun bottle and turn it into a verb he bottled the milk, or the adjective green and turn it into a noun we went out into the green, an ungradable adjective like English and turn it into a gradable adjective, he is very English, etc. In your case, you took a proper noun, Xerox, and turned it into a verb, to xerox. That does not make the resulting word a "proper verb", which is not even a recognized category in linguistics. It makes it a verb converted from a proper noun.
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
add a comment |
The word "xeroxed" is an example of conversion. Conversion means the change of a word class without a change in form. It is very productive in English. For example, I can use the noun bottle and turn it into a verb he bottled the milk, or the adjective green and turn it into a noun we went out into the green, an ungradable adjective like English and turn it into a gradable adjective, he is very English, etc. In your case, you took a proper noun, Xerox, and turned it into a verb, to xerox. That does not make the resulting word a "proper verb", which is not even a recognized category in linguistics. It makes it a verb converted from a proper noun.
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
The word "xeroxed" is an example of conversion. Conversion means the change of a word class without a change in form. It is very productive in English. For example, I can use the noun bottle and turn it into a verb he bottled the milk, or the adjective green and turn it into a noun we went out into the green, an ungradable adjective like English and turn it into a gradable adjective, he is very English, etc. In your case, you took a proper noun, Xerox, and turned it into a verb, to xerox. That does not make the resulting word a "proper verb", which is not even a recognized category in linguistics. It makes it a verb converted from a proper noun.
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
answered 3 hours ago
Richard ZRichard Z
1,162214
1,162214
add a comment |
add a comment |
Your examples illustrate metonymy
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metonymy)
Another example of the metonymy is
boycott.
According to Etymologyonline:
1880, noun and verb,
"to combine in refusing to have dealings with, and preventing or discouraging others from doing so, as punishment for political or other differences."
From Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897).
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Your examples illustrate metonymy
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metonymy)
Another example of the metonymy is
boycott.
According to Etymologyonline:
1880, noun and verb,
"to combine in refusing to have dealings with, and preventing or discouraging others from doing so, as punishment for political or other differences."
From Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897).
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Your examples illustrate metonymy
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metonymy)
Another example of the metonymy is
boycott.
According to Etymologyonline:
1880, noun and verb,
"to combine in refusing to have dealings with, and preventing or discouraging others from doing so, as punishment for political or other differences."
From Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897).
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
Your examples illustrate metonymy
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metonymy)
Another example of the metonymy is
boycott.
According to Etymologyonline:
1880, noun and verb,
"to combine in refusing to have dealings with, and preventing or discouraging others from doing so, as punishment for political or other differences."
From Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897).
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
answered 4 hours ago
user307254user307254
3,9902516
3,9902516
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
add a comment |
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
1
1
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
That’s not metonymy. The definition you give is correct but it doesn’t apply to the example at all?!
– Richard Z
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Joyce Long is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Joyce Long is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Joyce Long is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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I guess your examples are just standard ways to change nouns into verbs
– Stefan
5 hours ago