What is elided with "from adjective to adjective"

Question

I went from sad to angry.

This sentence is perfectly fine as is. My question is, is it elided this way?

I went from (being) sad to (being) angry.

Or is it not elided at all? As I often see "from" and "to" only used with nouns, I was just doubtful. Also, because there is an instance of "being" deleted when used with adjective as below, I was just confused a little.

He perceived it as (being) horrible.

If you can say went blue, went crazy, went blind (deaf,lame), went bankrupt, without supplying ghost verbs, why can't you say he/she went from white to blue, went from mad to crazy,went from bankrupt to affluent, and went from blind to sighted? — Hugh, Sep 01 '15 at 00:26
Because some people say "it ranged from horrible to excellent"? — sooeithdk, Sep 01 '15 at 00:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

1

I went from sad to angry.

I went from (being) sad to (being) angry.

I would say yes and you have correctly restored the verb.

You can say, 'I went from sadness to anger' and there are no missing grammatical entities.

You can say, 'The colour went from green to blue' and no extra words are needed.

However if you change that last to, 'The wall went from green to blue' there is a mismatch. We have mentally to supply 'being'.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

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answered Aug 31 '15 at 23:18

chasly - supports Monica

37,215

Why do I have to? Why can I not omit "being" as in "I went from sad to angry?" – sooeithdk Aug 31 '15 at 23:33
I said mentally supply. You don't have to say the word 'being' - it is understood. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 31 '15 at 23:36
I just didn't understand and still don't understand what you meant by mismatch. Can you explain? – sooeithdk Aug 31 '15 at 23:44

What is elided with "from adjective to adjective"

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