Just wondering...

[CarlusMagnus]

A discussion of grammar in another thread got me to wondering...

Why isn't fuck considered a copulative verb?

 

[sr71plt]

What makes you think it isn't?

 

[Hypoxia]

Into how many parts of speech can [b[fuck[/b] be compartmentalized?

Verb: Let's fuck.
Noun: You're a silly fuck.
Adjective: That's one fucked duck.

I'm anorexic at the moment so I'll let others continue the series.

 

[oggbashan]

Fucking is a proper noun when it refers to a village in Austria.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Into how many parts of speech can [b[fuck[/b] be compartmentalized?

Verb: Let's fuck.
Noun: You're a silly fuck.
Adjective: That's one fucked duck.

I'm anorexic at the moment so I'll let others continue the series.

I'm not sure it's fair to use fucked. That's a participial form, and doesn't make the word fuck itself function as an adjective. Same for fucking, which is either a participle or a gerund, depending on the way it's used.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm not sure it's fair to use fucked. That's a participial form, and doesn't make the word fuck itself function as an adjective. Same for fucking, which is either a participle or a gerund, depending on the way it's used.

"Fuck Stick" and "Fuck Toy" would be examples of "fuck" used as an adjective -- a noun adjunct, to be precise.

I'm still working on "fuck" as a copulative verb. That's trickier. But intriguing.

"Fuck!" could be an interjection.

Adverb, article, preposition, and conjunction prospects don't look good.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Fuck" as a copulative verb would be similar to the word "smells" in the sentence "The flower smells good." In that sentence "good" is an adjective that modifies "flower" rather than an adverb that modifies "smells."

"They fucked hot and heavy" is an irregular or colloquial usage but one where the terms "hot and heavy" modify "they" rather than "fucked", therefore making "fucked" a copulative verb in that sentence.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

"They fucked hot and heavy" is an irregular or colloquial usage but one where the terms "hot and heavy" modify "they" rather than "fucked", therefore making "fucked" a copulative verb in that sentence.

That seems doubtful to me. Which is "hot and heavy"? Them? or the fucking? I'd go with the latter.

 

[SimonDoom]

That seems doubtful to me. Which is "hot and heavy"? Them? or the fucking? I'd go with the latter.

It's stretching things. It's not a usage that any grammar teacher would approve of.

But "hot and heavy" are adjectives, so they can't modify "fucking". If you accept the sentence at all, it's more like a predicate adjective.

I agree it's dubious.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

…It's not a usage that any grammar teacher would approve of.

I think that applies to the whole sentence, precisely because "hot" and "heavy" in which adjectives used to modify the verb. Or do you insist that it is "they" who are "hot and heavy"? That strikes me as a difficult defense.