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Definition of the " leave" :to make or allow sb/sth to remain in a particular condition, place, etc.

  1. Leave the window open. (verb + object+ adjective)
  2. I Left the headlights on. ( verb + object + preposition)
  3. Don't leave the water running. (verb + object + verb-ing)
  4. He left the children to sleep in class. ( verb + object + to-infinitive)
  5. The hurricane left hundreds of tourists stranded at the airport. (verb + object +?)

Example 1 to 4 can be found in Oxford English Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary or Collins Dictionary, yet Example 5 doesn't appear in these dictionary. Is "stranded" a past participle or an adjective?

user421993
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    Does this answer your question? 'devastated' ... verb or adjective? @BillJ's answer cuts to the chase. Or verb or adjective in "The blue page is *stapled* to the red page"?? – Edwin Ashworth May 08 '21 at 15:30
  • Apparently, that post isn't the same as mine. They are different in construction(structure). In that post, the usage of" Stapled" is easy to understand. My post relates to construction of object complements. – user421993 May 08 '21 at 15:42
  • I don't think that dupe applies here. The construction for leave when describing "after effects" is leave + object + adjective according to Cambridge. OALD has something similar. Ex, "The hurricane left 100 people dead." – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ May 08 '21 at 15:58
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    You appear to be complaining that a particular sentence isn't an example sentence in the OED, but then asking about the label for some non-terminal node. I'm not clear on what the question is about, or whether there really is one, since non-terminal nodes can be labelled anything one wants, or unlabelled altogether. – John Lawler May 08 '21 at 16:40
  • @John Lawler, I wrote this post as I read the usage of past participle served as object complement, a similar construction like " She got her cellphone stolen". As some past participles can serve as adjectives, I can't figure out whether " stranded" in my example( traceable） is a past participle. – user421993 May 08 '21 at 16:59
  • @ John Lawler, You're right. English language is very flexible in usage. As a matter of fact, some expressions are easy for native speakers, yet they might be difficult for non-native speakers. Therefore, I admit we rely on general rules of grammar and illustrations. – user421993 May 08 '21 at 17:57
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    'It left them dead' and 'The crash left him dead from internal injuries' argue for an adjectival usage here. With 'We were stranded', both the verbal (punctive passive) and the adjectival (= becalmed, stuck) usages are possible. Cf 'The window was broken'. – Edwin Ashworth May 08 '21 at 18:38
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    The Green Conspiracy points out the plethora of surface constructions in English that actually are the end result of quite different processes. E.g, They shot him dead, They burned him alive, They found him alive, They left him dead, They want him dead, They got him tired, They got him going, They got him injured, ... The NP-V-NP-Adj configuration, where Adj includes participles, is a surface structure favorite and doesn't have any single analysis; much less fixed non-terminal nodes. – John Lawler May 08 '21 at 19:23
  • @John Lawler, Undoubtedly, any language is for the purpose of communication and interaction, with which different outcomes are produced. They can be said or written informally or formally, for informal or formal situations. For non-native speakers, even though they meet level of advanced learners, they might have difficulty using a foreign language in formal way, grammatically, semantically, precisely and naturally. – user421993 May 08 '21 at 20:23
  • @ John Lawler, At present, native speakers in PRC who can't speak official language in a standard manner might be equivalent to the population of New York State. It seems unbelievable but it's true because there are thousands of dialects in the country. Some people living in remote places commonly speak their dialects instead of the official language. Even in some urban regions and provinces, most people can't speak official language well (revised due to censorship). – user421993 May 08 '21 at 21:11
  • In the United States, people can slam Donald Trump if the president said or did something wrong during his service, but this never happens in my country. We were warned to say publicly in the the way they preferred. If someone in the country dare to say the way in which Donald Trump was slammed, they will be taken into custody secretly. We hate censorship because it prevents us from access to some useful sources on the internet. – user421993 May 11 '21 at 08:05

1 Answers1

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leave + object + adjective

The construction for leave (v) when describing "after effects" is leave + object + adjective according to Cambridge.

If something leaves something else, a part or effect of it stays after it has gone or been used:

Ex, "The bomb blast left 100 people dead and dying."

OALD has something similar.

leave somebody/something + adj.

[transitive] to make or allow somebody/something to remain in a particular condition, place, etc.

In this case, "stranded at the airport" would qualify as a place.

Some people might call it a participial adjective.

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
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