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Is this peculiar to English? For instance, in Spanish, the verb and the adjective would be different words.


Yes, it is unfortunate that in English the imperative conjugation ("open this door") is typically the same as the present participle verbal adjective ("this door is open").

In English you can also form an adjective from the past participle ("this door is opened"). Using "opened" resolves the ambiguity in one direction only: when you want the adjective. But when you want the verb you'd have to add context: perhaps "tap to open".




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