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Re: [ontolog-forum] Capable Participials

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:17:49 -0400
Message-id: <51C04FED.9090209@xxxxxxxxxxx>
On 6/18/2013 2:18 AM, jmcclure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> It seems that all past participle adjectives are subtypes of Capable,
> as in: "All Reviewed Things are and must be Reviewable Things"    (01)

That observation follows from English syntax and semantics:    (02)

  1. For any transitive verb V, it's possible to form a past participle
     by adding -ed:  V-ed  (although sometimes "-ed" is spelled "-en"
     or some more complex variant like buy -> bought).    (03)

  2. For any verb with any number of roles, it's possible to state
     constraints on each of the roles.  For example, 'give' has three
     roles: "X1 gives X2 X3", where X1 must be animate (human, animal,
     or robot that is considered animate), X2 must also be animate,
     and X3 can be any physical entity.    (04)

  3. For any transitive verb V, something that is V-able must satisfy
     the constraints expected of the direct object of V.    (05)

  4. Therefore, anything that is V-ed or V-able must satisfy the
     same constraints.    (06)

By the way, the expected constraints may be violated, as in
a joke, metaphor, or innovation:  "I gave my pet rock a bath."
In this example, the rock is treated as if it were animate.    (07)

Note that it's possible to give somebody the result of a verb:
to give someone a kiss, kick, shock, hair cut, surprise...    (08)

John    (09)

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