PROVEN OR PROVED?  ATTRIBUTIVE 
vs. PREDICATIVE 

© 2001 by Orchid Land Publications

C.-J. N. Bailey

[updated 2-20-01]

     Four principal kinds of anterior participles distinguish attributive (adjectival) from predicative (verb-like) forms.  These are illustrated below, the attributive forms preceding the corresponding predicative forms:

     rotten : rotted
     sunken : sunk
     agëd : ag(e)d
     spilt : spilled 

Verb uses are heard in "It has rotted; It has sunk; He has ag'd a lot; They have spilled the milk."  Cf. further these differences in ordinary tempos of pronunciation but not in orthography:

     lab'ring people; the gerund is likewise, 
          but the verb form is trissyllabic: laboring
     lab'ling device; the gerund is likewise, 
          but the verb form is trissyllabic: labeling
     foll'wing page; the noun is likewise, 
          but the verb form is trissyllabic:  following
     op'ning speech; the noun is likewise, 
          but the verb form is trissyllabic:  opening

Note the different uses:

      a rotten apple, a proven theory 

or, with a predicate adjective:

     The apple is rotten; the theory is proven.
     The apple that was rotten, the theory that was proven.

The verb forms are illustrated in:

     It has rotted; he has proved the theory.
     The apple has rotted; the theory has been proved.

The foregoing could have the forms in -ed to stress verbness; cf. the following:  

     a theory that has been proved / an apple that has rotted
     a proven theory / a rotten apple
     a theory proved to be wrong / an apple rotted on the tree 
     case [that is] not proven / apple [that is] not rotten

Verb forms are used whenever a passive agent is present::

     an apple rotted by the sun; a theory proved by her sister

In fact, a rule of English requires this when an anteposed adjective would be separated from its noun by an agent or any modifier.  We do not say "a rotten by the sun apple" or "the proved by Einstein" theory" unless we hyphenate, as in "made-to-order clothes."  We say rather:

     an apple rotted by the sun
     the theory proved by Einstein

(For exceptions, see the writer's "Attributive and predicataive:  Form and order" [Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistic (1987) 12:3-11]).  We would never say "an agëd in oak whisky" or "a sunken by the enemy battleship"; we do say, "a whisky ag(e)d in oak" and "a battleship sunk by the enemy."

      At the beginning of a sentence, we can say: 

     Rotted by the sun, the apple had turned brown.
     Proved to be in error, the theory was rejected by all in attendance.

     With  durative participles in which -ing is preceded by unstressed -en, -el, -er, ow, or sometimes (in very rapid speech) "y", spoken English differentiates dissyllabic attributives (directly preceding the noun they modify) from predicative uses (following the noun or a copular verb) in normal conversational tempos as follows:

     a sick'ning event : an event sickening to describe ; it was sickening
     a lab'ling machine : a machine labeling these new tools
     mutt'ring prisoners : prisoners muttering over their fate
     the foll'wing order : the order following tomorrow's
     (a cop'ying machine : an machine copying larger-sized paper)

Plains gerunds are like the foregoing attributives in normal conversational  tempos:

     An op'ning,  (note that open and happen end in a syllabic "m" when no vowel follows) their lib'ling, their hon'ring their pledge, your foll'wing.

    Usually the elided "vowel" is orthographic "e" as in barter--but of course not stressed "e" and in defer; but it can be "o" as in honoring, hectoring, tailoring; there are very few examples with "a" as in collaring and "u" as in murmuring, auguring.  It could be "i", but not example comes to mind.  Note the vowel change in augur : auguring--which is absent in murmuring.  The change is frequent in words ending in -le : -ul- as in table : tabular and model : modular.  (Note that unstressed "u" becomes "yu" after most consonants when followed by a vowel--stressed or unstressed; a preceding sibilant changes--s to sh [pressure], z to zh [pleasure], t to ch [titular], d to j [modular].)    Verbs of this formation treat forms in -ing as though there were no "u"--entit'ling : entit(e)ling, mod'ling : modeling, tab'ling : tab(e)ling.  Before "r," a different vowel may be heard, as in car+ing (attributaive) and car#ing; the latter has got the same vowel as carry--[æ]--but the //r// is geminated, as in the most widespread other kinds of English.  Issuing is always so, though foreigners should not forget to interpolate [w] between "u" or "o" and a following vowel.  

     Some speakers even carry the pattern through with verbs ending in "l" not preceding by an unstressed vowel letter:  

     an enabling decree : a decree enabeling it to take place legally

Similar developments are found in calendrist : calendarist.  There is a regular alternation (discussed in the better books)  in xxx

     Older Southerners differentiate internucler "r" similarly--//r// being geminated or doubled in the predicative uses of firing, steering, etc., but not in the attributive uses:  firing-squad, steering-wheel, starry night, deploring sight, curing medication.

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ADJECTIVAL DIFFERENCES NOT
FOUND IN MOST GRAMMARS

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