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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