Kathleen, I think this is a case where the language allows alternative complementation to "work". The "for" here may be by analogy either to the benefactive "for", as in "He worked for his sister", or to the durational "for" as in "he talked for two hours." But the verb "work" allows either a bare time adverb, like "he worked two hours" or the temporal prepositional phrase "he worked for two hours." You don't have to call it an idiom. They're simply alternative structures. Herb -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen M. Ward Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 2:54 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: "work for" plus adverb clause One of my students asked me what to do with the following sentence: He worked for as long as he could. Now, "as long as he could" is, I think pretty clearly an adverbial phrase, containing in itself a comparative clause with deletions. The question is, what do you do with the "for"? I understand that it can be omitted--and then the analysis is easier. But I would not want to say that an adverbial phrase can be a complement/object of a preposition. Is "for" a preposition here? Is it a particle? Do I just throw up my hands and call it an idiom? How do other people see this? Kathleen Ward UC Davis To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/