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Paco2004 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Post-nominal AP
Hello Teachers
Sample sentence : I've never seen a girl this/that/so pretty.
What I like to know is the grammatical interpretation of the adjective phrase.
Do you take it as a shortened form of "a girl who is this/that/so pretty"?
Or is it some post-nominal adjectival phrase already grammaticalized?
paco
Sample sentence : I've never seen a girl this/that/so pretty.
What I like to know is the grammatical interpretation of the adjective phrase.
Do you take it as a shortened form of "a girl who is this/that/so pretty"?
Or is it some post-nominal adjectival phrase already grammaticalized?
paco
Top answer
Hard to tell, Paco; I can see it both ways: (1) as the reduced postmodifying clause-- 'I've never seen a girl (who is) this/that/so pretty'. a girl this/that/so pretty'. Hopefully, someone else has an idea brighter than mine.
- Hard to tell, Paco; I can see it both ways: (1) as the reduced postmodifying clause-- 'I've never seen a girl (who is) this/that/so pretty'.
- a girl this/that/so pretty'.
- Hopefully, someone else has an idea brighter than mine.
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2 Answers
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Hard to tell, Paco; I can see it both ways:
(1) as the reduced postmodifying clause-- 'I've never seen a girl (who is) this/that/so pretty'.
(2) as an adjective phrase postponed to create end focus-- 'I've never seen this/that/so pretty a girl'--> '...a girl this/that/so pretty'.
Hopefully, someone else has an idea brighter than mine.
(1) as the reduced postmodifying clause-- 'I've never seen a girl (who is) this/that/so pretty'.
(2) as an adjective phrase postponed to create end focus-- 'I've never seen this/that/so pretty a girl'--> '...a girl this/that/so pretty'.
Hopefully, someone else has an idea brighter than mine.
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Mister Micawber
Thank you for the kind reply. So I would like to learn those "that/this/so adjective" phrases as idiomatic phrases grammatically exceptional in that they come after nouns, although I might interpret them as reduced forms of adjectival relative clauses. By the way I prefer them to the construct "such a/an adjective noun". "Such a/an adjective noun" sounds to me a little a
Thank you for the kind reply. So I would like to learn those "that/this/so adjective" phrases as idiomatic phrases grammatically exceptional in that they come after nouns, although I might interpret them as reduced forms of adjectival relative clauses. By the way I prefer them to the construct "such a/an adjective noun". "Such a/an adjective noun" sounds to me a little a
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