GIFT: used as a verb?

[cmo]

Can the word GIFT be used as a verb?

[MsJacquiiC]

As a Member of English Coffee - I gift myself the right to KNOW proper English :P

Jacquii.

[MsJacquiiC]

The English language is a many splendored thing - I think most nouns ever known in the language can be used as a verb.... Some of the uses may be qualified as "slang" but a lot of the uses (noun-verb) can simply be used as either....

Example: color (noun) one of the original parts primary shades....
I think the color yellow is pretty.
If I could, I'd color myself yellow.
Would you color yourself blue perhaps?

The above example uses the word "color" as a verb and a noun. As an adverb you may even see:

Colorfully filled, I drink my wine whether merlot or chardonnay.

Anyway - interesting poll - now I'm not an English teacher but I have a fond love for the language. I think a beautiful thing for this forum would be to have an "exchange" of sorts - I'd like to know your language too :P

Jacquii.


btw - one of my most favorite quotes is "Don't ever look a gift horse in the mouth."

Some would ask why? Is the horse THAT gifted LOL
The quote actually may translate to: "Be glad your horse is wonderful and as a gift, you should be happy to have all of your teeth, and wonderfully happy someone loves you well enough to give such a gift.":flash:

[cmo]

As a Member of English Coffee - I gift myself the right to KNOW proper English :P

Jacquii.

Good example MsJacquiiC!!!!

:flame:

[ctivnan]

The English language is a many splendored thing - I think most nouns ever known in the language can be used as a verb.... Some of the uses may be qualified as "slang" but a lot of the uses (noun-verb) can simply be used as either....

Example: color (noun) one of the original parts primary shades....
I think the color yellow is pretty.
If I could, I'd color myself yellow.
Would you color yourself blue perhaps?

The above example uses the word "color" as a verb and a noun. As an adverb you may even see:

Colorfully filled, I drink my wine whether merlot or chardonnay.

Anyway - interesting poll - now I'm not an English teacher but I have a fond love for the language. I think a beautiful thing for this forum would be to have an "exchange" of sorts - I'd like to know your language too :P



Well said, Jacquii! It is always a pleasure to have members share their insights! Thank you very much!
Maybe we can come up with another project where we can have an exchange of languages. :wink1: In the Philippines, we have more than a hundred languages and dialects. The official Philippine language we use is Tagalog.
An exchange will be a lot of fun!! :yey:I'm sure our members who speak other Philippines languages like Cebuano, Ilonggo, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, etcetera will be very interested!

[pinoypower]

Using gifted as a verb is quite common among speakers of British English that's why it's not unusual to hear them from Indians who happened to be the largest expatriates group here in Bahrain.

[bittersweetenn]

interesting indeed...:thankyou::wave:

[q_sharon]

The English language is a many splendored thing - I think most nouns ever known in the language can be used as a verb.... Some of the uses may be qualified as "slang" but a lot of the uses (noun-verb) can simply be used as either....

Example: color (noun) one of the original parts primary shades....
I think the color yellow is pretty.
If I could, I'd color myself yellow.
Would you color yourself blue perhaps?

The above example uses the word "color" as a verb and a noun. As an adverb you may even see:

Colorfully filled, I drink my wine whether merlot or chardonnay.

Anyway - interesting poll - now I'm not an English teacher but I have a fond love for the language. I think a beautiful thing for this forum would be to have an "exchange" of sorts - I'd like to know your language too :P

Jacquii.


btw - one of my most favorite quotes is "Don't ever look a gift horse in the mouth."

Some would ask why? Is the horse THAT gifted LOL
The quote actually may translate to: "Be glad your horse is wonderful and as a gift, you should be happy to have all of your teeth, and wonderfully happy someone loves you well enough to give such a gift.":flash:

i have met this idiom and according to the author of the idioms book, it means to be critical about something that is given you... as in the olden days that when a horse is given as a gift, they tended to examine its teeth as it would reveal the age and its worth. :groove:

[aiepro]

"Gift" can be used as a transitive verb, which is a verb that requires a subject or one or more objects.

In the sentence, "I gift myself the right to KNOW proper English," gift is used as transitive verb. "Myself" is the direct object.

[ac_bry]

Can the word GIFT be used as a verb?

I was astonished by this question because i know since gradeschool that verbs is an action word so i did a research about this topic and here's what i found out.

"GIFT" as a verb? by Barry Leiba
The other day, the SPOGG blog had an item with which I disagree, about the use of "gift" as a verb (http://grammatically.blogspot.com/2006/05/seeing-daggers.html). "Nonsense," said I when I read it, but since the SPOGG blog doesn't have comments enabled, I have to comment here instead.
The verb "gift" is a perfectly good one. I just stopped in the library to check citations in the OED, and found citations going back to the early 1600s, including ones from Henry Fielding and Henry James (and lots of other blokes who aren't called Henry). And it's nice to have a word that specifically means "to give as a gift"; Spanish has one ("regalar"). "Donate" implies a sort of charitable gift, so it doesn't really work.


But then I looked in my favourite resource, the American Heritage Dictionary. AHD has some wonderful "usage notes", which often make for enlightening and amusing reading. In the entry for "gift" they have this: Usage note: Gift has a long history of use as a verb meaning "to present as a gift; endow." The practice appears to provide a useful distinction, inasmuch as the verb give can sometimes be ambiguous between "to transfer physical possession" and "to transfer ownership"; and in fact a verb analogous to gift is found in a number of other languages (for example, Italian regalare, "to give as a gift," from regalo, "gift, present"). Unfortunately the verbal use of gift in Modern English is irredeemably tainted (as is its derivative giftable) by its association with the language of advertising and publicity (as in Gift her with this copper warming plate). In an earlier survey the usage was rejected by a large majority of the Usage Panel. Where clarity is required, substitutes such as give as a gift, bestow, or donate are recommended.

[euqinimod]

it's a transitive verb.. right? hehe.. :)

[sam_wel]

As a Member of English Coffee - I gift myself the right to KNOW proper English :P

Jacquii.

is this even acceptable?