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OK, I just encountered a comment that got me wondering. . .

There was an FDR quote which contained the 2 words "organized mob" which someone (a very good writer) commented on. "Is there such a thing as an 'organized mob'"?

So - if you have the oxymoron, "organized mob", mob would be a noun and organized an adjective, yes?

But - if you have a mob which has been organized to show up somewhere and do their mobbing duty, mob is still a noun, but what is organized at that point? It seems to have "verby" qualities to it, but what is it? Is it still an adjective?

Gads, I just had a flashback to diagramming sentences

This gives me anxiety. All the anxiety.

Wouldn't an organized mob be protestors?

I literally can't even right now.

It's still an adjective.

In order for it to be a verb, something/someone has to be doing it "mob organized..." Or it has to be done to something/someone "organized a mob".

Because the answer to the question "what kind of mob?" is "organized" you can be confident that it's acting as an adjective.

^^ Agreed, although it does beg the question: what kind of mob is organized?

I think you are looking at it wrong, and it may, geographically, mean different things.

I am from Chicago, so a "mob", i.e. "the Mob" is definitely an organized group of people! I am guessing New York has the same thing.

Ponichiwa wrote:^^ Agreed, although it does beg the question: what kind of mob is organized?

Ok, so while we're strolling around grammar land, I'm going to take a side trip into usage land and tell you that it does not beg the question; it raises the question. Here's an explanation of what "begging the question" means:
http://www.softschools.com/examples/fal ... mples/489/

KathyK wrote:

Ponichiwa wrote:^^ Agreed, although it does beg the question: what kind of mob is organized?

Ok, so while we're strolling around grammar land, I'm going to take a side trip into usage land and tell you that it does not beg the question; it raises the question. Here's an explanation of what "begging the question" means:
http://www.softschools.com/examples/fal ... mples/489/

But organized mobs do beg the question..... what kind of mobs are organized? 20-m perfect circular logic!

Begging the question involves no actual question.