Beth,
Good point. Our problem is that "tried my best" is an idiomatic phrase,
which limits internal analysis. All of these are possible:
I tried to succeed.
I attempted to succeed.
I endeavored to succeed.
But "my best" only works with "tried":
I tried my best to succeed.
* I attempted my best to succeed.
* I endeavored my best to succeed.
Interestingly, it is also possible to use "tried my best" in a different, *
non*idiomatic way, where "my best" *is* the direct object:
First I tried a half-hearted effort, but it didn't work, so I tried my best,
and that worked.
Unlike the other uses, here "my best" is *what *was tried, not *how *something
was tried.
Dick
On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Beth Young <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Dick,
>
> Interesting! I find your reasoning very persuasive.
>
> Still . . . "their best" isn't at all moveable. And there are lots of
> examples of "x gave y their best," in which "their best" is a direct object.
>
> Could it be that our intuition about how fixed an entity "their best" is?
> i.e., if you think of "their best" as a discrete, identifiable effort, like
> a poem or a chocolate souffle, then the phrase seems nominal and "to express
> what love means to them" seems adverbial. But if you think of "their best"
> as a kind of move in a certain direction (like moving towards the
> horizon--you never arrive), then "to express what love means to them" seems
> more nominal and "their best" more adverbial.
>
> (I'm a bit boggled to hear myself proposing that the distinction between
> nominal/adverbial can be ambiguous.)
>
> Beth
>
> >>> Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> 4/30/2009 6:40 PM >>>
> Beth,
>
> Re: "Artists of all kinds have tried their best to express what love means
> to them."
>
> The phrase "to express what love means to them" is certainly an infinitive
> phrase, but is it adverbial or nominal?
>
> - I tried a poem to express my love.
> This infinitive phrase is adverbial, indicating why I tried the
> poem.
> - I tried to express my love.
> This infinitive phrase is nominal, the direct object of "tried."
>
> I opt for nominal in our sentence. I think "their best" is an adverbial,
> not
> the direct object, since it answers the question "Tried how?" rather than
> "Tried what?" On the other hand, "to express what love means to them" can
> answer the question "Tried what?" so I'd say it is the direct object.
>
> Dick
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 4:29 PM, Beth Young <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > "Artists of all kinds have tried their best to express what love means
> to
> > them."
> >
> > Here's my take: "to express what love means to them" is an adverbial
> > infinitive phrase.
> >
> > 1. You can move it around: To express what love means to them, artists
> of
> > all kinds have tried their best.
> >
> > 2. It answers the question "why" or "in what manner" the verb happens.
> > Artists of all kinds have tried their best. Why? "to express what love
> > means to them."
> >
> > Without that adverbial infinitive phrase, it's easier to see that the
> main
> > sentence is transitive: THEY have tried SOMETHING.
> >
> > "Their best" is a noun phrase/direct object. I don't have a problem with
> > "best" functioning as a noun--contrast with "their happy" which clearly
> > doesn't work.
> >
> > To make the whole sentence passive would be clunky, but it is doable:
> >
> > "To express what love means to them, their best has been tried (by
> artists
> > of all kinds)."
> >
> > This passive sentence is bothersome, not so much because of the passive
> > voice, but because we don't know who "them" and "their" refers to until
> we
> > get to the end. I could imagine writing this sort of passage:
> >
> > Their best has been tried. (And it still wasn't good enough.)
> >
> > That's how I see it, anyway. Thanks for the distraction from paper
> > grading.
> >
> > Beth
> >
> >
>
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