Short Day, Shortened Day, What's the Difference?

Recently, a young cousin of mine told us he would not be attending school a full day the coming Monday, that it would be a "short day." I suggested to him the comic image of the phrase "short day," and that he might have used the phrase "shortened day" instead. In both cases the noun "day" is given an attribution, that is, a characteristic or quality: short and shortened.

Surely, we may speak informally while describing a short or a long day. Speaking figuratively often suits the purpose of providing feelings as well as meanings. Figures of speech are more colorful. "It's been a long day" means to most people, "difficult day," while "short day" conveys mercifulness because of lessened work. Yet if we mean to convey that a school administrator has lopped off a few hours in the school day, then we technically must say that he or she shortened the day resulting in a shortened day. Though technically it is a past participle, "Shortened" put before "day" serves as an adjective: What kind of day is it? When used in the predicate part of a sentence, however, it serves as a verb: "The principal shortened the day." What action did the principal take? He shortened the day. In this particular case, "shortened" is a verb in the past tense.

Look for a discussion of present participles in future posts.