grammar - Stop if you feel faint or pain!





Ellipsis that results in one word serving as both subject and object
I am “adjective” and I am “present continuous” in one sentence



I was using some exercise equipment the other day and saw the sign:



Stop if you feel faint or pain



It immediately struck me as wrong, because faint and pain seem to force feel to serve two different verb functions. Is that true?


I think correct alternates would be:



Stop if you feel faint or pained


Stop if you feel faintness or pain



Here's a contrived example that exposes the wrongness I detected from it. Imagine you're reaching into a box to feel the objects inside, and you're told:



Stop if you feel happy or noodles



If that doesn't make you smile, you don't live in my world! :)



Answer



"Stop if you feel faint or pain" is an example of syllepsis:



A figure of speech in which one word simultaneously modifies two or more other words such that the modification must be understood differently with respect to each modified word; often causing humorous incongruity.



The syllepsis section of wikipedia's zeugma article includes numerous examples of several forms. Both of your suggested revisions correctly improve upon the original wording.


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