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Jawel Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Is being adverbial/adjectival related to what meaning we understand?

Hello my friends.

My question is "Is being adverbial/adjectival related to what meaning we understand?"

I know it is not clear but I will explain it for you.

Let's think of the following example.

*That is a gift for you

What is the role of "for you" ? It is adjectival or adverbial?

I think it depends on the wanted meaning. Both of them are possible. Why?

Because,

1- That is [a gift for you] -- [the usage of adjectival]

"Hey! A gift came to the house today and it is for you."

In this case, "for you" functions as an adjectival modifying "a gift" and stating whose gift that is.


2-) That is [a gift] [for you] -- [the usage of adverbial]

"Being very beautiful.. In your opinion, this is a gift causing everyone to look at you for a long time..

But in my opinion, it is not a gift. It is a punishment. You can never understand who is with you for who you are and who is with you for how beautiful you are.. So that is a gift for you but for me, that is just a punishment."


Therefore, I believe that the functions of phrases, clauses can not be identified without the context.

That's why I am thinking that both of them can be possible grammatically.

Do you agree with me about my thoughts above?

Thank you very much.

  

Top answer

That is a gift for you . It's neither adjectival nor adverbial. The preposition phrase "for you" is a preposition phrase functioning as complement of "be".

— BillJ

  • That is a gift for you .
  • It's neither adjectival nor adverbial.
  • The preposition phrase "for you" is a preposition phrase functioning as complement of "be".
  • The noun phrase "a gift" is subjective predicative complement of "be".
  • The two phrases do not form a single constituent, irrespective of meaning.
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2 Answers
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That is a gift for you.

It's neither adjectival nor adverbial. The preposition phrase "for you" is a preposition phrase functioning as complement of "be". The noun phrase "a gift" is subjective predicative complement of "be".

The two phrases do not form a single constituent, irrespective of meaning. The NP "a gift" and the PP "for you" are separate constituents

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JawelWhat is the role of "for you" ? It is adjectival or adverbial?

Neither.

An adjective (adjective phrase) describes a person, place, or thing. (a noun)
Here are some examples of noun modifiers. An adjective is one type of modifier.

an expensive gift (adjective)
a Christmas gift (noun modifier)
your gift /

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