9
votes
What does “summer and winter” mean?
Isn’t it a bit strange for someone to choose winter for swimming among four seasons?
That's rather the point. Around the United Kingdom, the sea is so cold in winter that most people wouldn't go ...
- 2,932
8
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between adjuncts and modifiers?
In short: adjuncts may or may not be integrated into the syntactical structure of the sentence. If they are, they are called modifiers; if they are not, supplements.
There is also a category that ...
- 12.6k
6
votes
Origin and usage of "day of"
Indeed, this expression is idiomatic to a number of native speakers. Significantly, it’s part of my dialect.
The expression is an ellipsis of “the day of [the event]”, and there are more possible ...
- 67.3k
6
votes
Was it common in Shakespeare's time for adverbial phrases and objects to precede the verb in spoken English?
One important factor is that Shakespeare usually wrote in iambic pentameter. This tells where the stress falls on the words. The rhythm is often described as de DUM dee DUM. I could write it in music ...
- 37.4k
6
votes
Adverbs in the mid-position when there is more than one verb
What is called "mid-position" in your grammar corresponds to what is termed "medial position" in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language". In this latter grammar, this ...
- 23.9k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the function of "Monday?"
Neither. It is a noun, but it is not being used as a direct object, but as a time adjunct. This is a function that can be carried out by phrases headed by words belonging to various parts of speech (...
- 84.5k
5
votes
Is “senior year” a direct object or something else in “I played my senior year”? What about “perfect game” in “I threw a perfect game”?
In "throw a game" the thing you are throwing is a game, so it's a direct object. (The use of "throw" in this sense is figurative; it doesn't really matter that the game isn't ...
- 291
5
votes
Can 'as unique as it is' mean 'because it is unique'?
I am going to explain the meaning of each of your examples in turn:
(1) As it is unique, our past leads to our identity and personality.
This means:
Because it is unique
(the sentence doesn't really ...
- 5,697
5
votes
Why don't words like "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" etc. have the adverb denotation in their dictionary definitions?
OED does have [eg] Monday listed as an adverb:
adverb
On Monday; last Monday; next Monday. Now chiefly North American.
But its citations start with Old English
Habbe we us gerædd..þæt we ælcere ...
- 103k
4
votes
Accepted
What does “summer and winter” mean?
The definition can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary:
during both summer and winter; all year round
(Winters and summers means the same, and dates back much further, to Old English.)
- 67.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Does "So long as" mean the same as "Just as long as" in this sentence?
It has been my experience that occasionally younger speakers who are comparatively unfamiliar with the forms and styles of written English can become confused by so..as, and that they do not use this ...
- 137k
4
votes
Present participle result
TLDR: For whatever reason, questions regarding the possible syntactic structures involving ‑ing phrases / clauses are among the most common questions we get here, especially but hardly exclusively ...
- 137k
4
votes
Accepted
What is the function of "their way" in "they went their way"?
And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said
unto them.
I don't see any reason why the NP "their way" should not be considered direct object of "went".
- 13.5k
3
votes
Accepted
When and why can you omit “when” (or other conjunctions or prepositions) before a gerund clause that’s used adverbially?
The additional words you are using all add meaning to the sentence.
'When' indicates a there was a specific time in the past (although it is not specified).
'While' indicates it occurred during the ...
- 570
3
votes
Preposition of manner
Preposition phrases ordinarily follow the term they modify or complement, so changing the order often changes the meaning.
However, determining whether a PP modifies or complements, and just what a ...
- 69.1k
3
votes
Wrong use of adverbial (prepositional) phrase?
In the construction ADJ-est of NOUNs you should parse ADJ-est as a nominal —The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language describes it as an adjective which has 'fused' with its head, the noun ...
- 69.1k
3
votes
Participle Phrases as Adverbs
Removing his coat is a subordinate clause, one with the role of a depictive adjunct in the structure of the main clause.
These sorts of -ing clauses acting as adjuncts (traditional grammar's '...
- 11.1k
3
votes
Is "for sure" an adverbial phrase?
Summary
The prepositional phrase for sure comprises the preposition for and its complement sure, which is an adjective. It remains a prepositional phrase no matter what use you put it to.
It is not ...
- 137k
3
votes
Why is "for six years" not the adverbial complement in this sentence?
I have been living in Ireland for six years.
"For six years" is a temporal adjunct (your adverbial). It modifies the verb phrase, not the noun "Ireland".
But the PP "in ...
- 13.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Which part of speech is "as" in each example of mine?
[1] He is [the same as the dog (is)].
In [1] "as" is a preposition and the expression "as the dog (is)" is thus a preposition phrase functioning as complement of the adjective &...
- 13.5k
3
votes
What's the difference between "in the same year" and "the same year"?
As a native British English speaker, the sentence as written: "It remained constant at this level till May the same year" sounds fine, and I wouldn't say "in the same year" in that ...
- 593
3
votes
Is the phrase "for us to put the books on" an adjectival or adverbial phrase?
Adverbials answer questions that provide context in a sentence (e.g. why, when, where, how, etc.), whereas adjectivals describe participants (nouns and pronouns) in a sentence.
Hence, adverbials can ...
- 156
3
votes
Accepted
Adverb of Place vs. Predicate nominative
The bottom line is that the verb "be" takes an obligatory complement: subject + be + complement. Whether you call the complement "predicative" or "locative" comes down ...
- 1,393
3
votes
Adverb of Place vs. Predicate nominative
Your second thought is right on.
This was two miles from the point of invasion.
Here, was is not a linking verb or copula, which has two uses: ascriptive and specifying. And we can see right off the ...
- 7,316
3
votes
Why don't words like "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" etc. have the adverb denotation in their dictionary definitions?
The main reason that this should be the case is that there's a difference between a word's category and its syntactic function. The word Monday is still a noun in:
I'll see you Monday.
just like it ...
- 48.7k
2
votes
Is there an adverb meaning "by volunteering"?
Offered = volunteered
Meeting in cafes, or sometimes in a private home, offered by one or another member, we would discuss a wide range of subjects.
- 21.6k
2
votes
Is this an adverbial complement? "They led me _to believe that there was no danger_."
No, this is not an adverbial complement.
The sentence pattern is indeed S-V-O. The subject and verb are obvious. The direct object is the entire clause following, me to believe that there was no ...
2
votes
Accepted
Adverbial modifier with the insertion of comma
In English, bracketing commas or their lack around participial phrases, appositives, or relative clauses signal whether the element is
essential (restrictive), i.e. whether the phrase is essential to ...
- 28.2k
2
votes
Why does "An Advanced English Syntax" say the infinitive in these sentences is adverbial?
I like to think of this in terms of questions answered by the specific bit of sentence, rather than in terms of inherent potentialities of a specific word ("ill" vs "happy"). Consider:
--"How are you?...
- 21
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