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ishu
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Finish as an intransitive verb
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Hello everyone,
A couple of days ago, I was in a friendly discussion with a colleague of mine whether the use of "finish" in the following sentence was correct or not:
Has my beer finished again?
I know that "finish" can be used both as a transitive verb and as an intransitive verb in different meanings in different contexts. What do you think about the above sentence? Is it grammatically a correct sentence?
Thanks for your input in advance :) |
13 Sep 2010
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yanogator
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I don �t know about British English on this, but it definitely does not work in US English.
Bruce |
13 Sep 2010
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Zora
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The sentence make no sense... sorry.
Might be that you want this sentence:
"Who has finished my beer?"
OR
"Has the beer been finished off already?" (meaning the beer is gone... and the person talking is quite surprised by this.)
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13 Sep 2010
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ishu
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In Longman English Dictionary Online, it says:
7 use all of something
[intransitive and transitive] British English to completely use up the supply of something, especially food:
The ice cream �s finished - can you get some more?
So, if we can say "the ice cream has finished", why can �t we say "has my beer finished?"
Thanks for your replies :)
Isil |
13 Sep 2010
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dawnmain
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To finish - to use all of something.
In Britain we wouldnt say the ice cream has finished. it would be the ice cream is finished.
Or I have finished the ice cream. Not the other way round.
In my opinion it can �t be active because the ice cream hasnt done anything.
The film has finished. (the film does the finishing)
regards
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13 Sep 2010
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Bruna Dutra
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I may be wrong, but I believe that in that dictionary example the construction used for the ice cream sentence is the passive voice, not present perfect. Meaning, the ice-cream is over/finished (someone ate it all). Or maybe not passive voice, but the verb is acting as an adjective.
But you couldn �t say that the ice-cream/beer has used all of something, could you?
From English literally to Portuguese, that sentence would make sense too, but not in English.
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13 Sep 2010
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moravc
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has my beer finished?
that would mean the "ACTOR" is the beer...
the beer has finished itself = the beer has drunk itself
So the sentence "Has my beer finished" doesn �t make sense... Sorry...
So there are several options how to say there is no beer left:
Has the beer been finished (again)? = Wow! Somebody has drunk all my beer again!
or a funny sentence:
Has my bear finished? = Has my bear finished doing something - funny things? :-D
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13 Sep 2010
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ishu
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Thanks for the replies.
Hmmm.. I see your point, but then I wonder why the dictionary gives the use as both intransitive and transitive. Doesn �t intransitive mean that a verb does not require the use of an object? What confuses me is that it could have given the verb as transitive only and then used it in the passive form.
Isil
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13 Sep 2010
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ishu
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Thank you all for helping me out :) |
13 Sep 2010
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