Order of phrases in a sentence
Hi everyone,
Before getting to the question, I want to say "Happy New Year! " to you all. ?
Now, I was doing some reading on an English site and found this sentence.
"Tom lived in a small village next to the church."
After reading it, I had this thought in my mind. "Can this sentence be written in the following way?"
"Tom lived next to the church in a small village."
1) Does the order make any difference?
2) What is the part of speech of the phrase "next to the church" in the original sentence? Can I say it is an adverb as a village is not likely next to a small church in practice?
3) What is the part of speech of the phrase "in a small village" in the rewritten sentence? Is it fair to say it is an adjective as it modifies "the church" in the way shown below?
the church ( which was ) in a small village
Just one last favour. Would you please also correct my grammatical mistakes if there are any?
Thank you in advance
Kenny
Top answer
" In my natural reading of these sentences, "in a small village" and "next to the church" are separate adverbial phrases, each describing where he lived. The order does not make a difference to the overall meaning of the sentence. In (a), it is grammatically possible to interpret "next to the church" as modifying "small village", but, as you point out, it would be unusual to consider a village as being "next to the church".
- " In my natural reading of these sentences, "in a small village" and "next to the church" are separate adverbial phrases, each describing where he lived.
- The order does not make a difference to the overall meaning of the sentence.
- In (a), it is grammatically possible to interpret "next to the church" as modifying "small village", but, as you point out, it would be unusual to consider a village as being "next to the church".
- The church would normally be part of the village.
- In (b), it is likewise grammatically possible to interpret "in a small village" as modifying "church".
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a) "Tom lived in a small village next to the church."
b) "Tom lived next to the church in a small village."
In my natural reading of these sentences, "in a small village" and "next to the church" are separate adverbial phrases, each describing where he lived. The order does not make a difference to the overall meaning of the sentence.
In (a), it is grammatically possible to i
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