Is this a set phrase? Can it be changed to laugh? Or does that sound weird?
Almost died laughing
Almost died laugh
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3You cannot change 'laughing' to 'laugh'. It wouldn't make any sense.– Michael HarveyCommented Dec 19, 2019 at 18:25
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1You can replace laughing with laughin' but not laugh ;)– user106183Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 23:32
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1 Answer
Only found example from book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Beneath_the_Sea
Maurice sat for hours playing with his blocks and his little wood horse near Rosette's drawer; he cried if she cried, he made faces at her and died laughing if she responded.
And another one from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor_(novel)
But that some may see and understand an Object, others meerly neglecting it, you have an Instance in Mr John Barber who would not stir from his bed at the Black Boy in Pater-Noster-Row: he thought all the superficies of this terrestrial Globe was made of thin and transparent Glass, and that underneath there lay a Multitude of Serpents; he died laughing, at the Ignorance and Folly of those who could not see the true Foundacions of the World.
And I have found no one sentence with "died laugh". This phrase sound strange for me.
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1"I almost died laughing" is very common in British English. Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 18:25
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Thank you, Michael Harvey! What you can say about "Died laugh" not "died laughing"? Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 18:27
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1I can say that 'died laugh' is not English. You follow 'died' with a gerund, a noun or noun phrase, or an adverb - he died laughing; she died of cold; he died suddenly. Laugh is the base form of the verb and does not belong there. Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 18:32