Timeline for What part of speech is "unless" in the following sentence?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
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| Jan 14, 2011 at 16:47 | comment | added | Colin Fine | I don't think it is helpful to call it a preposition in your last example. You can use "unless" as a preposition in at least some dialects: "It's not worth talking to anybody, unless Freddy". But I think that is functionally different from your "unless disciplined" because "disciplined" really is not a substantive here. "unless a disciplined one" would be a PP, but I don't find the suggestion convincing that "disciplined" stands for "a disciplined one" here. | |
| Jan 13, 2011 at 14:52 | history | edited | Jimi Oke | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jan 13, 2011 at 14:51 | comment | added | Jimi Oke | @mcheema: Certainly! Great example. I would still consider unless used a conjunction there, with the subject and verb understood. I should edit that unidiomatic sentence in my answer. But honestly, I'm not sure where that unless-as-a-preposition came up... :) | |
| Jan 13, 2011 at 13:18 | comment | added | mcheema | "They didn't bother much at other times unless asked, and then they often had to think twice." I found this sentence where it seems the dependent clause following the independent clause has the subject and verb understood. EDIT: This is probably the case where unless is a preposition. | |
| Jan 13, 2011 at 12:33 | comment | added | mcheema | Thanks, I had never really noticed before that dependent clauses can leave out the subject and verb when preceding the independent clause. | |
| Jan 13, 2011 at 12:30 | vote | accept | mcheema | ||
| Jan 13, 2011 at 12:22 | history | answered | Jimi Oke | CC BY-SA 2.5 |