Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can't both explanations be
acceptable?


>>> [log in to unmask] 02/12/04 04:40PM >>>
I keep wondering why, in sentences such as #1, the prepositional
phrase
is analyzed as adverbial:

#1         The concert is on Tuesday.

I don't mind the adverbial analysis, but I can't figure out why I
couldn't analyze it as adjectival instead. The fact that it specifies
time is not, by itself, grounds for ruling out an adjectival
interpretation; the same kind of expression in sentences such as #2 is
adjectival:

#2         The concert on Tuesday is going to be much more expensive
than the one on Thursday.

Likewise, if all temporal information were adverbial, I'd have to
analyze the wh-clause in #3 as an adverbial clause:

#3         I can't recall a day when all of the students showed up for
class on time.

I'd rather treat that as a low-frequency kind of relative clause
modifying 'day' - for one thing, it's not frontable the way adverbial
clauses are.

That still leaves the question about what to do with a bare noun, as
in
#4:

#4         The concert is Tuesday.

I can easily think of situations in which I'd use 'Tuesday' as a full
adjectival form, though:

#5         The Tuesday concert is more expensive than the Thursday
concert.

So I'm left thinking that I can get away with viewing 'on Tuesday' and
'Tuesday' in 4-5 as an adjectival constituents. Am I missing something
major, here? Again, I don't want to argue against the adverbial
interpretation, but I'd like to argue that the adjectival
interpretation
is *a* valid one.

Bill Spruiell

Dept. of English
Central Michigan University




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