Talk:business

I reverted the change to link to the adjective organized rather than the verb organize.--Brett 11:56, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry. I viewed organized as a past participle being used as a modifier. Are we going to have separate adjective entries for each participle of verbs used in adjectival form? It seems that will lead to a lot of added entries. I see that Miriam-Webster's Collegiate has a separate entry for organized. American Heritage Dictionary: College Edition and Random House Unabridged do not have an entry or mention of organized as an adjective. likewise, Meriam-Webster's collegiate gives a separate entry for forgotten, while the other 2 do not. Damaged (as in damaged goods) is not mentioned in any of the dix. Granted, there are adjectival forms that have connotations that are not suggested by the verb -- such as learned, for which all three dix have separate entries. Well, I don't mean to make a federal case of it, but I just don't know about separate listings for all possible adjectival form of verbs. I'll gladly accede to having a separate entry for organized as a past-participle and link to it.

There are some words that end in -ed, such as organized, which are true adjectives even though they are verbs historically (e.g., interested & surprised). But most verbs that look like past participles remain past participles, even when they premodify a noun. Compare:

She's an organized woman. (adj) She seemed very organized.	He was a marked man. (verb) *He seemed very marked.
He was a reserved man. (adj) He seemed very reserved.	We had reserved seats. (verb) *The seats seemed very reserved.

Typically, adjectives can be distinguished from verbs by their ability to be modified by very, so, & too, to be graded either inflectionally or by more/most, and to act as complements to linking verbs such as seem, appear, etc.--Brett 10:32, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

OK, thanks. That could be a tricky distinction, as in all things, but I'll keep it in mind. Grapeguy 16:07, 12 February 2008 (UTC)