On 2010-11-17, at 9:52 PM, Bill wrote:

> Here's a practical example. Traditionally, we've got adjectives (and Latinate grammar lumps words like "green" together with words like "the" together in that) and adverbs (which include words that modify verbs along with words that can never, ever, modify verbs). If we decided, reasonably, that we should base the categories on what the word modifies (in a very loose sense of "modify"), we'd have three categories,

We would? So where would we put nouns that modify adjectives (the forest green bus)? Where would we put nouns that modify nouns (faculty office) where would we put verbs that modify nouns (the running man)? Where would we put adjectives that modify adjectives (silky smooth)? Where would we put words that modify prepositions (just down the street)?

> not two

That may be what traditional school grammar has, but it's not what modern grammars have. Modern grammars take modifier to be a function, not a category. The ability to perform a given function is but one characteristic of a particular category of words. For example, if you're willing to take noun as a basic category and you find that every member of that category can modify other members of that category, it is in no way parsimonious to posit a whole category of noun modifiers that simply duplicates the category of nouns, especially when they share few other characteristics with other noun modifiers traditionally called adjectives. Rather, one simply admits that one characteristic of the category noun is that its members function as noun modifiers (and subjects, objects, appositives, etc.).

Best,
Brett

-----------------------
Brett Reynolds
English Language Centre
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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