Beth,
When you change the verb from 'tried' to 'gave,' you change the  
function of some of the words in the area. In this case I think Dick  
is right in his analysis. Substitute 'hard' for 'their best' and so  
see it's a verb modifier in function in that slot following 'tried.'   
As in 'they worked hard, they played hard, they showered.' Not 'they  
gave hard.'
Dick Betting
Prof. Emeritus
VCSU

On May 1, 2009, at 7:40 AM, Beth Young 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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