Bruce,
Sometimes I think I teach that way--confuse people and then clear it
up. It's easier to have the second role.
Craig
Bruce Despain wrote:
> Craig,
>
> Thank you for clearing up the confusion I may have caused in cutting
> short my explanation, in that I left out the "adverb phrase" vs.
> "adverbial phrase" distinction. Of course, that's why I used the term
> "may" in (3b).
> Bruce
>
> >>> Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> 02/21/08 10:41 AM >>>
> Bruce,
> I wonder about the confusion that might be caused by 3b) below: "A
> noun phrase referring to a time period may be called an "adverbial
> phrase."" My own tendency would be to say that it is a noun phrase
> functioning adverbially within this context. It is also possible for
> the same phrase (though it refers to a time period) to act in a
> different role. "Last summer was hot." (Last summer as subject). "I
> hated last summer." (Last summer as direct object complement of
> "hated".) I don't think a noun like "summer" is an adverbial noun
> outside of context.
> He left home. He went home. The first is transitive, the second
> intransitive. The verb has an influence on the functional role.
> We also have adverb phrases, like "so quickly" or "too often." I
> would call them "adverb phrases" because an adverb functions as head.
> To me, a "phrase" would refer to the internal structure of the word
> group. Function (like adverbial) would be somewhat independent of that.
>
> Craig
>
> Bruce Despain wrote:
>> Janet,
>>
>> I think that explaining "last summer" in your sentence needs to point
>> out a number of relationships.
>>
>> 1) It is a phrase, in that it consists of more than a single word.
>> 1a) The (operational) limiting adjective "last" modifies the noun
>> "summer" designating a seasonal part of a year.
>> 1b) "Summer" is one of those nouns that refers to a time period.
>> 2) The phrase functions in the predicate as temporal modification.
>> 2a) Temporal modification may be carried out by single words, which
>> are then called "adverbs."
>> 2b) Temporal modification carried out by phrases are called
>> "adverbial phrases."
>> 3) A noun that refers to a time period may often be used in the
>> predicate by itself as temporal modification.
>> 3a) Such nouns are often called adverbial nouns.
>> 3b) A noun phrase referring to a time period may be called an
>> "adverbial phrase."
>>
>> The adverbial phrase in this case "last summer" is modifying the
>> whole subject-predicate combination "Reports of flying saucers were
>> frequent." Such phrases have been called "adverbial adjuncts" in the
>> sense that they are not licensed by the verb phrase, as many
>> adverbial phrases are. Such phrases are more freely attached to the
>> sentence, much like sentence adverbs (never, sometimes, always,
>> immediately, etc.) regularly are.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> >>> "Castilleja, Janet" <[log in to unmask]> 02/20/08 4:27 PM >>>
>>
>> How do you guys handle this kind of a sentence:
>>
>>
>>
>> Reports of flying saucers were frequent last summer.
>>
>>
>>
>> Do you call ‘last summer’ a noun phrase functioning as an adverb or
>> do you just call it an adverb phrase?
>>
>>
>>
>> Janet Castilleja
>>
>> Heritage University
>>
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