week 19 - how camel got hump

[ninnasue59]

We are having some difficulty with the third parsing sentence. From a previous post, I understand that "your own" is an emphatic possessive. How does "very" fit in? At first glance, I identified it as an adverb, but my daughter argues that it is an adjective modifying "your own", expounding the emphasis in a way.

Consulting the dictionary, I find myself slightly swayed by her argument because in this sentence, "very" carries the meaning of absolute, utter, or complete. The example in the dictionary is: Expenses were reduced to the very minimum. You can replace "utter" in that sentence - the utter minimum. HOWEVER, you have to change the form of "utter" to fit the exercise sentence: That is utterly your own humph you've bought utterly on your own self. You cannot say: That is your utter own humph.

I am more convinced that it is an adverb, modifying "is" and "have brought"; but the placement of the word truly looks as if it modifies "own", underscoring the emphatic nature of "your own".

Please save me from myself and my my tendency to over-think!

Thanks! Linda

[Carolyn]

You are right to be swayed by your daughter's reasoning and the dictionary.

Very, as an adverb, means 'in actual fact' or 'to a high degree'. The first definition somewhat fits ... but let us consider the adjectival meanings of 'very': true, actual, real, simple, plain, absolute, utter, unqualified, sheer, mere, bare, selfsame (and some elaborations on these).

I note that 'in actual fact' is quite close to 'actual'. We can substitute 'actual' into the sentence much better that 'in actual fact'

(Actual sentence: That’s your very own humph you’ve brought on your very own self by not working.)

Selfsame, real, and many of the other words work here as well. So, I'd vote for adjective.

[ninnasue59]

Well, my daughter is over the moon that she thought it through - what confidence that has given her that she can (and often does!) teach mom!!!

Thanks, Carolyn