motionless or motionlessly

[w***@yahoo.com]

There is one sentence I am not sure if the suggested answer is
correct:

The hunter stood staring at the body of the lion lying ______ on the
ground. (motionless | motionlessly)

I thought it should be "motionlessly", because the adverb will modify
the verb lying. But the given answer is "motionless". Could you help
me on this?

Wen-Feng Hsiao

[g***@ankerstein.org]

Post by w***@yahoo.com
There is one sentence I am not sure if the suggested answer is
The hunter stood staring at the body of the lion lying ______ on the
ground. (motionless | motionlessly)
I thought it should be "motionlessly", because the adverb will modify
the verb lying. But the given answer is "motionless". Could you help
me on this?
Wen-Feng Hsiao

Motionless. The body is motionless. Thus the use of an adjective.

GFH

[Cece]

Post by w***@yahoo.com
There is one sentence I am not sure if the suggested answer is
The hunter stood staring at the body of the lion lying ______ on the
ground. (motionless | motionlessly)
I thought it should be "motionlessly", because the adverb will modify
the verb lying. But the given answer is "motionless". Could you help
me on this?
Wen-Feng Hsiao

Motionless.  The body is motionless.  Thus the use of an adjective.
GFH

Rethink your classification of "lying." It is not being used as a
verb, but as a description of position. Motionless extends that
description of the body of the lion; use the adjective.

[mm]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:50:31 -0700 (PDT), Cece

Post by Cece

Post by w***@yahoo.com
There is one sentence I am not sure if the suggested answer is
The hunter stood staring at the body of the lion lying ______ on the
ground. (motionless | motionlessly)
I thought it should be "motionlessly", because the adverb will modify
the verb lying. But the given answer is "motionless". Could you help
me on this?
Wen-Feng Hsiao

Motionless.  The body is motionless.  Thus the use of an adjective.
GFH

Rethink your classification of "lying." It is not being used as a
verb, but as a description of position.

Well, it's still used as a verb, but a verb that in this use is a lot
like "is"**. It's more true the lion is motionless than that the lion
is lying in a motionless manner. Of course if one is true so is the
other, but the custom is to emphasize thta it's the lion that is
motionless.

**There are a lot of verbs in addition to "is" that are followed by
predicate adjectives, you sound horse, you appear sick, you seem
tired, you lie motionless.

Post by Cece
Motionless extends that
description of the body of the lion; use the adjective.

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

[Robert Lieblich]

Post by mm
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:50:31 -0700 (PDT), Cece

Post by Cece

Post by g***@ankerstein.org

Post by w***@yahoo.com
There is one sentence I am not sure if the suggested answer is
The hunter stood staring at the body of the lion lying ______ on the
ground. (motionless | motionlessly)
I thought it should be "motionlessly", because the adverb will modify
the verb lying. But the given answer is "motionless". Could you help
me on this?

Motionless. The body is motionless. Thus the use of an adjective.
GFH

Rethink your classification of "lying." It is not being used as a
verb, but as a description of position.

Well, it's still used as a verb, but a verb that in this use is a lot
like "is"**. It's more true the lion is motionless than that the lion
is lying in a motionless manner. Of course if one is true so is the
other, but the custom is to emphasize thta it's the lion that is
motionless.
**There are a lot of verbs in addition to "is" that are followed by
predicate adjectives, you sound horse, you appear sick, you seem
tired, you lie motionless.

Post by Cece
Motionless extends that
description of the body of the lion; use the adjective.

What I think everyone else is trying to say, but without using the
label, is that "lie" in its present participial form "lying" is used
here as a copulative (linking) verb form. Its complement is therefore
an adjective rather than an adverb. Consider these three sentences:

He is motionless.
He looks motionless
He lies motionless

They are parallel structures, each with a subject, a linking verb, and
a predicate adjective. The adjective describes the subject "he."
Compare:

He thinks motionlessly

(It's not easy to think of good examples for the adverbial form no
matter what the verb.) In that sentence the verb "thinks" is modified
-- the modifier tells you in what manner the person is thinking -- so
the adverb is used. There's sure no way to tell whether the adjective
or adverb is used simply by looking at the form of the sentence,
although there is probably a list somewhere of verbs that can be used
compulatively, and I'm reasonably sure that "is," look" and "lie" are
on it and "think" is not.