Food & Drink1 min ago
Morse,Lewis, Grammar
I don't often read the Sun, but today I read an account of the tragic death of the young man, Jay, of whom the inquest found fell to his death off a cliff.
The Sun reported, 'His death was instant' which reminded me (I have that kind of brain) of an episode of Morse, when Lewis said the same thing and Morse retorted,
"Instantaneous! Lewis ..... coffee is 'instant !'
Well it is the Sun. 😄
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Khandro. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.drmorgans; That is really pushing it ! It can be a noun or an adjective though could be used as an adverb 'poetically'.
instant
(ˈɪnstənt)
n
1. a very brief time; moment
2. a particular moment or point in time: at the same instant.
3. on the instant immediately; without delay
adj
4. immediate; instantaneous
5. (Cookery) (esp of foods) prepared or designed for preparation with very little time and effort: instant coffee.
6. urgent or imperative
7. (postpositive) (when abbreviated in formal correspondence)
a. of the present month: a letter of the 7th instant. Abbreviation: inst Compare proximo, ultimo
b. currently under consideration
adv
a poetic word for instantly
............................
'Instantanious' is the correct usage in that sentence I think.
//drmorgans; Your sentence "John took an instant dislike to Peter." is using 'instant' exactly as Lewis & the Sun have.
'an' (indef. article), 'instant' (noun), to the verb, 'dislike'.//
Khandro - you could not be more wrong. In the quote above, 'instant' is quite clearly an adjective, describing the noun 'dislike'
'Instant' is given as an adjective in both my Concise Oxford and Chambers dictionaries
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