0

What's the grammatical name of the end of the day here, and what is its grammatical function?

The sentence is this:

There was always a huge quantity of food left over at the end of the day.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

There was always a huge quantity of food left over at [the end of the day].

The phrase the end of the day is a noun phrase. The Head noun in the noun phrase is the word end. It is functioning as the Complement of the preposition at. Some people would describe this as the end of the day being the object of the preposition at.

Just in case the question was actually intended to be "What is the name and function of at the end of the day?", that phrase is a preposition phrase. In terms of grammatical functions or grammatical relations it is a temporal Adjunct (read 'Adverbial').

Improve this answer
1

At the end of the day is an adverbial phrase. The clue is the preposition ‘at’. Like any modifier, it modifies (tells us about) the event or action described by the verb. In this case, it tells us when it took place. So it is temporal.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    But the 'adverbial' is at the end of the day. The OP is supposedly asking about the phrase end of the day, not at the end of the day.
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Oct 24, 2018 at 1:18
  • @Araucaria Yes, you are right.
    – Tuffy
    Oct 24, 2018 at 14:01

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.