Timeline for Which part of speech is "left" in "now there are only 5 cars left"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
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| Jul 23, 2022 at 6:19 | comment | added | brilliant | There is no need to remove your reply. Your reply is a great input into the subject matter and may be useful for those who will land on this page in the future. It is just that since you insist that this is not a personal rule and is really just using the language as it is defined and, besides, it is also a convention on this website to provide answers with authoritative sources, it would be good if you added some link to that rule in your reply. | |
| Jul 22, 2022 at 20:57 | comment | added | Blue Dev | @brilliant I can concede that it is certainly more natural to use "Now we only have four such pencils left" than to say "Now only four such pencils remain in our possession". But I have to insist that this is not a personal rule and is really just using the language as it is defined... not all natural conversation is actually correct. As a matter of fact, much of it is not and it is why English is one of the most difficult languages to learn. But if we are aiming for most natural, then I am happy to remove my answer. | |
| Jul 22, 2022 at 17:39 | comment | added | brilliant | Well, I see where you are coming from, but I think this is a rule, which you are creating for yourself. In most cases, it is a correct one, but, perhaps, you need something more substantial than that before you can claim that saying "Now we only have four such pencils left" is less natural than saying "Now only four such pencils remain in our possession" | |
| Jul 22, 2022 at 14:10 | comment | added | Blue Dev | To minimize comments, I will explain my reasoning. "Leave" is an active verb performed by a subject; an object is always required, but is often omitted and instead assumed (if you leave a party, you can simply say "I left."). So if any thing is ever left, it implies that something performed the action of leaving that thing. If there is no subject which could have performed the leaving action, then "left" is the incorrect word to use and the object, instead, is the subject. This is why "only (qty) of subject remains" is a better, more precise sentence. | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 15:47 | comment | added | brilliant | (3) You may consider another example: "The hurricane killed the only authentic Sequoya tree in Asia yesterday. So now only five genuine Sequoya trees are left in this world, and they are all in the USA." Those trees in the USA have never been exposed to that hurricane that took place in Asia. That hurricane has never been directed at them. There was simply not a slightest case of interaction between that hurricane and those trees, and those trees have never been in that hurricane's possession. Same with the four pencils and the toddler. | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 15:47 | comment | added | brilliant | (2) Besides, when someone leaves something, at the very least he or she firstly has that something in his/her possession before leaving that something. However, the other four pencils in my example might have not been anywhere near the toddler. They might have been in some other room and the toddler might have not even known of their existence. Thus, the action of breaking was not directed at them at all. | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 15:47 | comment | added | brilliant | (1) There might have been no intent, but, at the very least, the object was exposed to the actor's action, that is, the actor's action was directed at the object. Like in your example with books, my action of picking up was directed at some point at the book, except in case with that book the action was not carried out successfully. | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 13:57 | comment | added | Blue Dev | (1) I haven't stated at any point that it has to do with intent; I would even say that it has nothing to do with intent, and only to do with an active vs passive verb. The toddler did leave them unbroken, whether he intended to or not. For instance, if you set down a pile of books and then hurriedly picked them back up and walked away, but you accidentally left one behind, it does not mean you intended to leave a book, simply that you did, indeed, leave a book; there was one book left on the ground. Intent plays no part in whether a verb is active or passive. | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 7:24 | comment | added | brilliant | (2) I would even doubt the notion that saying "now only four pencils remain" is more suitable in this case than "now there are only four pencils left". | |
| Jul 20, 2022 at 7:24 | comment | added | brilliant | (1) I understand your points. "...and that "left" is always (except when opposite of "right" or used in politics) the past-tense form of "leave"" - Are you sure about it? Consider this example: "Until before yesterday there were five of these special trademark multicolored pencils in our house. Sadly, my two-year old son broke one of them yesterday, so now there are only four of them left." Would you insist that a toddler had an original intention of breaking all pencils, but then had a second thought, had "some mercy" on the other four and, thus, left them to be? | |
| Jul 19, 2022 at 19:56 | comment | added | Blue Dev | (2) Sure, you could change the sentence, and then "left" would be absolutely okay. But without changing the sentence, leaving it as it is, it is not as correct (though it would still be quite acceptable by most people). As stated in my above comment, this is not a rule which is taught from textbooks, yet has (as is apparent) caused questions to arise as to the proper use or classification of the word(s). | |
| Jul 19, 2022 at 19:54 | comment | added | Blue Dev | (1) You are free to think as you wish. Not every single rule of English is written in a book or on the internet, so the only source I have for this is logical reasoning and personal debates among my peers. The fact remains that "to leave" has to be done by someone or something, and that "left" is always (except when opposite of "right" or used in politics) the past-tense form of "leave". Your turtle example, I would argue, is therefore not perfectly correct. | |
| Jul 19, 2022 at 15:51 | comment | added | brilliant | (2) Besides, the whole example in my question could have been written in the way of "having been driven away" and then the final sentence would have been absolutely okay: "One car was driven away 10 minutes ago. Two more cars were driven away 5 minutes ago. So now there are only 5 cars left in the parking lot." | |
| Jul 19, 2022 at 15:50 | comment | added | brilliant | (1) I think it's absolutely correct to say in this case : "There are only 5 cars left". Consider this sentence: "After Giant Softshell Turtle dies, only three are left on Earth" ( twitter.com/NoExtinctions/status/717019790980808706 ).The act of dying is committed by turtles themselves, in other words, they act; however, the sentence says "are left" instead of "remain". | |
| Jul 19, 2022 at 13:24 | history | answered | Blue Dev | CC BY-SA 4.0 |