Adverbs or ajectives

Question

Please advise if the words underlined in the following sentences are adverbs or adjectives or what else:I travel light.I fly first class.I fly American.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Are they all supposed to be the same?
Or does each one need a separate answer?

Anonymous · Answer

Each one needs a seperate answer. Thanks. I would appreciate if you can tell me what sntence structure (for example: SVC) each of them belongs to.

BillJ · Answer

Hi

None of these is an adjective - the choice is adverbial or nominal:

I travel light. Light is an adverbial because it desribes how you travel, so SVA.

I fly first class. Similarly, first class (i.e 'by first-class convenience'), so SVA.

I fly American. Assuming you mean American Airlines, then it's a nominal, so SVO.

Best

BillJ

CalifJim · Answer

I think I would accept "adverb" as an answer, even in the last one. The intent is to say that when I fly, I fly on American Airlines planes or by means of the carrier American Airlines.

American is an adjective in American Airlines, but it is promoted to noun status in something like I enjoy flying on American. In I fly American you might even say that American replaces the adverbial by means of American Airlines. And besides, thinking of American as a noun opens the possibility of the odd interpretation that I fly while being an American or that I, an American, fly.

CJ

BillJ · Answer

I’m sorry but I disagree.

It’s very common to say ‘I fly American/United/Lufthansa/El Al’ and so on. The meaning of such expressions is widely understood.

The word ‘American’ is functioning as a noun here. Even when used in a prepositional phrase such as ‘by American’ it’s still a noun, although at sentence level the phrase itself can function as an Adverbial clause element.

Of course, if we change or rearrange the words in a sentence, it can sometimes change the analysis: if, for example, the sentence was recast as ‘I fly by/with American’, that would indeed be SVA. But why change the sentence as it was posted? There’s no syntactic reason to do so.

The point is that in ‘I fly American’, the verb ‘fly’ is being used in a transitive way, so it requires a direct object to complete its meaning. (That’s why I parsed it as SVO). In this case the direct object is the noun phrase American (Airlines) which is the thing directly affected by the action expressed by the verb. It might help to think of the action in this case as being ‘my patronage’.

Incidentally, I made a typo in my first reply – please substitute the word ‘conveyance’ for the word ‘convenience’ – thanks.

BillJ

Ferdis · Answer

BillJ

The point is that in ‘I fly American’, the verb ‘fly’ is being used in a transitive way, so it requires a direct object to complete its meaning.

How can you use the transitive verb here? You are not the one operating the plane, carrying out the action. 'I fly a plane' is very different from 'I fly on a plane'. You do not fly American Airlines -- unless you really upset them and are leaving their office in haste -- but you fly on a plane of AA. The "travel" verb is intransitive; the "operation" verb is transitive. Therefore, I believe this is simply adverbial, describing how you fly.

CalifJim · Answer

I have to agree that the argument from transitivity is not a really strong one.

CJ

BarbaraPA · Answer

What about "I like to buy American" meaning "American-made products"?

That would be an object, yes?
Or does it mean "My purchasing style is to buy products made in America" and therefore it describes HOW you buy?

BillJ · Answer

hi ferdis

To parse it as an adverbial would mean changing the wording to something like ‘I always fly by American’ where the prepositional phrase ‘by American’ would indeed function as an adverbial, so SVA there.

But as posted it means 'what do you fly' not 'how do you fly', hence object not adverbial.

The important point here is whether or not the giving of one’s patronage to an airline equates to performing the action of the verb. My instinct was that it does, but I did check beforehand with a very well-known dictionary which defined ‘fly’ as both intransitive and transitive, the entry for the latter being:

[TRANS] To use a particular company to travel by aircraft : <I usually fly Lufthansa/Japan Airlines>

Does that address your concern?

Best Wishes

BillJ

Tydexwang · Answer

If John is a pilot. He works for AA. He is now flying an American Airline's plane from LA to NY. Can I say: John is flying an American plane? Or what is the best way to describe the incident?

Adverbs or ajectives

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