英語語法: 形容詞修飾動詞 “he died young”Source: Zhihu(prepared by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)Question:老師，"He died young"這句話"died"不是系動詞，但是young作為瞭subject complement.這句話該怎麼理解呢?alexcwlin comments:To start, let’s accept this sentence “He died young” is grammatical.[首先，讓我們接受“He died young”這句話是合乎語法的]Pursuant to the grammar rules which we know, there are 2 ways to justify that this sentence is grammatical:[根據我們知道的語法規則，有兩種方法可以辯解這個句子是合乎語法的]

1. “Died” a Linking Verb[“Die” 是連接動詞]The Verb “died” is a Copula (Linking Verb) and so “young” is an Adjective Subject Complement. [動詞“died”是連系動詞，所以“young”是形容詞主語補語。]But “die” is not be a Linking Verb.[但是“die”不是連系動]

2. “Young” an AdverbCould “young” be an Adverb and therefore modifies the Verb “died”.[“young”可以作為副詞來修飾動詞“died”嗎?]The answer is “young” is not an Adverb, and can only be an Adjective which normally could not modify the Verb “died”.[答案是“young”不是副詞，隻能是形容詞，通常不能修飾動詞“die”]

Could it lead to the conclusion that this expression “He died young” is not grammatical?[它能得出這樣的結論:“He died young”這個表達不符合語法嗎?]No, this expression “He died young” is a commonly used and perfectly grammatical expression.[不，“He dies young”這個表達是一個常用並且語法完美的表達]

The reason is a person can die tragically or peacefully, but “being young” cannot kill a person. [原因是一個人可以悲慘地或平靜地死去，但“年輕”卻不能殺死一個人。]“Young” here can be seen as representing the modifier phrase “at a young age”, which then can be used both as an Adverbial or Adjectival Phrase.[在這裡，“Young”可以被看作是修飾語短語“at a young age”的代表，它既可以用作副詞短語，也可以用作形容詞短語]The discussion of the issue is here at: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/56160/is-if-i-die-young-grammatical and examples quoted there and my comments are as follows:[關於這個問題的討論在這裡: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/56160/is-if-i-die-young-grammatical 這裡引用的例子和我的評論如下]

a. The house was bought cheap. (Well, “cheap” can also be an Adverb)

b. She finally broke free of her abusive husband. (“free” could be an Adverb).

c. After the promotion, she was flying high. (“high” could be an Adverb).

d. His mentor’s advice rang true. (“true” could be an Adverb).

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