3.172 describing states

A few transitive verbs can be used with an adjective as their complement to say that someone or something is in a particular state when something happens to them, or is preferred to be in that state.

• More than forty people were burned alive.
• ...a soup which can be served cold.
• They found it dead.
• Do you want it white or black?

Here is a list of verbs which can be used in this way:

• burn, eat, find, leave, like, prefer, serve, show, want

Sometimes a past participle or a present participle describing a state is used as the complement.

• She found herself caught in a vicious tidal current.
• Maureen came in and found Kate sitting on a straight chair staring at the window.

This participle structure is like a phase structure. See paragraphs 3.205 and 3.213.