Breakdown of Publiken var stendöd inom fem minuter.
vara
to be
fem
five
publiken
the audience
minuten
the minute
inom
within
stendöd
stone dead
Questions & Answers about Publiken var stendöd inom fem minuter.
What does stendöd mean in this context, and how does the sten- prefix work?
The prefix sten- (stone) is used to strongly intensify certain adjectives. While stendöd literally means stone dead, here it is used figuratively to mean the audience was completely unresponsive, silent, or flat.
Could I use another intensifying prefix like jätte- or tok- instead of sten- here?
Not really. While a prefix like jätte- is very productive and can be attached to almost anything, sten- tends to pair with specific adjectives to form established words. Common examples are stendöd, stenhård (rock hard), and stenrik (filthy rich). A word like jättedöd or tokdöd sounds comical or incorrect.
Since an audience is a group of people, why is the adjective singular (stendöd) instead of plural (stendöda)?
Even though an audience consists of many people, the word publiken is grammatically a singular en-word. Therefore, the adjective must take the basic singular form stendöd, not the plural stendöda.
Why use the preposition inom (within) rather than på (in) for the time expression?
The preposition inom (within) highlights a time limit, meaning the audience lost their energy in less than five minutes. If you used på, as in på fem minuter, it focuses on the duration it took for the event to complete rather than the deadline.
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