What part of speech is the word 'informed' in this sentence?
The kids are much better informed than I was at their age.
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The whole sentence could be parsed as— Determiner (Modifies the following Noun) +Noun (Subject) +Linking Verb (Gives information about the Subject) +Adverb (Modifies the following Adv)+Adverb (Modifies the following Adj)+ Adjective ( Subject complement defining the Noun)+Conjunction (Starts the Subordinate clause)+Subordinate Clause (which could be parsed like the Independent Clause,which we already have).– user405662Dec 16, 2020 at 9:08
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@Ram Pillai— 'better... than' is a coordinating conjunction? That's a new one on me.– user405662Dec 16, 2020 at 10:20
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2@RamPillai "Informed" is clearly an adjective modified by the adverb "better". "Than" is a preposition with the comparative clause "I was at their age" as its complement. The PP "than I was at their age" is a complement licensed by the comparative expression "better". The whole AdjP "much better informed than I was at their age" is then predicative complement of "be". There's no such thing as a 'predicative determiner'.– BillJDec 16, 2020 at 12:36
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Yeah, I tried googling predicative determiner but couldn't find it. Thank you, @BillJ! Traditional grammar often conflates prepositions with conjunctions.– user405662Dec 16, 2020 at 13:03
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You are right @BillJ; I chose to delete my comment. Thank you.– Ram PillaiDec 16, 2020 at 15:41
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1 Answer
The kids are much better informed than I was at their age.
"Informed" is an adjective modified by the adverb "better".
The full analysis goes like this:
"Than" is a preposition with the comparative clause "I was at their age" as its complement. The PP "than I was at their age" is an indirect complement licensed by the comparative expression "better". It's called 'indirect' because although it follows the head adjective, "informed", it is not the head that licenses it, but the comparative expression "better" that modifies the head.
The whole AdjP "much better informed than I was at their age" is then subjective predicative complement of "be"
