RESULTATIVES

doesn't come to mind immediately, you then tend to avoid the difficulty, or even 

drop the end of the sentence, simply not to slow down the conversation too much

or not to have to give up the argument you wanted to defend. 

It's a process I have often noticed used by the Intermediate or Advanced students 

I used to teach, or I was examining for their Bac or for Post-Bac students studying 

for competitive exams. 

It's a pity to have to keep quiet only because we don't know the construction we

should use, isn't it? 

'Causatives clauses' reviewed in test and now 'resultatives' are part of 

those dreaded structures. Let's see them again! 

1) What is a 'resultative'? 

It's a structure describing an action, beginning with the 'means' of doing this 

action, and reaching the result of the action. 

This result may be either a way of moving, a concrete action, or an abstract one;  

The resultative elements may be: 

a. a predicative adjective: 

- She pushed the door open. 

b.  a postposition (adverbial particle which is part of a 'phrasal verb'):

- The man kicked his dog out.

c. a preposition followed by a noun: 

- He drank himself into oblivion.

d. 'INTO' or 'OUT OF' followed by a gerund. 

- She talked him out of dropping out of school.

2) DIFFERENT WAYS OF MOVING: 

The verb indicates the way the subject is moving, the movement itself being expressed 

thanks to the resultative element. (adverbial particle, or preposition + noun) so that

 the word order of the terms is different from the order in French.

                                 She tiptoed out of the room. 

- Jack flew to Italy. (he went by plane)

- Patty limped out of the house. 

* The verb expressing the movement may be followed by the expression "one's way".

This expression may also be used in a figurative meaning. 

- He elbowed his way through the crowd. 

3) MEANS and RESULTS:

Resultative structures  enable us to express in an illustrated way, the relationship 

there is between the means of doing an action, and the result of this action. 

We have seen above that the word order is chronological in English:

                      They starved to death. Means of the action.Result of the action. 

                      She shook him Awake. Means of the action.Result of the action. 

IMPORTANT : The verbs that are usually built with a preposition (to laugh at,

to talk to...) lose it in a resultative construction and adapt to the context:

- His friends laughed him out of reading his poem.

* The resultative term  may be INTO or OUT OF followed by a gerund. Thus, you can  

express a threat (to threaten, to frighten, to bully), persuasion (to talk, to entice), 

deception (to deceive, to delude),  mockery (to laugh, to shame). 

- The youngsters threatened the girl into giving them her phone.

If the verb is followed by an object, the sentence can also be put in the passive: 

The little girl was threatened into giving her telephone. 

* A reflexive pronoun may sometimes be put between the verb and a resultative term: 

He drank himself to death. 

* Many idioms are resultatives: 

- To bore somebody stiff/ to death

- To cry one's eyes out

- To work round the clock

You may think that all this is a little complex. I can't contradict you... 

Yet, thinking in terms of result to reach  thanks to some means is

often the surest way to solve the problem.  

Learning one or two correct sentences by heart, then imitating them

again and again, and that's all there is to it! 

Keep going!  

Intermediate Twitter Share
English exercise "RESULTATIVES" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
Click here to see the current stats of this English test

Please log in to save your progress.

1. My parents talked Peter into seetalked Peter into seeingtold Peter in seeingI don't know a doctor, after the nasty fall he had had.



2. In the woods, the boys cycled tocycled alongcycled inI don't know a narrow lane before reaching a beautiful clearing.



3. The gangsters threatened the director into openingthreatened the director out openingthreatened the director openingI don't know the safe of the bank in spite of his determination to resist.



4. We talked her out followingtalked her into followingtalked her out of followingI don't know the noisy group into the streets.



5. The sledge jingled out of our housejingled past our housejingled into our houseI don't know while young kids were cheering and applauding.




6. When the lights went out, I groped into my waygroped out of my waygroped my wayI don't know to the kitchen where the candles were.



7. Little Paul was laughed at suckinglaughed out of suckinglaughed at out of suckingI don't know his thumb by the whole family gathered for his third birthday.



8. I read in the paper that an old woman was beaten out of deathbeaten into deathbeaten to deathI don't know by a gang wanting to rob her.



9. 'Don't worry, he won't frighten her to the truthfrighten her out of tellingfrighten het into of tellingI don't know the truth. She's determined to do so.'



10. 'If you don't stop taking alcohol now, you'll drink yourself sickdrink yourself to sickdrink into being sickI don't know. You'll see it's very unpleasant...'