On Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:38:07 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 9/5/2014 8:56 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
On 2014-09-04, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:
On 9/4/2014 4:40 PM, Grant Edwards wrote:

So what the heck is overturned????

Here's what Wictionary says:

Etymology

From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- +? turn. Compare
also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve.
Verb

overturn (third-person singular simple present overturns, present
participle overturning, simple past and past participle overturned)

1. To turn over, capsize or upset (something)

So why not just say something turned over as the #1 definition states?

That's fine also. In English there is usually more than one way you
can state something.

Or is the definition poor English?

No, it is not.

Was the steering wheel turned too much? Is that like over steer?

No, it means the car was turned upside-down. The roof was on the
ground and the wheels were on top.

Yeah, but your sentence, the car was turned upside-down, ends in a
preposition, down is a location.

No, down is not a preposition. Down is an adverb.

Down is also a preposition.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...#q=define+down

And "over" is also.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...#q=define+over

Not in this usage. It modifies the verb "turned" in "turned over" and
as such it is an adverb. In the word "overturned" is isn't either.
It's just two syllables of the word. ;-)




That is supposedly a no no, do not end a sentence with a preposition.

That's a myth. It is often perfectly fine to end a sentence with a
preposition.

A myth that my English teachers taught?

Yes. A common one.



http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...-prepositions/
http://www.grammar-monster.com/lesso...a_sentence.htm

FWIW my dictionary indicates over to an adverb also, modifys the
verb, turned

The newscaster was using the single word "overturn", and that word is
a verb.

The reporters are trying to make the last words in a sentence "turned
over" grammatically correct as easily as possible, by reversing the two
words, and making the matter confusing.

No. They were using the word "overturned". And they were using it
correctly. You misinterpreted it as the two word phrase over turned.

Oddly they continue to say that the pedestrian was run over, why don't
they say the pedestrian was over run.

Because that's not what the word "overrun" means.

Doesn't it?

No. Different words.