Optional Adjective complement

Think about this. 'Unharmed' modifies what? The word 'escaped.' And what part of speech is that? Why, a verb. So what does that make 'unharmed'? Hint: it's not an adjective as you suggest in your headline.

Actually, I thought that it modifies the word 'they' , which, in turn, makes it an adjective. They are in an unharmed condition after their escape.

Rag, that also would have been my guess

That's not logical. The question 'how did they escape?' is answered by the word 'unharmed.' Ergo 'unharmed' is an adverb modifying the verb 'escaped.'

They unharmed

escaped unharmed

The unharmed people escaped unharmed

The way I understand this...it poses this question: How (safely?) did THEY escape? The reference is to what their condition is/was ... which is/was unharmed.

Hmm? Hard to be certain.

Easy to be certain, Rag. 'Safely' does not describe 'they'. It describes their method of escape. Trust me on this. I used to teach high-school English.

OK. I was a lowly tech writer. Most of us are/were literate...(enough)...at least as compared to the engineers.

Nice try, but, well, not really, Merry.

That's certainly what saved you, Ragman. It definitely wasn't your knowledge of grammar.

Maybe now you can grasp the difference between knowing your language and knowing about your language. If you do please explain it to Frank A. He's thick as a brick.

And remember, you're not to blame as you had high school teachers like Merry Andrew. In fact, many of your post secondary teachers are not much better.

Perhaps you're a better parser [or crystal ball reader] than us all. Tell us, Merry, did they use a file or a hacksaw blade, maybe a shovel or a pick? Or maybe you divined an escape by rickshaw, motorboat, maybe a jetpack?

Did you tell your students after you imparted your gems of wisdom, "Don't you dare to ask me any questions about any of this"?

Mee too, was tech writer, English grammar not

Yet you were able to discern that nuance in the fish thread, Dale. This illustrates just how powerful our internal grammar parsers are. The vast majority know virtually nothing ABOUT grammar, but their internal grammar parsers know all. What's even more amazing is how quickly our internal grammar parsers pick out just the right grammatical nuance out of billions of possibilities.

The problem with learning grammar as it's [that's 'it has', JoefromChicago and Evafromgodknowswhere] been taught, to be frank, REALLY BADLY, is that there is no connection to reality, to how grammar is used to effect meaning. This is Pragmatics - how grammatical structure affects meaning/nuance.

That's true Andy but I'm not sure "safely" is a syn of "unharmed". Clearly the former is an adverb whereas the latter could be either

It strains the imagination a little, but the adjective use suggests they weren't harmed while imprisoned, the adverb while they were in process of escaping

Why thank you JTT

Sometimes it's plain intuition. With subtleties like "unharmed" might we not run around in circles indefinitely

This had to be major tongue in cheek, right, Merry. You were pulling everyone's appendages, weren't you?

Because it's hilarious, absolutely ******* hilarious! I really did burst out laughing when I saw it.

Unharmed in the third person perspective only.

That they were unharmed or not is their choice, based on honest looking back on the situation.

That they were tortured may even be removed as a 'harming' though some will to strive on, some will not to remember the horror which befell them for reasons beyond the expected quite often.

Such a reason is as follows (though there are many more).

The remembrance of a car accident is worth keeping to those who seek to know they survived, know they hurt and know it was wrong, wrong of a situation.

In complete digression:
To state that a percentage remember the pain for no reason would be insane the notion.

Those who state harm occurred as a lie, will fall foul of harm eventually for doing so, there is no greater clarity, however, under forces vast, there will be some who escape less scathed for such a thing, justice does not belong to the hyena and the wolf by simple presentation of themselves.

Just out of curiosity, do you use a food blender with which you edit and compose your sentences?

If those preceding you didn't scare off TheParser with our bleatings, you finished the job.

Make way, make way, the grammarian is back!