He fell asleep. Why the verb fell matches An adjective “asleep”
There are some other examples: provisions ran short.
Things will come right.
Why can't I use adverbs like shortly？

Question

He fell asleep. Why the verb fell matches An adjective “asleep”
There are some other examples: provisions ran short. 
Things will come right.
Why can't I use adverbs like shortly？

Answer

For "fell asleep", at least, I think it comes from the word origin. The prefix "a-" in "asleep" comes from an Old English preposition meaning "on," "in," or "into". So "fell asleep" means something like, "fell into a state of sleep".
The other two I'm not sure of, but since they are colloquialisms, my guess is that they come from a time when accepted grammar was different or originated from non-standard grammar.

Answer

I do not know, but I can say that you are right

Answers · 2

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