Diego Velazquez “painted with such skill that words fall away, useless.”
Would you language professionals please tell me the exact grammatical role played by the adjective “useless”?
Thank you.
Not sure if I’ve understood your question correctly, so apologies if I’m not answering it, but ‘useless’ is referring to the ‘words’.
So my understanding is that it is saying that the painting is so good that trying to express how good it is in words is useless (or pointless).
Thank you very much.
Hi James,
Doesn’t it seem like a subject complement to you? The word ‘useless’ modifies/describes the subject of the preceding clause (‘words’). As I see it, the meaning is basically this:
- Diego Velazquez painted with such skill that words fall away, (and words are) useless.
OR, you might reword it this way:
- Diego Velazquez painted with such skill that words are useless and fall away.
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[size=75]“Men and women have strengths that complement each other.” ~ Edwin Louis Cole[/size]
Thank you very much, ESL Expert.